Archive for the ‘Design’ Category

GM And Segway Hope Two-Seat Scooter Solves Problem

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

Nothing's guaranteed yet, but if there's enough interest in the machine GM and Segway hope they can put a two-seat transportation device on the market one day. It's not the answer to all of our transportation issues, but it could help a lot of people. 

Lexus Announces Prices For New RL350 Crossover

Saturday, February 7th, 2009

The third version of the popular RL crossover model will go on sale soon, with a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of $36,800 for the front-drive model and $38,200 for the all-wheel-drive. There's also a handling fee of $825, which you do not have to pay, though the company and the ...

Cadillac Shows Off Fabulous Coupe Electric Vehicle

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

The Converj concept coupe from Cadillac is essentially the stylish follow-up to the Chevrolet Volt, since it will share the same power source -- a battery that will provide a majority of the world enough electricity-driven range to live a normal life, with a small gas-powered engine onboard to keep ...

Chevrolet Equinox Now More Like A Malibu Wagon

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

Before consumers got scared off by high gas prices, many of them found the Chevrolet Equinox a nice compromise between a car and the bigger SUVs on the market. Well now the Equinox is back and features a lot of the charms of the Malibu sedan that won the auto ...

Ford And Magna Show Off Compact EV Concept Car

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

At the end of a few words from an auto journalism's widely appreciated for being a smartass, there is a wealth of information on the BEV available in the press releases from Ford and Magna.

GM Wants To Take Lead In EV Battery Creation

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

If electric vehicles and hybrids are ever to make a significant impact on the amount of oil used on this continent, they will require a steady and stable stream of batteries. Which is why a lot of companies, including General Motors, are determined to see that they come from North ...

Improved Mini Convertible On Sale In Time For Spring

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

Lots of revisions to the droptop little car make it safer and more accommodating, though not much was said about fuel economy. Maybe this car is just too much fun to worry about that. After the short introduction in the attached story there's a link to the entire press release, ...

2010 Buick LaCrosse Is New Upscale Sedan For Fall

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

The 2010 Buick LaCrosse debuts at the Detroit auto show next week, and it's the intention of the GM division to recast the brand in a more upscale and premium light. The primary charms of LaCrosse include its exterior and interior styling, extra-useful personal technologies, and -- of course -- ...

2010 Fusion And Milan Set New Standard For Hybrids

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

Detroit Free Press auto critic Mark Phelan says new sedans from Ford and Mercury have leapt to the top of the hybrid car sweepstakes.

Forget Leather. Cocoanut Could Be Best Car Interior

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

That's the thinking of a bunch of researchers, hoping to help poor farmers while making car interiors more environmentally friendly. Anything's better than preserved animal flesh.

Ford Promising Fleet Of EVs And Hybrids By 2012

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

In an effort to get a line of credit from the U.S. government, Ford is promising to accelerate its plans for more electric vehicles and hybrids in the next four years.

You Wouldn’t Believe How People Decorate Their Cars

Sunday, November 30th, 2008

If you really want to attach pretty much anything you like to the outside of your car so you can exhibit your artistic genius or just get people to stare at you, then you can probably get away with it. Some of the examples of this will amaze or disturb ...

The Car Of The Future For Sure, But At What Cost?

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

This article describing the economics of the auto industry should be instructive for anyone who thinks it's as simple as just building a small electric vehicle. At long last, the vastly over-hyped Tesla Motors may do something worthwhile by showing the uninformed how incredibly difficult it is to actually build ...

Creating New Cars For When You Want To Buy One

Friday, November 21st, 2008

The first thing people will want to do when this recession is over is buy a new car, says the man in charge of Nissan and Renault, so he and his colleagues at other car companies are busy making sure there'll be something new and trendy for you when the ...

Slow Sales Make It Hard To Finance Green Vehicles

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

Car companies from all around the world are rethinking their plans for greener vehicles in the light of the ongoing collapse of new vehicle sales. Without the cash from those sales, they can't afford to research and develop more fuel-efficient technology.

Ford Adds Hybrid To Revised Fusion Sedan Line for 2010

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

By Susan Winlaw A new version of the Ford Mustang and a revised Lincoln MKZ sedan may get the glamour coverage, but most consumers will be interested to see what Ford's doing to its Fusion mid-sized sedan line for early next year.

Company Hopes Seatbelt Corsage Becomes Fashionable

Monday, November 10th, 2008

This seems like a good idea, since you have to do your seatbelt up for the colorful and large corsage to be visible, and anything that gets people doing up their seatbelts is a great idea.

Brit Inventor Off To Africa In Fan-Powered Flying Car

Monday, November 10th, 2008

You have to see the picture of this car in action to appreciate how it works, and how wonderful it would be to have one in many, many situations.

Can Feng Shui Stop Cars Crashing Into House?

