For the sales reps at ING , the Dutch bank’s involvement with Formula One racing was a dream.
The bank’s marketing team rolled through central and eastern Europe last summer, arriving at shopping centres and universities with a replica Renault Formula One car in tow. Wherever they went, crowds queued to be photographed with the show car, all wanting a taste of the sport’s glamour.
Having collected personal details, salesmen would turn up at the fans’ homes a week later with a copy of the photograph. It was the perfect way to get their attention.
ING said that between 6% and 7% of the people it visited ended up buying financial products – a far higher proportion than from a regular sales push. …Â More info
Unfortunately, it was the Christmas holiday, so I couldn’t find a single truckish thing to do with the all-new 2009 Suzuki Equator. I always try to, when testing pickup trucks.
Even though many trucks spend their lives roaming the suburbs with nary a load of dirt to haul in sight, the true measure of a pickup’s “truckness” is to let it do some work. That’s definitely the case with the new Equator.
Designed and marketed toward Suzuki’s adventuresome motorcycle and personal watercraft-riding customers as a perfect gear-hauler and all-around tough truck…Â More info
Members of the motorsports industry are wondering why the government has adopted a rule virtually eliminating a key constituency – and possibly thousands of jobs – while at the same time developing a nearly trillion-dollar stimulus that supporters say is intended to create and protect employment.
At issue is a new federal regulation of lead that took effect just this month. The policy has virtually shut down the part of the motorsports industry that serves children under 12 who want to ride all-terrain vehicles and motorbikes, because some components of the machines – such as tire valve stems – contain lead.
“You’ve got a lot of kids involved in this,” Don Amador, western representative for the the Blue Ribbon Commission, told WND today. “But ATVs, dirt bikes have batteries  in them, components that use lead inside the valve stems on tires, lead in the electronic wiring, lead on battery terminals.” … More info
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If you have €3,900 ($4,900) in your pocket and the desire to put an Italian exotic through its paces around a track, then you’re in luck as Lamborghini is once again running its annual Driving Academy. With courses open to all performance enthusiasts – not just Lamborghini owners – the Driving Academy provides a unique opportunity to test a number of different models and be taught by the company’s own professional instructors.
Before you grab your phone and start calling the local Lamborghini dealer…Â More info
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