Car manufacturers

KERS Formula 1 hybrid system will not be delayed

Filed under: Hybrid, BMW, Honda, Renault The Kinetic Energy Recovery System will indeed be affixed to the powertrains of Formula 1 cars in 2009. The issue of whether the hybrid system should be delayed was recently brought up, with Renault calling a meeting of all the teams together to discuss the problem. It seems that BMW, Honda and Williams were all ready to go with their systems, as these three manufacturers voted in favor of the KERS technology for the '09 racing season. In fact, Honda has ...

The Quest For An All-Day Battery

There is no doubt that all-day computing is peering around the corner. The three questions about how fast it pops around the corner and jumps into our mobile tech lives relate to cost, appearance, and ease. An Intel press release from 2004 provides a blast from the past, detailing how new industry standards and advancements set the goal of achieving eight-hour battery life by 2010. With two years to go, there have been numerous advancements as we get closer to the goal of using our mobile devic...

List of Top 10 Green Cars from Kelley Blue Book Website

Kelley Blue Book's Web site Kbb.com, which provides new and used vehicle information, today announced the launch of KBB Green, a new section designed to guide new-vehicle shoppers on environmental and fuel economy issues. Kelley Blue Book's new Green section allows new-car shoppers to obtain information about alternative-fuel technologies, such as hydrogen cars, diesel cars, hybrid cars, natural gas cars, electric cars and flex fuel/ethanol vehicles, as well as fuel-sipping gasoline cars. The e...

Connection Headaches: When will cars catch up?

How much praise does a manufacturer want for a aux-in socket? Read through either the marketing for a new car, or a car review, and there’s generally an unusually large amount of interest heaped on the stereo having an input for your PMP. Contrast that, say, with one of our own reviews - a notebook, perhaps, or a cellphone - where the progress from one generation of devices to the next is often surprising; why are the car manufacturers so slow to catch up? The old argument was product life-cyc...

Luxurious laptop

In the past, we've seen Laptops named after high-end sports car manufacturers, such as Ferrari and Lamborghini, but what about the luxury car enthusiast? Well, the wait is now over: Ego has announced the Bentley laptop. In keeping with the tradition of the hallowed British brand, the laptop features ...

Bill Gates Buys Stake In AutoNation, Plans To Become Used Car Salesman [Industry News]

Bill Gates has acquired a 5.5% stake in AutoNation, a nationwide chain of car dealerships. The move saw the company's shares increase in value by $1 a share since the purchase was made on Monday, taking the value of Gates's holdings to $90.1 million; in fact, he's now the third largest shareholder. But what does Gates see in the firm? Jalopnik Snap Judgment: Bill Gates has tons of money (literally, Scrooge McDuck style) and invests it in a number of places. Having said that, he is a shrewd inves...

Japanese To Mount Charge On Electric Car Market

With petrol prices on the rise and nothing but doom and gloom from the oil mongers you'd think car manufacturers would be all over the electric car market by now. So far progress has been rather slow, but news that the Japanese are preparing for some major activity should be an encouraging sign.

The miracle berry

By Adam Fowler The berry makes sour things taste sweet Imagine an extract from a berry that would make sour things taste sweet and help you lose weight. Then imagine not being allowed to take it. The world is getting fatter. One billion people are overweight, and 300 million of those are clinically obese. The search is always on for replacements for those things that, eaten in excess, make us obese - fatty and sugary foods. There is no miracle pill that can replace either. Nearly four decades ag...

New car sales in Canada rebound in May

Vehicle sales rebounded in May after three months of declines, although Statistics Canada's monthly report offered little good news for North American manufacturers reeling under the weight of rising gasoline prices and a faltering economy.

Two European Automakers Meet Decade's "Voluntary" CO2 Targets; Success! [Industry News]

Only two companies achieved the voluntary average CO2 target of 140 g/km that European automakers set for themselves in the late 1990's to avoid actual government sanctions. Fiat and Mini were the big winners with emissions of 138.2 and 139.6 g/km, respectively. The worst offenders were Porsche (275.6 g/km), Land Rover (249.2 g/km) and Jeep (218.7 g/km). The figures were published by Clean Green Cars, which also pointed out that "Every manufacturer with average new car emissions significantly ab...