free test drive

TEST DRIVE one, get one free. Well. Not quite. But General Motors' giveaway of 1,000 cars to anyone who walks into a US dealership and is lucky enough to press the right button is a good indication of how keen the world's biggest motor manufacturer is to recapture lost ground in its back yard. The Japanese manufacturers Toyota, Honda and Nissan have crept into the US market and eaten the lunch of the big three American car makers while they have been obsessed with developing sports utility vehicles and pick-ups. Foreign marques now account for four in ten cars sold in the US, compared with less than a quarter 20 years ago. Hence GM's latest marketing promotion and the tonne of new metal on display from the likes of Ford and Chrysler at this year's Detroit Motor Show.

But if the latest annual survey of the world automotive industry by KPMG is any guide, the Japanese are not about to be driven out of town easily. The increasing importance of product quality as opposed to styling and ride characteristics plays into Japanese hands. And their US transplant factories do not carry the same amount of baggage as established American manufacturers in the shape of ageing workforces, higher pension costs and increased healthcare liabilities. Not only are the big three US makers being outmanoeuvred in their home market, but the rejuvenation of Nissan and the continued superiority of Toyota mean that Asian car makers are likely to take a bigger share too of non-US sales.

If there is a glimmer of hope for America's big three, it lies in the burgeoning Chinese market with its expanding middle class and nascent credit culture. This offers them the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and escape from the rut they find themselves in at home. What's good for General Motors is good for China? Somehow, it doesn't have quite the same ring.For some, driving is as easy as walking. Take Gerty Edwards-Land, who at 90 passed first time in 1988. But not every one is a natural. Ask Git Kaur Randhawa from Middlesex, who finally passed in 1987 after 47 failures. Faced with the new theory test, maybe Git would have called it a day and gone by bus.

The exam, which can be sat in one of 152 centres around the country, will consist of 35 multiple choice questions taken from a pool of 600. To pass you can only get a maximum of nine wrong, otherwise it's curtains. The subjects covered will include traffic signs, driver attitude, the effects of drugs, alcohol and fatigue on driver behaviour and the environmental aspects of cars.

With four answer options to each question there is normally one that is completely daft, two that sound vaguely plausible and one that is correct. In answer to the question "You are travelling on a motorway. Luggage falls from your vehicle. What should you do?", candidates selecting, "Reverse back up the motorway and pick it up" go straight to the bottom of the class. (Correct response is, "Stop at the next emergency telephone and contact the police.")...