Friday, September 19th, 2008

To prevent another car crashing into her house, a Dallas woman addresses the negative energy she long ignored with some Chinese therapy.

Fashion, Fabrics And Colors In Cars

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

Pictures of some cool outfits and why certain colors are and aren't used.

Small Car Fender-Benders Cost Thousands To Fix

Friday, September 5th, 2008

You don't have to be going very fast in a small car to do a lot of damage, a study by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) makes clear. For example, if you hit something (like the wall in a parking garage) with the rear end of a Prius ...

Ford: Shift To Smaller Cars Is Permanent Change

Thursday, September 4th, 2008

Lots of people think the current fascination with smaller cars is a temporary aberration, that the market will go back to big cars when gas prices decline or settle or people decide what else to give up (those $8 designer coffees, for example) or something. But the chief planner for ...

Chrysler Joins List Of Firms Promising Plug-Ins

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008

Struggling Chrysler has added its name to the long list of companies that say they're working on cars that run on batteries (either solely or in conjunction with a gas-powered engine) and can be recharged by plugging them into a regular wall socket. What's different here is that the company ...

If You In The Market For A Convertible

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

Al Haas has a look at convertibles that have good mileage. "It is possible to have frugal fun behind the wheel. I mean, what could be more enjoyable and more wealth-conserving than going topless in a lively convertible that gets surprisingly good mileage? We're going to check out seven frugal-fun ragtops with ...

Human Behavior And Car Buying

Saturday, July 19th, 2008

Jere Downs has a short post on the Ford Flex and how well it will sell when it's first released. She writes "It seems that car purchases are a function of human behavior. Shocking to think that one might drop $30,000 to be the first on the block with a new ...

Are Plug-In Hybrids The Car Of The Future?

Saturday, July 19th, 2008

Christian Science Monitor's Mark Clayton has a look at plug-in hybrids and whether they will break America's dependency on oil. "If the United States breaks its oil addiction, a measure of thanks will no doubt be due to Andy Frank, who some have dubbed the “father of the plug-in hybrid” car. Laboring ...

No Large SUVs In The Future?

Saturday, July 19th, 2008

Mark Phelan writes about how the automakers are responding to $4 gas. "In secure conference rooms, engineering centers and design studios across Detroit, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors are working to create a new generation of fuel-efficient vehicles without repeating their mistakes of the past." "The answer lies in advanced engine technologies, ...

GM Reveals Global Small Car

Friday, July 18th, 2008

General Motors has released information about what vehicle will replace the Chevy Cobalt. The Chevrolet Cruze will be released in the U.S. in mid-2010 and "will be the first vehicle to use GM's revamped Delta 2 platform, an architecture that will be used on all GM small cars around the ...

What Gas Prices Will Do To New Cars

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

There were two good articles yesterday about how one company, General Motors, is responding to the high gas prices by changing their product lineup. Scott Burgess writes " By 2010, some consumers won't recognize their local Chevrolet or Buick dealership. General Motors Corp.'s restructuring will dramatically cut back its lineup of ...

Smaller Cars, Same Features

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

Sharon Silke Carty has an article in USA Today that looks at the challenges automakers face in the new world of $4 gas. The main issue for automakers to work on is to build smaller cars, with less powerful engines, but have all the amenities consumers have become used to. ...

AC And Fuel Consumption

Sunday, July 6th, 2008

Brendan Koerner, in Slate's Green Lantern feature, looks at whether it is more fuel efficient to use the air conditioner or to roll down the windows. There is no easy answer but he concludes "The rule of thumb is to keep the windows down while on city streets, then resort ...

Free Speech And License Plates

Saturday, July 5th, 2008

Stefan Lonce has an Op-Ed in today's NY Times that looks at free speech and license plates. "THE latest license plate controversy erupted last month when the South Carolina Legislature passed America’s first-ever religious specialty license plate, with the slogan “I believe” and the image of a cross over a stained-glass ...

Is There Junk In Your Trunk?

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

USA Today has a story about market researcher Kelley Styring, who is traveling around the country and looking at what kind of items are in peoples cars. "Wearing latex gloves, Kelley Styring picks through the interior of a Chevrolet Malibu like a CSI technician searching for clues. The contents — every ...

Fiat To Return To America?

Friday, June 27th, 2008

Good news for those of you who would like more European-designed vehicles in the U.S. Fiat recently announced plans to re-introduce Alfa Romeo and Fiat branded vehicles in North America beginning next year, after abandoning the U.S. market in 1983. Read more about Fiat's plans in BusinessWeek, Detroit Free Press or ...

Women More At Risk For Whiplash Injuries

Friday, June 27th, 2008

Researchers at Umea University in Sweden have released a dissertation that concluded women are three times more likely than men to suffer a severe neck injury in a rear-end collision. Some of the conclusions of the study were: "For both women and men, the findings show that the driver’s seat entails ...