CAR makers are facing a “growing” problem - expanding motorists.

With the average weight of the consumer increasing, so is the demand for roomier cars.

So car makers are having to resort to more ingenious ways to improve interior space for heavier passengers, while keeping the weight of the car down.

In Japan, Nissan has come up with a “fat suit” so fit, young engineers and designers can experience how ageing baby boomers will cope with the cars being developed.

The special suit makes the wearer less flexible at the neck, knees, ankles and elbows.

Nissan says a 5cm-thick waist belt “does an excellent job” of duplicating the middle-age spread.

The belt makes it harder to get in or out of a car and can cramp movement behind the wheel.

Casts on the body simulate arthritis by making it more difficult to raise arms and legs.

The next “enlarged” Australian car will be the new-look Ford Falcon FG-series, reaching showrooms in May.

Ford Australia spokesman Ed Finn said: “We don’t have a fat suit, per se. The standard we work to is the 95th percentile.”

This unofficial industry standard is the size which 95 per cent of adult males fall below.

Ford has made the new Falcon with head room increased by up to 13mm, shoulder room by up to 24mm, hip room by up to 25mm and leg room by up to 10mm.

On the outside, the car is 4mm wider, 9mm taller and 25mm longer.

The weight is up 6kg, but the fuel economy improves.

Ford’s customer research — especially with taxi drivers who use Falcons - found many people wanted getting in and out to be made easier, so the new model has doors which are longer and open wider.

The new Mazda 6 sedan has grown in length by 65mm, width by 15mm and height by 5mm.

The current-generation Mini is almost 60mm longer than the 2002 model. Both are vastly bigger than the 1960s original.

Ford Model As and other classic cars will cross the new Jonata Park Road Bridge Thursday as part of an 11 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new span.

The reinforced concrete replacement bridge over Zaca Creek on Jonata Park Road just north of Buellton and just west of Highway 101 is about 96 feet long and almost 37 feet wide.

Demolition of the former span, built in the 1916, began in June 2007. Public works officials had found the bridge to be structurally deficient after it received a 2 on a scale of 1 to 100 in a rating system that judges the soundness of bridges.

The $1.7 million Santa Barbara County Public Works Department project was funded with $1.4 million in federal funding from the Highway Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program and $200,000 in local Measure D funds.

The ceremony is also scheduled to include 3rd District Supervisor Brooks Firestone, Santa Barbara County Association of Governments Executive Director Jim Kemp and other county officials.

For safety, Jonata Park Road will be closed to through traffic near the bridge with traffic control from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the day of the ceremony. Motorists are being asked to use caution and obey traffic signs in the area.

The number of cars allowed into Dublin city centre will be strictly limited when work gets under way on the capital’s new underground Metro route, it emerged last night.

A major traffic management plan, involving more buses and a limit on the number of private vehicles, is being prepared before construction begins.

Commuters will face massive traffic disruption for several years as stations are built under two of the city’s main thoroughfares, O’Connell Street Bridge and Parnell Street.

The Government has now asked Dublin City Council to report on how best to redirect and manage traffic in a bid to minimise potential gridlock.

A spokeswoman for the Transport Minister Noel Dempsey said the number of cars permitted to enter the city centre during major construction would be reduced.

She declined to speculate on whether streets may be closed off completely or how long restrictions might last.

Last week, Mr Dempsey admitted that the Metro was among 13 major public transport projects which have been delayed.

The Metro, which will run from the city centre to Dublin Airport, is now due for completion by 2013 and not 2012 as originally envisaged.

Green cars were on display at the Geneva Auto Show last week, fueled by rising oil prices and environmental concerns.

Car makers presented an array of cars that run on a variety of sources, from electricity to diesel. The Saab 9-X BioHybrid, for instance, won recognition for Best Concept for its 1.4-liter BioPower turbo engine backed by GM’s next generation hybrid system. Daimler showed a Mercedes SUV, the BlueTEC Hybrid. Nissan said it would launch an electric car in the U.S. in 2010, and release it worldwide in 2012.

General Motors confirmed its $4 million investment in Think Global, a Norwegian electric car maker, which debuted its Think Ox at the show, a five-seat car with a range of 125 miles per charge.

Daimler said it has a hydrogen model that can reproduced affordably in large quantities, but the lack of infrastructure presents a barrier. For others, biofuels, such as ethanol, are the name of the game. For instance, Lotus displayed a version of its Exige 270E Tri-fuel that runs on gasoline, ethanol and methanol.

Toyota, maker of the wildly successful Prius, also debuted its iQ model, which it bills as the world’s smallest four-seater.

Alistair Darling will attempt to reassert the Government’s green credentials in his Budget on Wednesday by cracking down on high-emission “gas guzzlers” and encouraging the production of more fuel-efficient vehicles.

He is expected to make it clear that the battle against climate change is one of the Treasury’s key objectives and is thought to be considering a showroom tax of up to £2,000 on the most polluting cars. He may take his lead from a series of radical proposals for cutting emissions which will be outlined in a report by Professor Julia King, vice-chancellor of Aston University.

They are thought to include a recommendation to give councils the power to ban high-emission cars from town centres, or to restrict parking to vehicles producing the least pollution.

But yesterday George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, warned Mr Darling not to use environmental levies as new “stealth taxes”, urging him to offset green tax increases with cuts elsewhere.

