The Cutting Edge of Eco Technology

When fuel prices rise, snake oil salesman start seeping into the market. They often promise everything: fuel economy and performance, in a product that’s good for the environment — all with a low price.
But real green technology takes time, energy and money to develop. You can’t just attach something to a modern car and expect to see results, because vehicles today come so finely tuned and often can already often adapt to different air and fuel qualities.

Improving on what comes from the automaker’s factory is a multi-billion-dollar industry but takes real research and development cash, time, and effort.

From mild to wild, these five areas are the most promising ways to reduce your impact on the environment while in most cases improving performance. Being green doesn’t always have to be a compromise.
Oil. Oil? Are you crazy? What’s oil going to do?
Don’t forget that oil is used to lubricate all of the things inside your engine. Although it’s a fluid, standard-weight oil isn’t often optimized to be as “slippery” as possible to reduce friction. More viscous oil, like a 15W or 20W, is good for protecting the engine but is “thicker” and not optimized for fuel economy.
New oils are being produced with fuel economy in mind, though. For instance, Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy oil, with a 0W-20 or 0W-30 rating, reduces drag and friction inside the engine while ensuring everything is protected. They say you’ll be looking at a 2 per cent improvement in fuel economy, which adds up over time in reduced fuel bills.
Oh, and consider a block heater. In winter, it reduces engine stress when starting in the cold. If your engine isn’t working as much to warm up, it means less fuel burned.
The PLX Kiwi.
The Kiwi is sort of in a category by itself, because this plug-and-play device doesn’t change how your car drives, but how you drive.
Apparently some drivers can see improvements of up to 20 per cent, because the Kiwi keeps tabs on your driving efficiency, displayed as your “Kiwi Score.”
The score reflects four aspects: smoothness, drag, acceleration and deceleration. Results at the end of your trip show you how you can on an easy-to-read display so that anyone can improve your driving.
Because it’s plugged in to your vehicle’s diagnostics port, it also keeps track of how much fuel you use, plus how much you spend on x fuel and how much you’ve saved by improving your technique.

Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed

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Mit dem Continental Flying Spur Speed schickt Bentley ein sportliches Sondermodell ins Rennen. Der W12-Motor leistet statt 560 nun 610 PS, lässt die Limousine in 4,8 Sekunden auf Tempo 100 spurten und bis zu 322 km/h schnell werden. 202.062 Euro werden für den sportlichen Edelbriten fällig.
Zwölf Tage lang richten sich die Augen der Autofans nach London: Dort findet zwischen dem 23. Juli und dem 3. August 2008 die British International Motor Show statt. Über 20 Fahrzeuge feiern in der britischen Hauptstadt ihre Premiere. Wir sind für Sie live vor Ort und zeigen Ihnen alle Neuheiten.

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Hyundai Genesis

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The world's fifth largest automaker, Hyundai -- yes, Hyundai -- sees its first rear-drive luxury car, the Genesis, as a worthy rival to the Lexus ES 350. And no one's laughing.

There's no laughter at BMW or Mercedes-Benz, either, when Hyundai compares the Genesis to the 5-Series and E-Class respectively. And at much lower cost.

Hyundai began selling the Genesis in July with a 3.8-liter, 290 horsepower V6 bearing a price tag of $33,000, which is $340 less than BMW commands for the compact 328i and only $200 higher than the average price of a new car in the U.S. this year.

Now comes the 4.6-liter V8 with 368 horses that propel the rear-drive sedan from 0 to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds.

With a base price of $38,000, the V8 is expected to secure a place for Hyundai on the wishlists of people shopping the Lexus ES 350, Chrysler 300C, Pontiac G8 and the Cadillac CTS, among others.

"We're aware there's a segment out there that won't consider a luxury vehicle unless it has a V8," said Michael Deitz, manager of product development for Hyundai Motor America. "It's not just about horsepower today, it's about efficiency."

Hyundai has always done a magnificent job in the styling department, borrowing cues from the best in the business. So it was not surprising that Genesis fit the fashion scene of Miami Beach and Coral Gables, where the V8 cruised quietly in a recent demo tour, loaded to the gills with luxury features.

The nicely proportioned body rides on a 115.6 inch wheelbase that is more than 3 inches longer than that of the Lexus GS and more than an inch longer than the Infiniti M's.

The Genesis face is predatory, with a tapered aluminum hood framed by backswept high-intensity headlamps resembling the eyes of a raptor. A trapezoidal grille with winglike vanes accentuates the curvature of the snout above a low-to-the-ground air scoop that represents the predator's mouth.

The aerodynamic roofline flows back onto a short deck and a blunt rear end tightly tucked and decorated with wraparound tail lamps.

To achieve instant credibility in the premium market, Hyundai had to provide more of everything at an unbeatable price: More horsepower than a Lexus GS and Infiniti M, better longitudinal balance than a Lexus ES 350, bigger disc brakes than a Mercedes-Benz E550, better aerodynamics than a BMW 5-Series and Cadillac CTS, and faster acceleration from 0 to 60 mph (5.7 seconds) than the BMW 750i (6 seconds) or the Lexus LX 460 (5.9).

The new Tau V8 has more horsepower per liter than any of its V8 competitors and outperforms all V8 performance sedans with an EPA fuel economy estimate of 17 city miles per gallon and 25 highway, according to Hyundai research.

