This morning at what constitutes the crack of dawn for me, I found myself at the dealership getting the oil changed and the Odyssey checked out before a short weekend trip. When the maintenance “adviser” peered into the cockpit and read the odometer she said with considerable surprise, “Don’t have many miles on her […]
Posted on October 30th, 2007 by Shorty
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Lots of concepts coming out of the Tokyo Motor Show this year, including an intriguing offering from Toyota dubbed the 1/X. Apparently this is the future of the Prius line, promising twice the fuel efficiency up to a lovely 92 mpg.
Alot of that high performance is due to weight loss. The 1/X is trimmer than […]
Posted on October 28th, 2007 by Shorty
Filed under: technology, alternative fuels, first look | No Comments »
The General Manager of the Chevrolet Division of GM, Ed Peper, has announced Chevy’s about to start a media push in support of the 2008 Chevy Malibu Hybrid. It’s hard for me to envision an environmentally friendly Malibu when the name still conjures up visions of the early 1970s vintage mustard yellow Malibu coupe my […]
Posted on October 26th, 2007 by Shorty
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When I hit the shipping place I’m always torn about which service to use. Brown by habit, white because sometimes it’s more economical, and yellow can be lightning fast in places where they deliver. But now white — FedEx — is doing something with their European fleet that gets a whole-hearted green thumbs up […]
Posted on October 24th, 2007 by Shorty
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Popular Mechanics is reporting that Japan may get the first plug-in Prius to hit the market. In a briefing by Toyota’s Project General Manager for the company’s Hybrid Vehicle System Engineering Development Division, Yoshitaka Asakura, the indication seemed to be that Toyota won’t wait for lithium-ion batteries to get perfected to go ahead.
I confess my […]
Posted on October 22nd, 2007 by Shorty
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As we start looking at building cars in new and improved ways, new and improved safety standards will need to evolve as well. Popular Mechanics is carrying an interesting article entitled, “Anatomy of Solar Car Crash: How Eco-Racing Buckled Up.”
The article opens with the story of August 12, 2004 when the Blue Sky Solar Racing […]
Posted on October 20th, 2007 by Shorty
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Sometimes car tech isn’t all that flashy and sexy but that doesn’t mean it isn’t important. Rohm and Haas has developed a new adhesive that’s a water-based acrylic called ROBOND. It’s used to make pressure sensitive adhesive tape applied to areas like interior pillars, door panels, ductwork, and instrument panels. This really is groundbreaking stuff […]
Posted on October 18th, 2007 by Shorty
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Some people may be looking forward to the opening of the Tokyo Auto Show next week for the new models we’ll actually see hit the road. Me? I’m a sucker for the concept cars. The ones I really, really, really want to see hit the road — knowing they probably never will.
Toyota will be showing […]
Posted on October 16th, 2007 by Shorty
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SABIC Innovative Plastics recently picked up the 2007 Frost & Sullivan North American Technology Leadership Award for advanced automotive design. The company developed lightweight plastic materials that also get the nod for being environmentally friendly. Their lightweight resins and composite technologies are being used by General Motors and Hyundai in some of their concept vehicles, […]
Posted on October 14th, 2007 by Shorty
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ABI, a tech marketing research outfit out of New York just published a new study, “Automotive Wireless Networks: Opportunities for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, RFID, Satellite, and Other Emerging Wireless Technologies.” Long story short. Cars are going to get even more techy — and pretty fast.
The data shows that next year about 25 million vehicles will be […]
Posted on October 12th, 2007 by Shorty
Filed under: technology | No Comments »
