Westport Innovations has just signed a second deal with General Motors to produce light duty natural gas engines, and it’s probably not the last time we’ll be seeing these kind of partnerships forming. Natural gas vehicles have been explored previously on TTAC, but the technology hasn’t been fully explored in-depth, aside from some well-informed comments in various articles.
After my idea for a DUI Telepresence Crown Victoria Racing series failed to attract the shadowy Eastern European investors I’d hoped to line up, I got to thinking about spec racing. Everybody in a spec racing series runs the same kind of car, which makes parts easy to get and (in theory, though sure as hell not in practice) puts the focus on driver skill rather than vehicle price. There’s Spec Miata and Spec E30 and Spec Neon and all the rest, but it’s sort of boring watching those races. Spec racing needs better cars, and we’re going to pick the best one right now! (Read More…)
Back in the 1990s, Volkswagen and Trek Bicycles got together for a co-branding deal that shook the world (if you define “the world” as “a couple of zip codes in Marin County“): Golfs and Jettas with sporty-looking upholstery, roof racks, and matching Trek bikes! 15 years later, all but the most fanatical VW and/or bicycle zealots have forgotten the Trek Limited Edition VWs, which makes this an especially rare Junkyard Find. (Read More…)
Toyota and BMW will announce a closer alliance as early as Friday, The Nikkei [sub] and Tokyo scuttlebutt say. According to the Nikkei, the two will share Toyota’s hybrid and fuel cell technology. BMW will try seeking scale effects for its CFRP technology. TTAC will feature a closer look into Toyota’s carbon fiber capabilities once we have finished our own research. (Read More…)
Tomorrow, Thursday, the management of Opel will present an allegedly comprehensive turnaround plan to its supervisory board, Reuters reports. If GM stockholders expect a big bang to lift their holdings, they will most likely be disappointed. The plan is expected to deliver less and that later. However, it looks like Opel might share pain and plants with PSA Peugeot Citroen. (Read More…)
Bill writes:
Sajeev,
I read your column (a while back – SM) lamenting the drop off of correspondence relating to automotive issues of the failing mechanical kind, and I was moved sufficiently enough to set up your email address and respond with a situation leaning near the “no matter how stupid” edge of the spectrum.
My wife’s car is a 1996 Honda Civic LX 4 door, silver in color, 4 speed automatic transmission, and boasting the passing of 113,000+ miles with nary a problem other than the failing of 2 oxygen sensors around 55,000 miles each time.
I have kept to the maintenance schedule with religious fervor since our purchase of the vehicle in 1997 with 9,500 miles showing on the odometer. I do change the oil & filter myself because of the predilection of anyone changing oil professsionally to overfill the reservoir, thus prompting me to have to go under the car and drain out the excess.
But I digress.
My problem with the car is that it sits in the garage about 98% of the time because my wife does not drive except on those rare occasions when the Dollar Tree beckons with false promises of quantity and quality at a low price – kind of like Hyundai during their early days.
In spring I mount UHP summer tires, and in winter I mount dedicated winter tires in hopes that having the proper rubber meeting the road regardless of weather will spur a desire within my wife to back out of the garage and go forth into the world.
But that is rarely the case, so I am wondering if I am spending $65.00 twice a year to dismount and mount tires on the same wheels for the purpose of covering about 3,000 miles per annum is a waste of money or if I should buy a new set of sharp looking alloy wheels for the summer tires and leave the winter tires on the Acura GSR twisties currently on the car.
Failing that I have attached my never read by anyone story about the Daihatsu Midget doing a lap of the famed Nurburgring. Hopefully it will provide a few moments of amusement as you wait patiently for someone to provide a more useful quandery of the automotive kind to ponder.
Sincerely and Seriously,
Bill (Read More…)
“I wish I came up with that.”
That’s a phrase I said many a morning when the studios at CCS woke up to a bumper crop of new student designs for the week. Just because you can visualize it doesn’t mean you can make it happen. Self pity/loathing aside, the 5th generation BMW 7-series is one of those visions in my head that I could never make. It’s not my cup of tea, and perhaps you don’t like it either. But the attention to detail (ATD) in this shockingly cohesive Luxury sedan implementation are not to be ignored. (Read More…)
After the much anticipated (yes!) May World Roundup (no hyphen) article last Monday, I thought I’d spoil you and come back unannounced right in the middle of the week to lighten up a drab day at work. If you’re having a fantastic day at work, make your way out . If when you click on the link above you find you absolutely love that little Roundup of mine, then you are welcome to check out previous world Roundups here for March 2012 (“Has the Hybrid era started for good?”), and here for April 2012 (“Big change coming from India”).
Today, we are travelling through time to have a look at the best-selling models in the USA 20 years ago, in 1992. Yes, 1992 is 20 years ago. I know. I also feel like I just celebrated NYE 1993. But we are all 20 years older now. So if you are having a fantastic day at work, AND you were born after 1992, man/woman, just don’t talk to me ok?
So don’t talk to me and visit 164 additional countries and territories in my blog. There.
Now back to 1992.
And 1992 was the year of the Ford Taurus…
Does the new 991 need more power? After all, in addition to the inevitable (and mandatory) color-mag fellatio you’d expect, it’s already impressed Brendan McAleer at a Porsche-operated press event and squeaked out a narrow victory over a Mustang GT in an impromptu challenge at Summit Point’s Shenandoah course.
In the days when Porsche was a manufacturer of sports cars, rather than a purveyor of two-ton plasti-metallic pig-mobiles doing the occasional sporting car for purposes of brand enhancement, its policy of continuous improvement meant that each year’s 911 was better than the last. Nowadays, however, the company sets out its marketing objectives and molds the product to suit.
Witness: the new 991 Powerkit.
A few weeks ago, I took a Scion FR-S out for a spin. It was an automatic dealer demo, so I decided to withhold judgement until I drove the manual transmission car.
Video NSFW for language
Automotive News features one of the better breakdowns of automaker Facebook campaigns, minus the breathless masturbatory social media buzzwords that so frequently surround any discussion of “engagement” or “conversations” . The consensus seems to be shifting in one direction; it’s worthless, even if Mark Rechtin and David Barkholz are too polite to say so.
Is Social Security the third rail of politics?
Perhaps. I don’t know a single politician who ever got elected by telling his constituents, “Let’s cut Social Security expenditures to seniors.”
That would almost be like trying to become the CEO of a company by telling the senior executives, “You know… we get paid far too much for the work we do. Let’s cut our pay and while we’re at it, reduce our executive pension programs.”
In a similar vein, raising speed limits tends to get a similar reception with most county and city governments. The lost revenue. The safety issues. The ‘children’. When discussing this idea in any public meeting, you’re likely to get little more than a combination of glazed eyes and hard stares from city officials.
But it’s a bit different in Bricklynn. That’s because Bricklynn’s citizens are a bit more involved in their town’s decision making than usual.
Mazda is set to build the final RX-8, bringing a temporary end to the rotary engine, which powered its flagship sports cars for 45 years.
Like Lexus and Infiniti, Acura launched with two models, a bespoke flagship sedan and a smaller car based on an existing mainstream model. Unlike the Lexus ES 250 and the Infiniti M30, though, the Acura Integra received rave reviews. The Integra was discontinued for 2002 as part of Acura’s failed upmarket push. The Civic-based Integra […]
Ford expects June new car and truck sales to come in at the same rate as in May, and sees a cloudy rest of the year as the outlook for the economy remains mixed. (Read More…)
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