Automotive News : Nissan Rolls Out Fuel-Efficiency Gauge To Boost "Eco Driving"

Automotive News

As part of its ongoing effort to get drivers to think green behind the wheel, Nissan on Tuesday said it is rolling out a fuel-efficiency gauge as a standard feature on such current models as the Altima and Infiniti G35 in the U.S. The company predicts it could "lead to an average 10 percent improvement in fuel efficiency."

The device eventually will be featured on all future new models, the company said.

The gauge gives instant fuel-efficiency and average efficiency readings. "By accelerating, the driver would instantly see an increase in fuel consumption reflected on the gauge," the company said in a statement. "Based on Nissan's trials, drivers have tended to improve their eco-driving habits over time, prompted by the real-time fuel-efficiency readings."

The device will also be installed on current models of the Nissan Skyline, Lafesta and Atlas in Japan. Of course, Nissan warns that results "may vary based on individual driving style."

New Car Review : Lamborghini Supercar Coming

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The Internet chat forums are buzzing with news about a $1.6 million Lamborghini flagship reportedly going on display next month at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show. Underscoring the high-octane occasion will be its unveiling by German supermodel Nadine Gerhardt.

Lamborghini President and CEO Stephan Winkelmann showed a scale model and a video to selected dealers and VIP customers at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance last weekend. Details are sketchy, but word is that the car's styling was inspired by Lockheed Martin's latest F22 Raptor fighter jet, including its gray paint job and fancy instrument panel.

Several reports claim that only 20 will be built and all of them have already been sold. Potential buyers reportedly handed over $300,000 deposits for the privilege.

Lamborghini is on a roll: It sold 1,239 cars during the first six months of 2007, an increase of more than 30 percent compared with the same period last year. The Italian company is also hugely profitable, making its owner, Volkswagen, fairly happy.

Car Review : Opel Corsa Hybrid Concept

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Green is looking like gold for Opel at the upcoming Frankfurt auto show. The GM brand said on Wednesday it will showcase the world premiere of the Opel Corsa Hybrid concept there in September, along with the Opel Vectra Flexpower. Both vehicles "show potential" for presumably seeing the light of day as production vehicles, Opel said.

The Corsa Hybrid uses the 75-horsepower Corsa 1.3 CDTI and GM's next-generation belt-alternator starter technology, which makes its debut on the concept. It also uses a lithium-ion battery. Opel says the concept "requires just 3.75 liters of diesel per 100 km and emits only 99 grams of CO2 per kilometer."


The Opel Vectra Flexpower with a 2.0-liter turbo engine is designed to use a bioethanol/gas mix. The Vectra Flexpower's 2.0t engine makes 175 hp and 195 pound-feet of torque at 2,500 rpm.

Opel said its ecoFlex lineup in Frankfurt will get special design touches, such as "green spirit" exterior paint. The cabins will be outfitted with green stitching on the leather steering wheel and other spots, just to drive the green point home further

Automotive News : Another X Prize Entrant

Automotive News

Canadian George Parker, a self-described inventor, has toned down a few of his claims since first issuing a press release in March 2006 on a vehicle he called the CV-3000.

The original plan was to build a limited run of the tandem-seated three-wheelers and sell them for $47,500 to $97,500, with the first deliveries slated to begin in the summer of 2006.

According to that early press release, the CV-3000 would be powered by a turbocharged 1.5-liter engine fitted with the company's "gasoline fuel vapor fuel management system." The engine would be mated to a continuously variable transmission, offer 180 horsepower and would zip from zero to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds, with projected fuel economy of 100-150 mpg.

Too good to be true? Apparently.

Rechristened the Alé (pronounced uh-LAY) for its public debut at last fall's SEMA show, the fiberglass-bodied trike was fitted with a Honda engine, and the original heady projections were scaled back to zero to 60 mph in 5.0 seconds and 92 mpg with a more conventional five-speed manual gearbox. Top speed is electronically limited to 140 mph.

The hype continues, however, from Parker's Fuel Vapor Technologies, which in its latest release says it is looking for investors to help put the vehicle into production.

