Bush’s proposed fuel-economy standards are ambitious compared to previous efforts. At the very least, they could prompt lobbyists to address how the auto industry will reach a goal of 35 miles per gallon by 2020.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Against the backdrop of Earth Day, the Bush administration proposed vehicle fuel-economy standards more ambitious than the average annual increase needed to reach a goal set by Congress four months ago.
They’ll likely go nowhere for this lame duck administration. But they did sound the starting gun for an all-out effort by lobbyists to wrestle over how industry will reach Congress’ mandated fuel-efficiency goal of 35 miles per gallon by model year 2020 — a 40 percent increase over the current 25-mpg standard. Read more
According to Brian Wingfield
Dunnellon, Fl (PRWEB) April 21, 2008 — 29 Year Trucking Industry veteran, Aubrey “Allen” Smith comes to the aid of truck driving students and new CDL (commercial driver license) drivers by relentlessly exposing the scams within the trucking industry.
Trucking can be a lucrative and ideal profession for the right individuals, but the industry is far from perfect. It is home to a lot of shady or marginally ethical practices used by many truck driving schools and trucking companies. Allen Smith is taking on the role of “whistle blower”. With 29+ years in the industry, he’s all too familiar with the scams and pitfalls. Allen is the original author of “The Truth About Trucking” which can be viewed at http://www.TruthAboutTrucking.com
Allen, a Dunnellon based trucker, has set his goals to help CDL Truck Driving students and new drivers, preventing them from significant money loss and years of frustration. He has published numerous articles which can be found online as a supplement to his book, “The Truth About Trucking” These materials, along with his interactive AskTheTrucker.com blog, allows him to provide clarification on what to really look for when getting started as a truck driver, including the types of schools one should investigate for their truck driver training., and the best types of companies to pursue for a successful career.
As explained in Allen’s book, many of the trucking companies themselves are the “villain” in both aspects as they have their own CDL truck driving schools costing thousands of dollars, and upon completion of the program, hire the graduates, (who have signed a contract to drive for 12-24 months) only to exploit the students post training obligations. Upon graduation, the newly trained CDL drivers are expected to drive for weeks at a time at an extremely low CPM( cents per mile), while also repaying the company back for their training.
Allen creates an awareness to new CDL drivers about trucking companies hiring drivers. Again, recruiters will paint a glorious picture about the company, only to leave the drivers exhausted, disappointed, and emotionally and financially depleted. He creates this awareness by exposing the types of scams, creating red flags to watch out for in the potential employees mind
Allen’s book and articles are honest and straight forward, describing trucking life in the most realistic description possible, as only a trucker for 29 years can do. Another one of his goals is to allow those investigating trucking as a career to see it for what it is, not the candy coated picture that most recruiters attempt to portray truck driving to be. Allen offers 3 valuable Free PDF reports which can be easily obtained for students and drivers desiring this information: http://www.truthabouttrucking.com/free-reports.html
The passionate desire to see his readers succeed within their trucking career is felt on a personal level by his followers. Many of Allen’s readers write him messages on a weekly basis, displaying their support and encouragement for his cause.
If you’re currently involved in the trucking industry or looking to get started, you can investigate further by contacting Allen Smith at http://www.TruthAboutTrucking.com.
LONDON and MILAN, ITALY–(Marketwire - June 14, 2007) - The NEVIS Engine Company Ltd. today announced that it has successfully closed its first round of seed funding to help the Company further test and develop awareness of its breakthrough patented technology incorporated within its first functioning prototype. The NEVIS (New Exhaust Valve & Intake System) engine is an innovative Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) that, within a single patented engine design, is estimated to nearly double the fuel efficiency attained by conventional ICE technologies.
At the heart of the NEVIS technology is both a new combustion cycle (the “Bortone Cycle,” named after the engine’s inventor, Cesare Bortone) and a breakthrough engine design protected by two patents. These innovations combined allow the engine to achieve near-perfect combustion at all levels of power demands (partial power demands of city driving versus full and constant power demands of highway driving). The engine’s versatile design means it can be configured to be fuelled not only by gasoline but also by diesel, hydrogen and bio-fuels.
The Company believes that the NEVIS technology holds enormous potential because, to date, most industry players have focused on adding a second engine (as in today’s hybrids with their electric motors) at significant cost to overcome the inefficiencies of conventional internal combustion engines at varying power demands.
The NEVIS Engine Company Ltd. is a technology commercialisation company formed after the NEVIS Engine prototype went through its first successful bench test in 2006 (funded largely by Italian government grants). Capable of nearly doubling the fuel efficiency attained by conventional engines, its modular cylinder construction offers opportunities to enhance manufacturing efficiency while allowing a single facility to produce a wide range of engine sizes for varying power needs suited for diverse applications (automotive, aeronautic and marine). Its versatile design means it can be configured to be fuelled not only by gasoline, but also by diesel, hydrogen and bio-fuels.