Charlie Kronick, a senior climate change campaigner at Greenpeace, was sceptical about the Government’s so-called green credentials saying: “The reality has yet to match the rhetoric.”

The electoral significance of the debate about green taxes will also be the underlined in policies to be unveiled today by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. He is to launch his transport manifesto for the capital, which will include a commitment to introduce 500 hybrid-engined buses by 2010. He is already planning to increase to £25 the congestion charge for the most polluting cars if they drive into the centre of London.

The Chancellor is also expected to introduce higher taxes on wine and spirits, amid growing concern at binge drinking, but is not expected to include a windfall tax on power companies, despite their record profits.

Alfa Romeo is returning to the US market in about a year, offering the zooty 8C Competizione and 8C Spider atop a range of less spectacular offerings. While the top-end 8Cs will probably be Italian emigres, the 149 and 169 sedans could be put together in Mexico. Alfa doesn’t have a hard and fast decision yet, and could pick another site, even one in North America. Moving the labor to Mexico for the volume sellers might prove to be a wise move on Alfa’s part. The dollar continues to take a beating, pushing up the cost of European items on US sales markets, and building somewhere else would sidestep some of those increased costs. Alfa is trying this idea in China, too, where Chery will assemble automobiles for that market. We’re all for it if it gets the keys to some stylish Italians in our hands while holding the prices down. The quality can’t be any worse than it was in the bad old days that led to the notorious reputation for unreliability that afflicted Italian marques. Besides, those shop queens were so joyous to drive, they made suckers out of all of us, and we’d do it again, given the chance.

We finally wound our way over to Opel’s booth to check out the newest take on the compact MPV concept. The Meriva’s small footprint would lend itself well to the urban confines Opel expects the majority of buyers to be based out of, and the FlexDoors, a modern take on the suicide doors of yore, should make ingress and egress easier for the kiddies and anyone else banished to the back of the mini-bus. Opel wanted to maintain the stylistic edge of a high belt-line, which normally impedes rearward visibility, but the slopping rear windows and D-pillar might make blind spots a bit more bearable when some version of the Meriva makes it to production around the turn of the decade.

Audi brought some more of its Le Mans-conquering technology to the street in the form of the new Audi R8 V-12 TDI. The R8 V12 TDI is a concept that melds the 6.0L V-12 diesel from last years Q7 concept with the award winning R8 sports car. The concept engine shares a cylinder count with the race-winning R10, but it’s actually a completely new engine with a 60-degree bank angle instead of the 90 degrees used on the race engine. While the 500 hp is only par for the course in its class, the 738 lb-ft of torque is enough to shred all four tires with ease. While the R8 V12 TDI storms to 62mph in 4.2 seconds and maxes out at 186mph, it also manages to get 23 MPG. The combination of a 29,000-psi direct-inject fuel injection system, particulate filters and urea injection allows this beast to pass 2014 EuroVI emissions standards, too.

And here we thought it looked good in white. Land Rover is quick to remind that the LRX is just a concept, but it’s sending a pretty strong message in Geneva, where a second, black-and-silver LRX will join the original white truck that premiered in Detroit. And the new one is even hotter than the original, itself one of the best concepts of the last year. It’s supposed to demonstrate how a (potential) production LRX could be personalized, and we would like to have one delivered to our personal garage approximately yesterday.

The rakish shape now features a silver roof fitted with side rails and a removable carbon-composite panel. This beautifully contrasts the black primary finish, and aluminum-accented details do their part to further dress up the exterior. As a subtle reminder to onlookers that this is still a Land Rover despite its elegance, matte-finished protective trim adorns the side sills and wheel flares. Furthermore, carbon-composite skidplates supply underbody protection. Inside, a sumptuous-sounding (LR hasn’t released any pictures yet) tan-and-dark chocolate interior awaits. Motivation comes from a 2.0L diesel hybrid that is theoretically capable of 60 mpg on the EU combined cycle. The Electric Rear Axle Drive can power the SUV on its own up to 20 mph, and it also can be used to supply additional torque when the LRX is playing in 4×4 mode. Like we said earlier, the LRX is still only a concept, but Land Rover will be actively monitoring customer and dealer interest in Geneva.

Has the recent wave of diesels wiped away those cloudy memories of choking on diesel fumes from those old Benzes on the road in front of you yet? Well prepare to let go of the last vestiges of diesel apprehension. Audi today revealed its R8 V12 TDI Concept at the Detroit Auto Show.

The Audi V12 TDI Concept is powered by a 6.0L V12 TDI engine that produces 500-hp and 738 pounds of earth twisting torque. 0-60mph comes in at 4.2 seconds and its top speed is well over 186.41 mph. Despite Audi’s conservative language, we can’t see much of a reason for this slick piece not to make it to market.

After Audi’s recent LeMans win with a diesel-powered race car, this diesel ’super sports car’ as Audi calls it, the R8 V12 TDI was the next logical step. In addition to the impressive torque, Audi claims the R8 V12 TDI should be good for 24MPG.  Not bad. Just don’t get run over by a big rig while pumping fuel at the rest stop, your roof is probably around the height of their bumpers after all. Oh and remember to wave at your fellow diesel powered buddies in their old Benzes.