Bentley has a new car coming out this summer called the Grand Bentley. They have released this very short teaser clip about the new car. There is also a website at newgrandbentley.com. The words in the video describe a place (Bentley) where products are created with quality in a world that is spinning faster and faster and most things are copies of copies. Take a look:
With new auto regulations coming smaller, more fuel-efficient cars are likely to become the norm. The Wall Street Journal says other ideas to make vehicles more fuel-efficient include gas engines that shut down when idyling, lighter more aerodynamic vehicles and tires that have less-friction with the road. The downside to this is safety may take a hit. Lighter vehicles may have weaker cages offering less protection to the people inside. Take a look:
Inhabitat reports that the WorldF3rst racing car made by the Warwick Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre is made with vegetables and powered by chocolate. The car was made from sustainable and renewable materials. Carrots were incorporated into the steering wheel and potatoes into the windows. Soybean oil was also used in the seats. The car is powered by a biofuel made from waste products from chocolate factories.
Here are the Webby automotive awards. The nominees are basically interactive auto ad websites. The Porsche site that lets you draw a road is probably the best of the five.
The concept vehicle by Hungarian designer David Raffai is called the BMW Sngu. Dvice says Raffai considers the vehicle a "social space with wheels." The concept car would have changeable side graphics and use green technologies including hydrogen fuel cells. The vehicle has a unique seating arrangement in the back, which is meant to allow more room and comfort for passengers.
People who have had a heart attack are likely to report having been in traffic shortly before their symptoms began, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's 49th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.
Driving a car was the most common source of traffic exposure, but taking public transportation or riding a bicycle were other forms of exposure to traffic. Overall, time spent in any mode of transportation in traffic was associated with a 3.2 times higher risk than time spent away from this trigger. Females, elderly males, patients who were unemployed, and those with a history of angina were affected the most by traffic.
"Driving or riding in heavy traffic poses an additional risk of eliciting a heart attack in persons already at elevated risk," said Annette Peters, Ph.D., lead author of the study and head of the research unit at the Institute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum Muchen, Germany.
While this study wasn't structured to pinpoint the reasons that being in traffic may have increased the risk of heart attack, "one potential factor could be the exhaust and air pollution coming from other cars," Peters said. "But we can't exclude the synergy between stress and air pollution that could tip the balance."
Pollution could play a role but stress can lead to a heart attack for those already at risk so it seems logical that stress from urban traffic could be a trigger.
A woman struggles to park her car in a parking lot. Eventually a frustrated driver of another vehicle helps her park it. Maybe she was just having a really bad day.
Luxury UK car manufacturer Bentley Motors Ltd. has cut another 220 jobs and reduced salaries by 10%. The International Herald Tribunereports that these cuts come in addition to 230 jobs the company shed in December.
The top-end car manufacturer already shed 230 jobs in December. Last month the company, a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, said it would stop production at its plant in the central English city of Cheshire for seven weeks beginning in March to deal with the collapse in the auto market.
Car sales have crashed as Britain has fallen deeper into recession, and the future of the country's auto sector is in doubt. Many companies, such as Jaguar Land Rover, have asked for government help to survive. Suppliers have also suffered - British car parts maker Wagon PLC filed for a form of bankruptcy in December.
This Volvo has been adorned with singing fish and a mechanical lobster. Wow. What a crazy thing to do to your car. There are about 250 fish and lobsters on the car. (via Buzzfeed)
For those who would be happy with their favorite musicians acting as their personal DJ this technology called CarStars is for you. Designed to create a user interface tailored to a driver's specific tastes, CarStars provides an in-car entertainment experience using celebrity images and voices. For instance, coupe drivers can go hip hop with American King/Capital Records recording artist Mims calling out the tunes, while an SUV owner might opt for an R&B theme with Nick Ashford. CNET has some photographs of CarStars here. In the demonstration in the video below, hip-hop star Mims is making the music suggestions.
The AP reports that Nissan is recalling over 240,000 trucks because of a flaw that could front air bags from deploying in a crash. The recalls are in twenty cold weather states where salt used on roads coult rust a crash zone sensor.
The government said in a posting on its Web site Wednesday that the recall affects the Frontier, Pathfinder and Xterra for the 2005-2009 model years.
In states where winter time road salt is used, a mix of snow and salt could enter a crash zone sensor area and rust, interrupting the signal and potentially preventing the front air bags from deploying in a crash.
The recall report from the can be found here (PDF file) (via TruckTrend.com)
A national salt shortage has U.S. towns and cities turning to alternatives that include molasses, garlic salt and a product that smells like soy sauce reports the Wall Street Journal.
Soaring rock-salt prices are prompting communities across the U.S. to try novel alternatives for clearing snow and ice, including molasses, garlic salt and a rum-production byproduct that smells like soy sauce.
Rock-salt prices normally surge in January and February, when communities running low on salt resort to buying the de-icing compound on the open market. But after last year's fierce winter taxed supplies, state and local government officials ordered tens of thousands of tons more salt ahead of this season. The high demand pushed salt prices to $60 to $120 per ton in many places, from last year's range of $30 to $50 a ton.
The molasses mix being used according to the WSJ is a mix of molasses, calcium chloride and brine. It's said to be a gooey mixture (as you might expect) but those using it claim it works.
Paul Simonsen, a maintenance superintendent for the Washington state department of transportation, has been mixing de-sugared molasses into saltwater, creating a gooey mixture that can keep roadways clear for three or four wintry days, he said.
The mix consists of molasses from a local supplier, calcium chloride and brine donated by a local dairy company. Mr. Simonsen had been experimenting with the right proportions and ingredients for several years, blending them in a 1,000-gallon vat and dispersing the liquid with the same salt trucks. He first used it last year on a busy mountain pass in southwest Washington.
As long as the chemicals being used can lower the freezing point of the snow and ice and help drivers gain traction than it should be effective - or at least better than it would be if you did nothing at all.
CNN reports that gas prices have hit a five-year low after falling for seven straight days. The AAA has the nation's average gas price at $1.630 a gallon. A year ago gas prices were just over the $3 mark and earlier this summer they hit a peak of $4.114 a gallon. The $1.630 average is the lowest we have seen gas prices since February 18, 2004 when they were $1.63.
Today, the AAA has gas prices down again to $1.627 which is even lower than the Feb. 18, 2004 number. You can find the AAA's Fuel Gauge Report here.
Chrysler says it will close all 30 of its manufacturing plants for a month starting Friday. Chrysler says the decrease in demand requires a slowdown in production. Crysler also says tight credit markets are keepign buyers away from its showroom.s
In a statement Wednesday, Chrysler said tighter credit markets are keeping would-be buyers away from its showrooms. The company said its dealers are unable to close sales for buyers due to a lack of financing, and estimate that 20 to 25 percent of their volume has been lost due to the credit situation. Sales in November slid 47.1 percent.
Kate Couric reports for CBS that there is a road salt shortage. The reasons are that Hurricanes Ike and Gustav delayed barges from making salt deliveries. Last Winter's higher snowfalls also depleted salt stockpiles. With this year's Winter already starting out as a colder winter the road salt shortage could escalate. Shortages are already impacting some roads around the nation - see here, here and here.
Luxury UK car manufacturer 
