Run-Flat Tires Slow to Gain Traction with Consumers   30 Jul 2007 15:16 GMT
Once found primarily on premium sports cars such as the Corvette, car makers are now putting run-flat tires on minivans, sedans and everyday driving utilities. But consumers are balking. The safety and convenience of the tires are great. A stiff...
Source: wired.com

European Luxury Brands Are Greener than Thou   30 Jul 2007 15:16 GMT
Wasting no time to hop on the climate-change bandwagon, Europe's luxury automakers are flooding the market with ads that portray their cars as energy efficient and designed with the planet's welfare in mind. Saab is running print ads for its...
Source: wired.com

Forbes Lists 20 Most Dangerous Cars   30 Jul 2007 10:56 GMT
The Nissan 350Z has a death rate that's roughly double that of the average sports car. Is it the Nissan's fault? Truth is, the car is relatively inexpensive for the power it delivers. As a result, it finds many younger,...
Source: wired.com

Chrysler Extends Warranty to . . . Like, Forever   30 Jul 2007 10:38 GMT
Last week Chrysler announced that it was extending its three-year, 36,000-mile warranty on engines and drivetrains to a lifetime guarantee. This raises the macabre question, is it the lifetime of your car or the lifetime of Chrysler? The latter isn't...
Source: wired.com

California's High Court Says Police Can't Seize Cars in Arrest   30 Jul 2007 10:28 GMT
In a split ruling, California's Supreme Court ruled that city police have no right to seize a suspect's car when he is arrested for soliciting prostitutes or buying drugs. The Court reasoned that cities can't pass ordinances that are harsher...
Source: wired.com

Mercedes-Benz to Adopt Start-Stop Technology Across Its Entire Line   30 Jul 2007 10:13 GMT
BMW fairly stole the Geneva Auto Show spotlight with its start-stop technology, which kills the engine whenever the car comes to a stop, then restarts it when the driver lifts from the brake. Now Mercedes-Benz has decided to fight back...
Source: wired.com

Is There Such Thing As a Green Luxury Car?   30 Jul 2007 10:07 GMT
Never mind the price of gasoline. If you can afford a luxury make, the cost of running it is trivial. Yet one clear trend among today's U.S. auto buyers is that even the well-heeled want to do their part for...
Source: wired.com

An Outsider Comes to Save a Company Town   30 Jul 2007 10:06 GMT
Company towns engender complacency. Consider the film industry and Los Angeles--or politics and Washington. The rare outsider can shake the accepted ways of doing business, but usually at a very high price. When Ford hired Alan Mulally from Boeing last...
Source: wired.com

Collecting: How Ford Brought Power to the People   27 Jul 2007 22:37 GMT
Three decades before the muscle car’s heyday, Henry Ford invented the hot rod by bolting a V-8 engine into a light, attractive body in the 1932 Ford.
Source: NY Times

Greenbox Turns Auto Exhaust into Fuel   27 Jul 2007 22:18 GMT
In a breakthrough that seems too good to be true, three fishing buddies from Wales have developed a technology that traps ordinary car emissions and can later turn them into biofuel. The technology, called Greenbox, would replace a car's exhaust...
Source: wired.com