Cologne, Germany - Most gender differences in motoring habits have been confirmed in a survey conducted in Germany on the basis of 150,000 insurance policy holders.

The poll, conducted by the business consultancy Nafi on behalf of the Capital Investor finance weekly, confirmed most perceptions of men and women drivers.

Only 16 per cent of men allow friends to drive their car while the figure is about 25 per cent for women. Men prefer to take the wheel of a car that is in general more expensive than the vehicle owned by a woman.

Hamburg, Germany - The days of the huge SUVs such as the Hummer, Porsche Cayenne and Audi Q7 are numbered as high fuel prices and a bad eco-image are causing sales to plunge and comes as manufacturers are offering a better alternative in the compact SUV segment.

Hollywood stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron were often seen driving the fuel-guzzling Hummer in the 1990s, making it the ultimate male status symbol in wealthy suburbia.

The trend toward full-sized SUVs then spread rapidly from the US to many European countries. In London, the Range Rover Sport was a favourite among the jet-set who did not have to worry about exorbitant parking fees, taxes or fuel prices.

Nuerburgring, Germany - Fiat has revived the Abarth name for its tuning division and the car maker is mooting plans to release several new sports models under the label after the sales launch of the tuned Fiat 500 and Grande Punto Abarth.

Speaking at the launch of the two models at the Nuerburgring race track in Germany, a Fiat spokesman said cars such as the 1951 Coupe Abarth had plenty of charm but that new sports cars would have to be economically viable.

There have been several reports that Fiat is negotiating with Lotus to use the aluminium chassis of the Elise generation to build a small light convertible with a Fiat engine.

Berlin  - Europe's biggest rail company Deutsche Bahn AG is considering investing in Italy's passenger train operations, Germany's daily Die Welt reported Tuesday.

The newspaper reported that the German-based Deutsche Bahn has been holding talks with Fiat and Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo's newly formed private high-speed rail service group Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV).

Kuala Lumpur  - Malaysia's IT research company Mimos is to begin joint research with Germany's Ruhr-University Bochum in efforts to tackle cybercrime, a news report said Tuesday.

Both parties had recently signed a memorandum of understanding to conduct joint research into a hardware that could block security invasions on the internet, The Star newspaper's online news portal said.

"Phishing, pharming, virus attacks and hacking of systems belonging to companies is no longer done for fun or curiosity but is now big business, as there is money to made from such invasions," Mohamed Ridza Wahiddin, head of Mimos' Information Security Cluster, was quoted as saying.