Coventry, England  - The Jaguar XJ, which celebrates its 40th birthday this year, in a sense epitomizes the very best and worst of British motoring.

Driving an XJ is an emotional experience that clearly differs from the cool precision of taking the wheel in a Mercedes.

For a start, there is the distinct smell of the opulent leather interior coupled with neatly arranged dials on the wooden dashboard, giving it an aura of luxurious opulence.

Las Vegas  - At least Batman doesn't have to worry about getting a parking space now.

A specialty auto fitter gave a Smart Fortwo a kind of celebrity makeover at a Las Vegas trade show earlier this month, transforming the subcompact car into a mini-Batmobile, complete with a black airbrush paint job and tailfins.

Designer George Barris, renowned for creating the original Batmobile in the 1960s superhero television series, teamed up with the Californian specialist firm Vertical Doors to build the Batsmart.

Tokyo - Mazda Motor Corp bought back 6.87-per

Tokyo/New York  - Mazda Motor Corp and other business partners plan to buy back a 20-per-cent stake of the Japanese automaker from Ford Motor Co on Wednesday, the automakers said Tuesday.

Ford will reduce its share of Mazda to 13 per cent from the current 33.4 per cent in order to raise badly needed funds. The second-largest US automaker said it hopes to raise 540 million with the sale.

Mazda was expected to purchase a 6.9 per cent stake of 96.8 million shares for 184 yen per share, worth a total of about 17.9 billion yen (185.18 million dollars), the Japanese company said. The rest of the shares are to be sold to other unidentified investors.

Brussels  - Ah, the style of an Italian Ferrari, the solidity of a German Mercedes, the flair of a French Renault!

The car industry is not only Europe's pride and joy, it provides income for some 12 million families and last year generated a combined turnover of 551 billion euros (700 billion dollars), or about 5 per cent of the continent's gross domestic product (GDP).

One in every three cars sold around the world is European.

But now, caught between the global credit crunch, a recession and the need to make greener vehicles, Europe's automobile industry says it is facing its most difficult moment since the oil crisis of the early 1970s.

New Delhi - Europe's largest car maker Volkswagen said Tuesday it would go ahead with its investment plans in India and was optimistic that car sales would pick up, news reports said.

Volkswagen had earlier announced it would invest 500 million Euros (about 632 million dollars) for its factory in the southern Indian city of Pune.