At the same time that Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe was announcing lowered sales forecasts for the automotive giant through 2009, he also released info that fleet testing for the Plug-in Prius has been moved up a year. No doubt, the two are related. Even though Toyota is still locked in a race with General Motors […]
Posted on August 29th, 2008 by Shorty
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I don’t think anyone can argue that we are seeing a rapid globalization of the automotive industry. With few efficient models on hand to offer Americans suffering from high gas prices, car-makers are bringing previously European-only models to the U.S. and the door is open for makers from China and India to get a foot […]
Posted on August 22nd, 2008 by Shorty
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Yesterday while I was on the exercise bike I was reading Ghost Hunting by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, the guys from the Ghost Hunters show. In the chapter on the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, the text explained that the guy who built the place was one of the Stanley brothers responsible for […]
Posted on August 9th, 2008 by Shorty
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Controversies notwithstanding, the Olympics are gearing up and they’re doing so with a green presence courtesy of Volkswagen. The Beijing Olympics will make use of a fleet of 5,000 green cars made by official sponsor VW. They’re using the following models:
- Magotan 2.0 TDI
- Magotan BlueMotion
- Sagitar 2.0 TDI
- Touran EcoFuel
- Tiguan 2.0 TDI
Essentially the […]
Posted on August 6th, 2008 by Shorty
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Tesla Motors, is all over the news this week, with three different announcements of new developments, all released yesterday.
First, they’ve introduced the new Model S, a fully electric five-passenger sedan that will be able to go about 225 miles between charges, and comes with a pricetag of about $60,000. If that seems a […]
Posted on July 1st, 2008 by QueenMab
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Plug-in. Those just seem to be the magic words in the automotive world these days. The latest on the bandwagon, going up against the Chevy Volt destined for showrooms in 2010 and the long-rumored Prius plug-in is venerable VW. Yep, Volkswagen has cooked up a “Twin Drive” Golf sporting a diesel engine with 122 hp […]
Posted on June 27th, 2008 by Shorty
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The only people crowing about high gas prices are the fellows developing alternative fuel prototypes, like Steve Fambro and his team who have produced the Aptera, a two-seat, three-wheel electric vehicle set to go on sale in November 2008. It has a top speed of 95 miles an hour and comes as both an all […]
Posted on June 5th, 2008 by Shorty
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CNN is running a story on Neil Young, 62, (think real hard, rocker, Vietnam, come on, you know the guy.) He and a Wichita mechanic have set out to turn the aging musician’s 1959 Lincoln Continental convertible to an electric. (Same stated goal as all such projects, make this a model for the first affordable, […]
Posted on June 3rd, 2008 by Shorty
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Listening to car ads on the radio these days almost makes me feel sympathetic for the salesmen. They’re literally begging people to buy SUVs that have been sitting on the lot for months. But honestly, with the national per gallon price of gasoline hovering at $4, who they heck is going to buy a land […]
Posted on May 28th, 2008 by Shorty
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Well, hang on to your hats for innovation to come. Tata Motors of India has signed up to compete for the $10 million Progressive Automotive X Prize to be awarded in 2010. And they are the first bona fide automaker to do so. The goal is for participating teams to build cars that will get […]
Posted on May 16th, 2008 by Shorty
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