After Much Tinkering, Toyota Finally Gets the Tundra Right   14 Aug 2007 10:32 GMT
Let's dispel the myth of Toyota's magic touch. And let's start with the Tundra. Full-sized pickup trucks have been the hardest nut for foreign automakers to crack. Partly, it's cultural. In pickup-truck America, if you want a serious machine, you...
Source: wired.com

As Detroit Goes, So Goes America?   14 Aug 2007 10:28 GMT
Perhaps the U.S. should throw in the towel on manufacturing once and for all. As bad as automakers find themselves, auto-parts suppliers have shed more than four times as many jobs in the past six years. And the news is...
Source: wired.com

GM Outlines Its Plans for Going Green   13 Aug 2007 19:05 GMT
Recognizing that its current product line is in worse shape than executives predicted even nine months ago, General Motors has begun accelerating various green technologies. Last week the company laid out plans for moving these into showrooms as quickly as...
Source: wired.com

Study Claims that Car Loans Should Be Adjusted for Make   13 Aug 2007 10:53 GMT
As the world's stock markets fret and swoon over tightening credit, car buyers might take a pop in the nose from a different source. Household Credit Usage, a clumsy title for a forthcoming book from Palgrave MacMillan, argues that the...
Source: wired.com

Lithium-Ion Proves to Be the Linchpin in Next-Gen Autos   13 Aug 2007 10:41 GMT
The same week that Toyota announced a two-year delay in its next-generation Prius because lithium-ion batteries would not be ready, GM announced that its all-electric Volt would go into testing this spring. The Volt will also use lithium-ion batteries. The...
Source: wired.com

Chrysler Chemist Comes Out Swinging Against Critics of Alternative Fuels   13 Aug 2007 10:28 GMT
In a sign of just how nasty the propaganda wars are getting over alternative fuels, Chrysler's senior manager of fuels programs made a blistering attack at key opponents in an address to Management Briefing Seminars last week. Loren Beard wasted...
Source: wired.com

Spy Shots of Dodge Challenger Show Muscle Car Grit   13 Aug 2007 10:25 GMT
Credit the Ford Mustang for reawakening America's taste in muscle cars. Although the Mustang never went away, the retro styling on the redesign has spiked a profitable lust with Baby Boomers and Gen Xers alike for a mid-sized car with...
Source: wired.com

America Passes the Buck on Aging Infrastructure   13 Aug 2007 10:11 GMT
Right before he slipped out of town for vacation last week, President Bush rejected a bipartisan proposal to raise the gas tax in order to pay for repairs on the 73,784 U.S. bridges that are deemed structurally deficient. To be...
Source: wired.com

Nissan's Catalytic Converter Cuts Use of Precious Metals   13 Aug 2007 06:55 GMT
Nissan has developed a catalytic converter that uses roughly half the amount of precious metals current models use. The catalytic converter is an exhaust chamber that is filled with a mix of platinum, rhodium and palladium. It captures harmful toxins...
Source: wired.com

Daewoo Official Hints that GM Mini-Car May Come to U.S.   11 Aug 2007 21:41 GMT
At the New York Auto Show, GM introduced three mini-car concepts intended for its Daewoo division: the Trax, the Beat and the Groove. None was intended to make it to the United States. That was then. Now, Michael Grimaldi, president...
Source: wired.com