Smart Cars

Driving ambition

February 14, 2008 – 8:17 am
The muddy estate car with a hound mascot on its bonnet and a labrador in the boot is as much a part of country life as waxed jackets and green wellingtons. At least it is in remoter areas. Like the red squirrel being pushed northwards by an interloper who has replaced it in the south, the `people carrier', as this successful immigrant is called, was first seen in Fulham and Stockwell, and that's where I hoped it would stay. However, before you could say `baby number four' or `Fred's school friends' people carriers were blocking the view on sports day and parking in our drive.Friends who arrived for the weekend in people carriers would refer to them fondly as `the flower van' and I'd smile, as if we were discussing a hideous but blameless child. Recently, however, Peter became seized by a longing for one of these machines and persuaded ...

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Drive the future

February 14, 2008 – 8:15 am
THE CARS that manufacturers lend to motoring hacks all have one thing in common: they're brand new. Of course they are. They're less likely to break down, the hacks get to pose around in the latest gear, and everyone's happy . Except that it's not much use for trying to assess long-term reliability and lifetime running costs. So I was suitably gratified to have secured the first drive by a journalist in a very different sort of press car - Honda's four- year- old, 100,000-mile Insight, itself a curious machine at any odometer reading. That's right: 100,000 miles, or 108,716, to be precise. That's not such a great achievement for a modern car, I grant you, but the point that Honda is making with this old girl is that the hybrid electric/petrol engine power that it uses is completely reliable and durable, as well as delivering 83 miles per gallon. I ...

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Driving Semis

February 14, 2008 – 8:14 am
The worldwide automotive market for ics and semiconductors is on the brink of a massive expansion, according to a report from research group Forward Concepts. The report, Automotive Chips 2000, point outs that the basic design of cars is about to dramatically change. For example, in future cars, such as the Bentley Hunaudieres, the hydraulic system for brakes will disappear, to be replaced by electromechanical brakes controlled through a drive-by-wire system. Among its finds, the report predicts that the global demand for vehicle electronics systems will climb from $46bn in 1998 to nearly $75bn in 2005. Semiconductor content in vehicle systems will grow from $7.9bn to nearly $18.9bn in the same period. Forward Concepts predicts that the total semiconductor content per vehicle will grow at an annual rate of 8.8% from 1998 through to 2005, increasing from $175 to $296. The semiconductor share of total vehicle electronics systems will grow by ...

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Drinking and driving

February 14, 2008 – 8:14 am
Business leaders are regularly called upon to set examples, especially for younger people on the corporate ladder. Usually, these leaders set a fine example that leads their younger employees to business success.In one area, though, this leadership is not quite so evident. Too often executives, their clients and associates stop off for a few drinks on the way home or, especially during this festive time of year, attend celebrations where alcohol and drugs are consumed, then they drive home. This is a no-no, especially in 1996. Police in most communities of central Oklahoma are stepping up traffic enforcement this year as a means to get drunk and drugged drivers off the road. Oklahoma County Sheriff-elect John Whetsel pledged his office's support, including deputies making more routine traffic stops. "Enforcing our traffic laws leads to more than just safer highways, it leads to safer communities and helps solve a lot of ...

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Union drive

February 14, 2008 – 8:12 am
After years of union agitation and management push-back, the fate of a unionization drive at the Chinese Daily News will be settled Sept. 22. That's the date the Monterey Park-based Chinese-language newspaper and the Communications Workers of America have set for a second vote on whether the paper's 150 employees should join the largest U.S. media union. Although there are some signs of acrimony in the campaign leading up to the vote, the union and newspaper so far are declining to air their sides publicly. Both declined comment, other than to confirm the date of the election. That marks a change from the more aggressive posturing in the aftermath of the June 2001 election, in which workers narrowly voted to join the union but management alleged the election was tainted by a pro-union supervisor. Each side charged the other with retaliation, and the union filed numerous complaints with the National Labor Relations ...

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Rear View: Space Concept

February 14, 2008 – 8:08 am
TOYOTA unveiled the new Auris 'Space Concept' at the Paris Motor Show last week. This concept attracted more interest then usual as the Auris gives the best indication yet of what the new family- sized Toyota will look like.Media reports suggest that Toyota will drop the Corolla name and will call the new car the Auris, and that this concept is basically what the Auris five-door will look like.

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Rear View Mirror: JAGUAR’S NEW BIG CAT IS PURRRFECT

February 14, 2008 – 8:07 am
THE Jaguar C-XF is the clearest indication yet of how the new S- Type replacement will look.The car is dramatically different from previous Jaguar's, both production and concept, yet uses the existing 4.2 super charged engine from t he S-Type R producing 420bhp.The name of t he concept is significant as the forthcoming S - Type replacement has been named by Jaguar themselves as the XF so one can presume the C stands for concept.

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OUT WITH THE OLD.. IN WITH THE NEW

February 14, 2008 – 8:06 am
MITSUBISHI will use the Paris Motor Show to display its Outlander concept car. It will give the first clear indications of what the new Outlander will look like before it goes on sale in spring of next year.The concept is interesting as it is thought to echo Mitsubishi's future design direction. The Outlander has been a sales hit for Mitsubishi and remains the best seller in its class in Japan.The Concept is powered by a Volkswagen sourced 2 litre turbo diesel engine producing 140bhp.

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New Mitsubishi sports charisma

February 14, 2008 – 8:06 am
It may be in deep financial trouble, but you can't fault Mitsubishi Motors for effort. This is its latest 'car of the future' idea, called the Concept- Sportback. Set to make its world debut at Frankfurt's motor show next month, the concept gives the first indications of the company's vision for its next generation of medium-sized cars, and debuts its design inspiration for a new European five-door sports hatchback.It certainly seems to have the charisma that older Mitsubishis lacked.

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Caption only: Gas conservation: a novel concept

February 14, 2008 – 8:05 am
Suzuki Motor Corp.'s concept car IONIS will be on display at the 39th Tokyo Motor Show, which opens Saturday at Makuhari Messe, near Tokyo. The usually futuristic "concept cars" at the Tokyo auto show are taking on an all-too-real immediacy this year amid soaring oil prices, with ecologically friendly autos grabbing the limelight.

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