cars

Stories 241 - 260 | << Prev   Next >>

Cult Appeal Helps Subaru Buck Market

Loyal, expanding fan base moves sales, market share up in down year for industry

(Newser) - While other car companies are stuck in reverse, Subaru keeps chugging along, Time reports. While its fan base tends to buy cars only every 7.3 years, it remains fiercely loyal to the brand, known for safety, green operations, and good value. Subaru increased sales last year, and boosted its...

Car Tech Advances Can Recharge Detroit
Car Tech Advances Can Recharge Detroit
OPINION
Jan 3, 2009 11:54 AM CST

Car Tech Advances Can Recharge Detroit

(Newser) - Detroit needs to heed Henry Ford's advice and take failure as "the opportunity to begin again more intelligently," Sebastian Thrum and Anthony Levandowski write in the New York Times. Here are four technologies that can help the Big Three automakers turn things around:
  • Car-to-car communication: Wireless technology will
...

Garage Yields Dusty Surprise: $4.3M Bugatti

(Newser) - A rare Bugatti sports car found in a late British doctor’s garage will be auctioned off next month and is expected to fetch at least $4.3 million for his surprised relatives, the AP reports. The Type 57S Atalante, built in 1937, is one of only 17 ever made....

Drunk Drivers Must Install Breathalyzer Ignition Locks

Six states institute laws requiring gadgets

(Newser) - Motorists convicted of driving drunk will have to install breath-monitoring gadgets in their cars under new laws taking effect in six states this week, the AP reports. The ignition interlocks prevent engines from starting until drivers blow into the alcohol detectors to prove they're sober. Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Nebraska, and...

Toyota Working on Mass-Market Solar Car

Company believed to be trying to build first mass-market car running soley on sunshine

(Newser) - Toyota is trying to leapfrog rivals by developing a mass-market solar-powered car on the sly. The futuristic vehicle will get power from solar cells in the rooftop, providing enough energy to power only its accessories initially, reports Hybrid Cars News. The company is thought to be years away from creating...

Monthly Fee May Pave Way for Electric Car Boom
Monthly Fee May Pave Way for Electric Car Boom
ANALYSIS
Dec 24, 2008 8:05 PM CST

Monthly Fee May Pave Way for Electric Car Boom

Developer strikes deals with countries, cities for broad charging infrastructure

(Newser) - An Israeli entrepreneur bets you’ll be willing to pay to fuel up your car like you pay your monthly cell phone bill. If Shai Agassi is right, Jim Motavalli writes in Yale Environment 360, it could be the charge electric cars need to succeed. Partnering with nations, cities, and...

3 Detroit Finalists Up for Car, Truck of Year

Ford, Chrysler vehicles face off against three foreign competitors

(Newser) - Three Detroit-made vehicles are among six finalists for the 2009 North American Car and Truck of the Year awards, the Detroit News reports. The Ford Flex will compete with the Hyundai Genesis and the Volkswagen Jetta TDI for the year's best car, while the redesigned Ford F-150 and Dodge Ram...

One Man's Coffee Grounds Are Another's Biodiesel

Waste can be turned into cheap fuel

(Newser) - If lattes seem overpriced now, wait until coffee becomes a precious commodity. An engineering professor spied an opportunity in the layer of oil he found floating in an old cup of coffee one morning. He extracted what was left in some used grounds—about 10%-15% oil by weight—with simple...

Miley Gets Wheels: Mom's Old Porsche

Singer wanted a different car for 16th birthday

(Newser) - Barely 16-year-old Miley Cyrus has not only a learner's permit but a car—a Porsche Cayenne, no less. “I didn’t get the one I wanted,” the teen sensation tells Extra, but she admits that her mom’s old car is “a pretty good hand-me-down.” This...

Detroit's Sourest Lemons
 Detroit's Sourest 
 Lemons 
OPINION
Dec 7, 2008 8:12 PM CST

Detroit's Sourest Lemons

A look at these clunkers will leave little doubt why Motown's in such a mess

(Newser) - With Detroit automakers making headlines on Capitol Hill, the New York Daily News offers a retrospective on the Motor City’s biggest lemons:
  • Ford Edsel: A gas-guzzling marketing disaster that became a byword for failure.
  • Chevy Aveo: From 0 to 60 in 11.7 seconds.
  • Hummer H2: A militaristic
...