The configuration, although unusual, looks deceptively simple. The two front wheels drive and steer the vehicle. The secret, according to the company, is the fuel management system, a "patent-pending process [that] allows the engine to run on 'fuel vapors' rather than liquid fuel."

Fuel Vapor Technologies says it still intends to enter the Alé in the Automotive X Prize competition for world's most efficient production vehicle. There's only one catch: The Alé is still not in production, which Parker now hopes to commence in 2008.

Automotive News : Lamborghini Thieves Foiled

Automotive News

he LoJack Corporation sent out details of a late-July theft of a Lamborghini Gallardo in Italy by burglars who "used sleeping gas to subdue the victim." The thieves — whom LoJack describes as two Albanians — broke into a vacation home on the Eastern Coast of Italy, knocked out the victim with the gas, and then stole the keys to the Lambo. "Through the LoJack System, Italian police located the vehicle en route on a highway leading from Rome to Naples," the company said in a statement. "Italian State Patrol vehicles seized the vehicle and arrested two thieves, who were from Albania."

The vehicle had been purchased in France, the company said. LoJack used the episode to illustrate its capability to work across the borders of countries, including its European network, as well as a recent U.S./Mexico agreement. The company called its efforts "fighting crime on a global scale." LoJack uses radio frequency technology to help track vehicles.

Car Review : 2008 Volvo S40/V50

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Volvo's entry level S40 sedan has led the last two full-line Volvo makeovers, each of which has met with critical acclaim. Despite the fact that the S40 and its V50 wagon sibling were last redesigned in late 2003 and are both still looking great, like vain Hollywood 30-somethings they've gone under the knife for a nip-tuck anyway. It's nothing overly serious, just a retool of the soft parts on either end, but the result is striking and serves to heighten the resemblance of the S40 to the new flagship S80, and the V50 to its V70 sibling, which is thoroughly renewed for 2008.

Specifically, the S40's face gets new headlamps, a deeper-set chrome-ringed grille with a larger Volvo emblem, and a single lower air intake spanning the width of the chin. The V40 retains its three lower air intakes to emphasize a strong vertical element and gets a prominent black egg-crate grille like the V70's in front. New taillamps and a fascia with new exhaust outlets freshen the rear of both models. An R-design sport-appearance package will become available soon on both the S40 and V50 (also the C70), consisting of lowered front and rear spoilers and side sills, a modest rear wing, and more.

Both models' interiors are freshened to offer more storage space in the doors and the center console, which now includes two cubbies thanks to a new, more space-efficient handbrake design. The trademark slim, freestanding center stack that holds the radio and climate controls can now be finished in Scandinavian oak plywood, to resemble a bent-wood chair (the veneer face is oak, the plywood plies are a resin material-they can't actually bend plywood that thick and use it for a dash, as it would splinter in an accident).

Speaking of safety, the BLindspot Information System (BLIS) is a new stand-alone option ($695), tire-pressure monitoring is standard, and the hazard lights are now programmed to come on automatically in any accident that triggers the airbags. Self-steering bi-Xenon headlamps are new options for the top T5 models ($800).
The range-topping turbocharged T5 variants of each get nine more horsepower, for a total of 227, and that's about all that changes under the skin. We took a test drive in the new S40 T5, and we have to say that the four percent boost in power is less easy to feel through the seat of the pants than is the torque steer through the wheel rim-at least on our front-drive tester. It's not at all unruly-one needn't establish a death grip on the wheel before lowering the hammer, but the effort goes unnaturally light at launch and when the Geartronic transmission upshifts to second under full throttle, especially when the car isn't heading straight ahead. It's a subtle reminder that this entry-luxmobile shares DNA with the Ford Focus and Mazda3 compacts.

The S40 and V50 may not sell themselves to enthusiast drivers based solely on the way they carve corners and dust the quarter mile; but neither should their dynamics deter the hip, IKEA-loyal, young prospective buyers lured by their now even better-looking exterior styling and unmistakably Scandinavian interiors.

Car wallpaper : Volvo S60 R

please click to large pitures

Automotive News

Car wallpaper : Volvo S60 R