Lear Gets Creditors’ Support as It Seeks Chapter 11 Status   08 Jul 2009 05:56 GMT
The automotive-parts supplier filed for bankruptcy protection after receiving support it needed from lenders and bondholders to reorganize its struggling business.


Source: NY Times

Claimants in G.M. Tort Cases Are Denied   08 Jul 2009 05:17 GMT
An appeal of General Motors’ sale of most of its assets by asbestos claimants and car accident victims should not go directly to the United States Court of Appeals in New York, a judge ruled Tuesday.


Source: NY Times

Sending GPS Devices the Way of the Tape Deck?   08 Jul 2009 05:06 GMT
The smartphone is beginning to displace the GPS receiver as a convenient way for drivers to get directions to unknown destinations.


Source: NY Times

Hybrid Supercar Coming From McLaren?   07 Jul 2009 22:17 GMT
McLaren, a company synonymous with Formula 1 and famous for the F1 supercar, is looking for a hybrid drivetrain engineer, fueling speculation that it is working on a gas-electric road car. The British firm has posted a job listing on its website seeking a ’senior engineer - powertrain hybrid technology.” More tantalizing is the fact the [...]
Source: wired.com

Crossing a Very Big Sea In a Very Small Boat   07 Jul 2009 19:44 GMT
There’s madness, and then there’s crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a 21-foot fishing boat designed for shallow water. Ralph Brown of Florida is doing just that. Go ahead and call him crazy. He doesn’t care. Brown and his older brother Robert are well into their 6,200-mile journey from Tampa Bay, Florida to Germany in an Intruder [...]
Source: wired.com

Wheels: Brake Dust, a Non-Problem   07 Jul 2009 18:29 GMT
Some people think that brake dust means the brakes are wearing out too quickly and not functioning properly, which is false. So why does J.D. Power consider it a problem?


Source: NY Times

1.5 Millionth Corvette Rolls Out   07 Jul 2009 18:14 GMT
Showing that when General Motors gets it right, it really gets it right, Chevrolet just rolled out the 1.5 millionth Corvette. And just like the first Corvette to roll off the line in 1953, the latest one to emerge from the factory in Bowling Green, Ky., is white with a red interior. The Corvette is [...]
Source: wired.com

Boston Brings ’70s-Style Crash Avoidance To WWII-Era Trolleys   07 Jul 2009 17:23 GMT
Following a series of high-profile collisions on public transit systems in Boston, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, Boston’s mass-transit system is finally testing a crash avoidance system on some of the world’s oldest continually-operating trolleys. The crash avoidance system uses radio waves to detect upcoming obstacles such as other trains and is hardly high tech. Then [...]
Source: wired.com

The Plug-In Prius Is Coming In 2012   06 Jul 2009 19:59 GMT
After teasing us with photos of the Prius plug-in hybrid and mumbling about leasing 500 to fleets later this year, Toyota will mass-produce the car and offer it for sale in 2012. We’re not talking about a few hundred, or even a few thousand, cars here but a full-scale run of 20,000 to 30,000 vehicles in [...]
Source: wired.com

The EV ‘Moon Shot’ Is A Challenging Mission   06 Jul 2009 19:33 GMT
The electrification of the automobile has been called the auto industry’s “moon shot,” an analogy that works because of both the technology involved and the cost to develop it. Automakers are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the effort with no promise that it will lead to affordable battery-powered vehicles anytime soon — or [...]
Source: wired.com