Obama Tags Are 'Hot' Commodity

Long Island man can't keep vanity plates away from thieves

(Newser) - A New York supporter of Barack Obama has vanity plates bearing his candidate’s name, but dares not use them, the Post reports. The man, who got the plates during the primaries, has caught thieves trying to pry them off his car. “Those plates will probably, at some point,...

Luxury Car Sales Hit the Skids
Luxury Car Sales
Hit the Skids
Nov 28, 2008 3:01 AM CST

Luxury Car Sales Hit the Skids

Shine wears off top end of auto market as downturn bites

(Newser) - Sales of luxury cars are dropping as fast as their downmarket counterparts, the Wall Street Journal reports. Sales of top-end vehicles plunged 30% last month, spelling major trouble for carmakers who had been relying on fat profit margins on luxury cars to offset falling demand for mass-markets vehicles. Analysts...

Honked Off: Car Horns More Harm Than Good

Horns are hard to ban, but may make drivers more reckless

(Newser) - The next time you honk your car’s horn, you might want to ask why you're doing it. Grabbing the horn by the bull for Slate, Dave Johns thinks you’re probably too close to do anything but tell your obstacle to get out of the way. That’s because...

Ford Tops Safe Car List
 Ford Tops Safe Car List 
Nov 25, 2008 11:36 AM CST

Ford Tops Safe Car List

With help from Volvo, firm leads with 16 vehicles

(Newser) - The insurance industry named dozens of new cars and trucks, led by Ford and its Volvo subsidiary, to its annual list of the safest vehicles today. Ford and Volvo saw 16 of their 2009 vehicles make the list; Honda followed with 13. Some 72 vehicles received the top safety pick...

Neil Young: Detroit's Dinosaurs Can Go Electric

Rocker makes the case for drivers going big and going green

(Newser) - Motorists considering electric cars can hang on to their Cadillac dreams as well, writes Neil Young at the Huffington Post. Barack Obama's plan to get a million electric vehicles on American roads within a decade is possible—and the cars don't need to be tiny or even have new designs,...

Tech Predictions&mdash;From 1968
 Tech Predictions—From 1968 
Nov 20, 2008 7:31 AM CST

Tech Predictions—From 1968

Seeing a future full of computers and four hour work days

(Newser) - In 1968 a science fiction writer made some predictions about what 2008 might look like on Nov. 18, 2008. Take a step back into the future with this list from Sci Fi:
  1. Online shopping: Long before Al Gore invented the Internet, he predicted shoppers would pay their bills and get
...

Chinese Automakers Seek US-Style Bailout

Country's carmakers look to Beijing as slowdown puts the brakes on sales

(Newser) - China's automakers are looking to emulate a new Detroit invention—a bailout, the New York Times reports. After years of rapid expansion, the industry has been hit by a sudden slowdown as confidence crashes both home and abroad. Executives are now quietly pressing Beijing for a US-style rescue package to...

Let Detroit Go Bankrupt: Brooks, Krauthammer
Let Detroit Go Bankrupt:
Brooks, Krauthammer
OPINION
Nov 14, 2008 12:31 PM CST

Let Detroit Go Bankrupt: Brooks, Krauthammer

Auto bailout throws good money after bad, goes against US capitalism itself

(Newser) - American prosperity relies on creative destruction—the failure of nonviable companies and their replacement by defter rivals. The government endeavors to protect the worker in periods of transition, writes David Brooks in the New York Times, but not the firms themselves. That’s why the auto-industry bailout is a bad...

Why Ferraris Are Getting Ugly
 Why Ferraris 
 Are Getting Ugly 
analysis
Nov 10, 2008 8:02 PM CST

Why Ferraris Are Getting Ugly

(Newser) - The latest Ferraris burn up roads and handle like dreams, but their looks are fading, Gavin Green writes in Car Magazine. The California "has a fat arse," the 612 is "ill-proportioned," and the Enzo "is more bug than bird," grieves Green—who...

Top Cars We Should Scrap
 Top Cars We Should Scrap 
Oct 26, 2008 4:59 AM CDT

Top Cars We Should Scrap

Coming soon to a compactor near you

(Newser) - The possibility that one of Detroit's Big Three automakers is headed for the scrap heap left US News and World Report wondering which cars Americans could live without. Here are some top candidates:
  • Jeep Commander: This boxy model gets 16 mpg and it shows: sales are down 55%.
  • Dodge Durango:
...

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