With the Rudd administration due to handdown their first budget this Tuesday, wealthy average Australian’s are preparing to dodge the bullets and one of them is aimed squarely at what the government considers to be ‘luxury cars’.

Treasurer Wayne Swan has confirmed that the price of luxury cars will rise and government coffers will be the beneficiary. In fact the luxury tax on cars will increase from the current level of 25% to 33% a change that is expected to affect around 105,000 car purchases per annum. The price of a car costing around $100,000 will increase by approximately $2,500 under the new plan.

Our friend Swade over at Trollhattan Saab has had a big news weekend. One of Swade’s swedish based ‘intelligence contacts’ has confirmed that the next generation Saab 9-3 will be built on GM’s Delta II platform – their premium compact architecture.

The big news here is not just the choice of platform but how the Delta II platform will change the 9-3. Delta II is expected to underpin the volume selling Opel Astra among others and to-date, the largest concept vehicle built on Delta II is the Opel Flextreme. The Flextreme is 4550mm in length compared to the current 9-3’s length of 4647mm – which makes it reasonable to assume that Saab will be downsizing the 9-3.

It’s not just the GT-R thats causing a stir at the Nurburgring. GM is also out in force with their ZR1 Corvette and the Cadillac CTS-V. Bold claims that the ZR1 will break the production car lap record at any track are yet to be proven but there is now one record that GM can lay claim to – the fastest ever publicly documented lap time for a production sedan.

The ugly, but obviously fast Cadillac CTS-V has broken through the 8 minute per lap barrier and recorded a time of 7:59.32 in testing.

In principle, I don’t mind pedestrianism. I give it a go myself, every now and again. Its a good way to travel distances that aren’t worth cold-starting an engine for, or if you’re pretty sure your destination offers a high probability of seeing your car up on bricks mere moments after you leave it.

What I don’t like, however, are pedestrians who jaywalk in busy traffic. I don’t drive on your footpaths when you’re window shopping; don’t walk on my roads when I’m cruising along.