For more information visit us on the Web at www.nevisengine.com.
This is interesting. Nissan is working on a fuel efficient car that will cost around $2,500 and be on the market in less than 2 years. On the one hand it gives millions of people the opportunity to afford a car that they couldn’t now and on the other it will massively increase the worlds dependance on motor vehicles. In any case it will have a huge impact on the worlds automotive market.
Read more here
The first bid is apparently in the door for DaimlerChrysler’s ailing U.S. Chrysler Group.
Canadian auto-parts maker Magna International has teamed up with an unidentified private-equity player to bid $4.6 billion to $4.7 billion for Chrysler, KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brett Hoselton wrote in a note to clients, citing sources at Magna International.
Magna offered to take up to a 25% stake in Chrysler, with the private-equity firm picking up the remaining 75% to 80%, Hoselton said.
Read more.
VUGHT, The Netherlands, March 20 /PRNewswire/ — After many years pioneering with well-known parties such as the Dutch Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) creating a flying and driving vehicle, John Bakker formed a management team and recruited employees to start PAL-V Europe. Investors have been found to back the start-up, and currently initiatives are being taken towards securing more investors to speed up market launch.
Bakker invested 6 years developing a vehicle concept that can fly and drive: PAL-V (Personal Air and Land Vehicle). A dream Henry Ford already had building the first car. This will be a revolution in door to door mobility soon. In countries with underdeveloped infrastructure it means safe, faster transportation but also in developed countries people save lots of time.
The market response is huge: already 2 million website hits. Daily mails from people wanting to buy one. Professional applications like surveillance, mobility for aid organisations, post war aid, for private use bringing faster transportation or just big fun.
The PAL-V is a solution to increasing congestion in cities, highways and skyways.
On the ground, the slim, aerodynamic 3-wheel vehicle is comfortable as a luxury car. It has the agility of a motorbike, thanks to its patented ’tilting’ system. The rotor and propeller are folded away until PAL-V is ready to fly.
Airborne, it flies under the 4,000 feet floor of commercial air space. With land and air space reaching capacity, this is the last free space.
PAL-V is highly fuel-efficient, powered by an environmentally certified car engine. It runs on petrol but it also runs on biodiesel or bio-ethanol. It reaches speeds up to 200 km/h both on land and in the air.
Soon private flying will no longer be the exclusive domain of executives and celebrities. If infrastructure does not exist or congestion/obstacles block the destination - fly. If the weather is too bad to fly - drive. Driving and flying combined costing little more than an executive saloon car.
The concept is combining two proven technologies. It fits within the new certification regulations that exist since 2005 in the US and Europe.
Next to Bakker the management team now consists of Robert Dingemanse who has championed several successful product launches/business start-ups at Philips and Jim Emanuels/Tacstone, specialised in starting up new businesses. This team has the right skills/experience to turn the concept into a business success.
Do you think James Bond can get the Queen to fork over the cash for Aston Martin?
Ford Motor Co. could announce the sale of its Aston Martin luxury performance cars unit for more than 450 million pounds ($865 million) as early as this week, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.
Formula One team Prodrive, working with Egypt’s Naeem investment bank, is frontrunner to buy the business although other bidders such as UK buyout firm Doughty Hanson are still in the process should talks fall through, the source said.
The timing of the deal could also yet slip, the source added.
Doughty Hanson and Syrian-born property tycoon Simon Halabi also submitted second-round offers for Aston Martin in an auction being run by investment bank UBS AG, sources familiar with the matter said last month.
Ford said last year it would sell all or part of Aston Martin to raise funds for other businesses.
Aston Martin is on solid financial footing, a top Ford official said in January, adding that sales of the British car made famous by the James Bond spy movies increased by around half last year to about 6,500 units.
Read more.
This video has recently been resurrected through the Internet, as well as the new music video for Snow Patrol. Its remains a very impressive non-stop drive through the streets of Paris at 5.30am, check it out here:
and read more about it here
Could this happen? Never would it have happened before the “merger” of Chrysler to Daimler, but now that Daimler wants to unload the company, maybe GM is the best suitor?
General Motors Corp. is in preliminary talks to buy Chrysler, the struggling U.S. arm of DaimlerChrysler AG a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.
The talks, described by the source as exploratory, were first reported on Friday by the trade journal Automotive News.
GM and Chrysler parent DaimlerChrysler declined to comment.
Shares of DaimlerChrysler rose in reaction to reports of the talks. GM shares slipped at first but then moved higher.
Automotive News, citing unnamed sources in Germany and the United States, said the companies were engaged in high-level talks about GM buying Chrysler Group, which sells Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles, in its entirety.
The source who spoke to Reuters said it was questionable whether GM would want Chrysler’s finance business, having sold its own finance arm, GMAC, last year.
Speculation surrounding a possible sale or spinoff of Chrysler has built since DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said earlier this week that all options were open for its struggling North American unit.
Read more.
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