Teen High on Paint Steals BMW and Leads Police on a Wild Chase

A seventeen-year old driver of a stolen BMW X5 crossover was involved in a high-speed chase that took place in Brisbane, Australia, on Monday, and which lasted for close to two hours.

According to the police, the driver of the SUV, William John Noel Compton, was under the influence of paint when he was arrested.

The teenager along with six more youths aged from 13 to 19 reportedly stole a white BMW X5 along with a black BMW Z4 roadster from the same Westlake home in the early hours of Monday morning.

The police eventually tracked down the two cars and began pursuit when they failed to stop. Media helicopters followed from above and filmed the entire chase, which for the occupants of the X5, ended when the teens entered an underground car park.

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Toyota Reveals New Strategy, will Roll Out Three Global FWD Platforms

It's time for a strategic change over at Toyota as the Japanese automaker today announced a new framework for vehicle development that will affect all brands within the group with the aim of lowering costs, reducing launch times as well as making its vehicles more appealing both in terms of styling and handling.

A core element of the firm's new strategy is the development of new global vehicle architectures that are to be shared across the world, a move that Toyota claims will ultimately help in the creation of better cars.

"Cooperation between planning and design divisions will result in a revised vehicle body structure with which new platforms will feature a lower center of gravity and bolder styling," said Toyota in a statement. "This will help to realize the development of cars with never-before-seen emotional designs and superb handling."

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The Chrysler Group Takes Over the Fiat Group's Australian Operations

Fiat may have been the one to buy a controlling stake in Chrysler, but it's the American arm of the company that it destined to take over the distribution of Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Fiat Professional vehicles in Australia.

In a similar move, Chrysler had taken over distribution responsibilities for Fiat cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia back in February.

In Australia, the Fiat group's distribution rights will be transferred to Chrysler on May 1. Under the new deal, the Italian group's 17 passenger dealerships and 22 commercial vehicle outlets across the country, will report directly to the Melbourne-based Chrysler Australia group.

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GM's New Trailblazer to be Sold in Australia as the Holden Colorado SUV

America might not be getting the new Chevrolet Trailblazer but Australia will as parent company General Motors revealed that it's body-on-frame SUV will be sold Down Under as the Holden Colorado SUV.

The passenger version of the Colorado pickup truck, which is set to arrive in Australian dealerships mid-year, will be the first heavy-duty 4WD SUV to wear a Holden badge in almost a decade.

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Holden to Stay in Australia After $200 Million Deal, New Commodore Coming to the U.S. as a Chevy?

The United States and Canada aren't alone in supporting General Motors and its companies.

The Australian government is also doing its part to keep GM's local subsidiary Holden in the country by promising a subsidy package worth more than AU$200 million (US$210 million) after the automaker threatened to shut down its operations if it did not get financial aid beyond 2015.

While Holden has yet to issue an official statement, Australian news daily, The Age, reported that the country's Prime Minister Julia Gillard, along with South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill, Holden chairman Mike Devereux and vehicle union boss Ian Jones will be in Canberra today for the official announcement.

After securing the financial assistance, Holden is said to continue producing cars in the country until for at least another 10 years. According to sources, Holden has promised to invest some AU$750 million in its Australian operations during this period.

Interestingly, the newspaper said that Holden will "soon confirm an export deal to sell Commodores in the US, where the car will carry a Chevrolet badge."

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Older Man Thrashes Young Bodybuilder in Aussie Road Rage Incident

A video of an older man in a Mercedes SUV beating up a young bodybuilder during a road rage episode in Australia last Thursday has been making the local headlines.

After airing the amateur footage of the traffic punch-up and seeing the response from viewers, the Nine Network's flagship program "A Current Affair" investigated further and found the "guy with tattoos" named Josh.

Josh told the news channel that the older man in the Mercedes SUV almost backed into his pregnant girlfriend's car. The young Aussie claims that he jumped out of the vehicle to approach him at the next set of lights and they exchanged words and one thing lead to another.

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Celebrating Sixty Years of Ferrari in Australia

This past Saturday in Melbourne, the host city for the 2012 season's inaugural Formula 1 race, Australian spectators were treated to not only a very unpredictable qualifying session but also a variety of other events that aimed to dazzle those who were present in Albert Park.

Highlights included an aerial display from the PC9 aerobatics team known as “The Roulettes” and the third Australian V8 Supercars race of the weekend. For Ferrari enthusiasts, the day’s most eagerly anticipated track action, aside from the Formula 1, was a parade honoring Ferrari’s sixtieth anniversary in Australia.

At noon, sixty models from Maranello, one for every year that Ferrari has been in Australia, drove their way around Albert Park. The procession was led by the Ferrari 458 Spider, which made its Australian debut and is predicted to retail at around AU$590,000 when it goes on sale later this year.

Amongst the cars featured were fan favorites such as the 360 Challenge, the Ferrari California and the F40. The country’s very first Ferrari, the Ferrari 212 Export Coupe, hit Australian shores in Melbourne all the way back in 1952 and since then, Australia grew to become Ferrari’s tenth most important market in 2011.

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Formula 1: Australian GP Race Results

Every year FIA, the sport’s governing body, changes Formula 1’s technical regulations with the purpose of leveling out the playing field. This forces designers to work within a very strict set of parameters that make gaining an advantage a great challenge.

Despite FIA’s efforts to increase competition even more, F1 is far from becoming something akin to a one-make series. Some teams always make a better job than others do, but we have to wait until each year’s first race before drawing any conclusions.

At the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, the Saturday qualifying session showed us certain things like that the McLaren is currently the fastest car out there, while Red Bull Racing seems to have lost some of its pace due to the rule changes that affected the design of the RB8.

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Formula 1: Australian GP Qualifying Results

At the inaugural race of every Formula 1 season you never really know where each team stands in terms of performance. Sure, there are the favorites, the also-runs, the back markers and oftentimes, the wild cards.

Well, the qualifying race of the Australian Grand Prix that kicked off this year's F1 season certainly had all of the above. But not necessarily in the way most seasoned F1 fans might have expected.

Lewis Hamilton claimed the 20th pole position of his career and Jenson Button lined up right beside him, making it an all-McLaren front row. Not too surprising, as despite the fact that Sebastian Vettel took most pole positions last year, the McLarens had proved to be very fast during testing.

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A 1974 Ford Falcon XB Ute found for Sale in America

If you consider the distance between Australia and America and even more so the country's right-hand drive (RHD) policy, it's not hard to see why classic Aussie vehicles are a rarer site than special edition Lamborghinis in the States.

But once in a blue moon you'll find an imported model from Down Under available for grabs in the classifieds like this 1974 Ford Falcon XB Ute.

The Ute is an Australian conception that dates back to 1934 with its creation credited to Ford engineer and designer Lew Bandt who came up with the idea of combining the front cabin of a sedan with the back of a small truck.

The most popular Utes in the country are made by local carmakers Holden and Ford. The one you see in these pictures is a 1974 model based on the third generation Falcon and it comes with a 302 cubic inch (4.9-liters) Cleveland V8 matched to a four-speed automatic transmission driving the rear wheels.

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