When it comes to car failures, we always think of the deadly pinto, in this video, WatchMojo looks at some of the other flops as well. Buckle up!
Road trips, weekends away and drive ins are just some ways that we use our cars to create memories. Today there’s more to consider than just having enough money to fill the tank, but also what effect you’re having on the environment.
Change your driving with these easy tips and tricks so that you can enjoy the open road without the guilt gut.
1-Think about what you’re driving
2- Give your car a check up before a long trip.
3- Slow down and save more
4- Use your cruise control
5- Go easy with the A/C
6- Drive in the right gear
According to Sympatico.MSN
From ChinaCarTimes.com:
The S11 was first unveiled at the Shanghai Auto show earlier this year to an impressed crowd. The car was designed by Shanghai based TJ Innova, the S11 looks fantastic, with Audi and Ferrari design tones slipped into its sleak body, under the platform there is an AWD drivechain pushing power to each corner of the car. From what we hear the S11’s design is completed, and is now at the test stage and will soon be hurtling down the production line in Changchun city, although its not quite clear whose production line they will be using.
GM makes its case with the Volt. Check out WatchMojo’s look a the Volt, and then read more about the new electric car from gm-volt.com:
Close observation of recent developments in the automotive sector leads to a certain conclusion; financial collapse is necessary to bring about needed change.
We are bearing witness to a catastrophic rupture of the car industry as we know it. Not only in terms of the economic machinery upon which it is run, but more so upon the fuel its creations will use. The near death of the auto industry is bringing with it the slow death of the combustion engine.
When GM first introduced the Chevrolet Volt electric car concept, car sales were brisk, oil prices reasonable and the economy appeared healthy. Now that the car is nearing mass production and that most other automakers have subsequently unveiled electric car programs of their own, the economy, the industry, and the company is steeped in disaster.
I do not propose it is the case that the birth of the electric car caused this chaos, but rather it is this chaos that will allow the electric car industry to rise.
Whenever in the history of humankind and industrial progress a new transformational technology has arisen, its ascent has brought with it the demise of that which was before it.
Simple examples are how the typewriter was eradicated by the PC, the Polaroid by the digital camera, or how the horse and cart were replaced by the car. These destructive transformational events take place on many levels, such as the collapse of societies or ecosystems, the extinction of dinosaurs, or even as the big bang gave rise to the universe.
Fundamental market forces of their own right would not have led to a rapid production and adoption of electric cars. Rather, the status quo would have persisted, car companies would have continued to make profitable gas guzzling trucks and people would have kept buy them on credit. Indeed when GM introduced the Volt is was more public relations than an engineering. They didn’t decide to bring it to production until they saw the intense public response. Now it is their last hope.
The collapse of the economy combined with the current administration’s interest in energy independence, alternative energy and electric vehicles will make the rapid rise of the electric car possible.
People have not been buying new cars out of fear of their future economic status, lack of available credit, and a general dearth of financial confidence. They are driving their old cars and are doing so for as long as they can.
The government has chosen to support and recreate the auto industry as one that will grow the already inadvertently kindled electric car enterprise.
And then when the bottom has finally come and gone, and the lean restructured auto companies are mass producing electric cars including the Chevy Volt, the tide will change.
Confidence having begun to rise, and old cars having begun to fail, the people will come. And then our dream will arrive. A country and a world less dependent on oil. The rise of the electric car.
Norway had the idea to ban gas cars by 2015. To be more specific, they out forth a plan that would prohibit the sale of cars that run only on gas. Cars already on the road would not be affected. Hybrids that run partially on gas would still be okay.
The plan, put forth initially by the country’s finance minister (from the Socialist Left Party), is apparently thought of as crazy by the majority of the country, and is opposed by the opposition. The general idea is that since the economy is already bad, the car company’s are worrying about staying afloat, not developing new technologies.
Honestly, it’s not the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard a government propose. Read more…
US carmaker General Motors is joining with scooter maker Segway to make a new type of two-seat electric vehicle.
The prototype, which will be debuted in New York, is aimed at urban driving. GM aims to start making them by 2012.
The vehicle, named Puma, has a top speed of 35mph and can go as far as 35 miles on a single charge. It will use lithium-ion batteries.
GM, having been bailed out by the US government, is looking to smaller vehicles to secure its future.
Puma stands for personal urban mobility and accessibility.
California is doing everything it can to help heal the earth. The latest way they plan to reduce carbon emissions is by…banning black cars. That’s right:
The California legislature is considering regulating the color of cars and reflectivity of paint to reduce the energy requirements to cool them. A presentation on the proposed legislation by the California Air Resources Board is below. (Continue…)
More on Autoblog and CrunchGear.
Rinspeed will be debuting the company’s all-electric car - the iChange - at the Geneva Auto Show next month. Rinspeed, while known for designing extravagant concept cars, says the iChange is not another of these, but shows the dramatic shift in the auto industry. Read more…
Hydrogen cars seem to good to be true. They don’t pollute, they don’t use gas. They’re also non-existent on North American roads. Why, you may ask? They’re difficult and extremely expensive to put together - costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to build. You may also have noticed that there are few hydrogen refueling stations (there are three in California). A few companies are hoping that within the next five years they’ll have hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles in their showrooms. However, some experts estimate that with everything involved, the hydrogen car fad won’t likely take-off for decades. Read more…
WatchMojo got to test drive a BMW hydrogen car. Check it out:
And for more background on hydrogen cars, take a look at this:
Unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show, the 2010 Toyota Prius is the first - and so far only - car in the US to get mileage greater than 50 miles per gallon. This third-generation model is even bigger and more powerful than its predecessors. Read more…
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