VW Unveils Six Technologies Coming to a Car Near You   30 Jul 2007 15:16 GMT
Popular Mechanics took a tour of Volkswagen's German test facilities and found six forward looking technologies worth note. If you leave aside, kid-friendly GPSs, smart highway traffic systems, cleaner fuels and variations on direct-injection engines--technologies that every automaker is exploring--two...
Source: wired.com

French President Concerned by Autoworker Suicides   30 Jul 2007 15:16 GMT
Now that a fifth worker at the PSA Peugeot-Citroën car plant in Mulhouse, France, committed suicide since the beginning of the year, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has publicly express concerned about what some psychiatrists are calling an epidemic. Indeed, the...
Source: wired.com

Newest in Hybrid Technologies--the Air Car   30 Jul 2007 15:16 GMT
Leave it to the French to come up with the zaniest automobile technologies. India's largest automaker, Tata, has just licensed from MDI in France a technology for the world's first air car. The engine runs on compressed air and electricity--and...
Source: wired.com

Ford's Hydrogen V10 Hints at the Future   30 Jul 2007 15:16 GMT
Whatever you think about the near- and far-term feasibility of hydrogen-powered vehicles, Ford is pushing the technology's practical limits in this remarkably ugly but practical E-450 shuttle bus. It is powered by Ford's 6.8-liter Triton V10. To make it run...
Source: wired.com

Record Refinery Failures Push Gas Prices Skyward   30 Jul 2007 15:16 GMT
For the better part of this past year oil producers and refiners have blamed each other for soaring gas prices. Congress is threatening action. The auto industry is reeling. And consumers are now paying prices that approach levels sustained immediately...
Source: wired.com

Porsche Readies Hybrid SUV   30 Jul 2007 15:16 GMT
Porsche later this week is holding what it calls one of its technology workshops in Stuttgart during which it will offer more details about its Porsche Cayenne hybrid, which we know now will launch in 2009. It remains determined if...
Source: wired.com

Ferrari Takes Wraps off Track Version of the F430   30 Jul 2007 15:16 GMT
Ferrari's F430 (pictured here) welcomes the third model to its family, the Scuderia, a track friendly version aimed at weekend racers. Unlike the Coupe and Spider, the Scuderia sheds such niceties as standard seats, carpet, stereo and rear windscreen (it's...
Source: wired.com

Lotus 2-Eleven Serves Up Rocket Performance, Low Amenities   30 Jul 2007 15:16 GMT
If you can overlook the fact that it doesn't have doors, windows or a roof, the new Lotus 2-Eleven is street legal and it's heading to U.S. shores. Edmunds got one of the first test rides on Lotus's track in...
Source: wired.com

Brake Linings and Tires Remain Major Source of Urban Toxins   30 Jul 2007 15:16 GMT
Particles worn away from brake linings and tires produce a major source of metal toxins in urban areas, according to a report that will be published next week in the American Chemical Society's Environmental Science Technology. The study, which was...
Source: wired.com

Harley Davidson Woos a New Market: Women   30 Jul 2007 15:16 GMT
Harley-Davidson enjoyed a long spike in Baby-Boomer sales, especially among the midlife-crisis set. Yet this segment of the market has begun to peter out. Not so for women. About 12 percent of all Harley motorcycle sales are to women, roughly...
Source: wired.com