But where Genesis really exceeds expectations is in its load of standard equipment. A $36,000 Genesis 3.8 with the Premium Package Plus is $8,000 less than a comparably equipped Infiniti M35 and $22,000 less than a comparable BMW 535i.

Standard on the 3.8 models are 17-inch alloy wheels, fog lamps, automatic headlights, dual power heated side mirrors with turn signal indicators, leather upholstery with heated power seats, proximity entry with electric push button start, leather-wrapped tilt steering wheel with audio controls, dual automatic climate control, AM/FM/CD stereo with auxiliary input jacks and Bluetooth.

When you move up to the 4.6, you get 18-inch hyper-silver alloy wheels, chrome lower bodyside moldings, power glass sunroof with tilt and slide, power tilt and telescopic steering column, integrated memory system, Lexicon 15-speaker surround sound audio system, six-disc CD changer, illuminated scuff plates, wood-trimmed leather steering wheel, electrochromic auto-dimming interior rearview mirror with Homelink and compass, power rear sunshade and rain-sensing wipers with auto defogger windshield.

In another extreme measure to challenge the luxury market, Genesis has even matched the Rolls Royce Phantom as the only other car to offer a Lexicon-branded audio system featuring Logic 7 technology. The surround sound audio system includes an 11-channel digital amplifier and 17 speakers producing more than 500 watts of sound in 7.1 discrete audio. Hyundai also claims to be the first popular brand to offer digital HD Radio from the factory.

Nissan News

To be honest, I don’t really like how Nissan is handling their GT-R. I mean yeah, the car’s great, everyone who ever drove it (we didn’t had the chance, yet) says it’s brilliant, but I think Nissan also contributes heavily to the hype. First it was the still unclear situation of the press cars, who seem to have more power than regular ones and now this. First priced at $69,850, Nissan has announced that, starting with Sept 5th, the GT-R’s price has gone up 10 percent, up to $76,840 for the GT-R and $79,090 for the GT-R Premium model. According to the Japanese producer, the higher price was caused by the increase of the raw materials.
Until now, about 70 percent of the cars destined for the USA were sold and the first deliveries will be made on July 7, 2008.
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Auto News

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DETROIT, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Automakers are expected to post a 10th consecutive month of U.S. sales declines on Wednesday as incentives on slow-selling trucks and SUVs and General Motors Corp's (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) employee pricing promotion failed to ignite demand from struggling consumers in August.

Analysts see automakers posting double-digit declines in U.S. auto sales for August -- adding to the longest monthly losing streak for the industry since the domestic recession of 2001.

U.S. auto sales may have been down anywhere from 14 to 19 percent industrywide in August from a year earlier, according to analysts, but should have been up slightly from the 16-year low reported in July.

August sales are expected to reflect the continued shift toward smaller, more economical passenger cars and away from large pickup trucks and SUVs, as well as some difficulty supplying fuel efficient vehicles customers want.

U.S.-based GM, Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Chrysler LLC [CBS.UL] -- which have a much higher percentage of sales linked to the larger vehicles than transplant carmakers -- are expected to have felt the most impact from the continued shift.
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Tight Credit Puts Squeeze

Car Grills"You have excluding [financing] sources, and the sources you do have nowadays are eager to spread excluding money," Mr. Williams said. Other domestic-invention auto dealers around the country are also sense the pinch. In Sacramento, Calif., iciness Volvo Lincoln Mercury is preparing to close its doors on Sept. 2, after 60 existence in trade. Also in the Sacramento spot, Elk wood Ford blocked at the end of June and Great Valley Chrysler Jeep went out of trade in May. After anguish a big sales drop in the first few months of 2008, Longhorn dart, in fortress merit, Texas, close down in May.
Auto Grills"GMAC has untouched due to the monetary environment, and it has put more strain on the individual dealership," said Duane enclosure, vendor of a Chevy dealership near hoodwink, N.Y., and move of the GM dealer assembly. GMAC typically provides dealers with subsidized financing for buyers as well as low-concern-scale loans to buy the vehicles they command in catalog on their masses. The harm of financing from GMAC is probable to make it even harder for amount Heard and other dealers to rally their financial spot. The Chevy dealer has told GM it is now considering advertiseing at slightest two or three of its supplies. Neither Chief Executive amount Heard Jr. nor other executives were presented to state. In a report, a guests spokesman said it "is winning actions" to address GMAC's resolve.

It tactics to "heighten [its] efficiency and inventionivity, tap the emerging fuel-conscious sell with an apcrutchriate invention mix, condense our already competitive expense building and rebuilding our trade." GMAC declined to state on amount Heard. But a spokeswoman acknowledged that "visibly this is a challenging sell environment," adding that its actions "are not different than that of other financial-ritual companies." In the long run, a dealer shakeout could help the Big Three by dipping competition and improving profits of the dealers who outlive. But chaos in their retail networks could hurt Detroit's sales in the fleeting time.

The tightening of "deck arrange" credit will advance dealers to catalog less vehicles. In the precedent, the Big Three boosted sales by roughly dealers to order more vehicles than they could advertise. amount Heard usually could help GM crutch up its own declining sales. happening in 1919 from a separate Chevy dealer in Columbus, Ga., the guests opescales gigantic Chevy supplies in Houston; Memphis, Tenn.; Tampa, Fla.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; and away. But it has had to scrounge large sums to keep its megasupplies packed with catalog and is greatly needy on GM's Chevy invention, whose sales have plunged this year as regulars have crooked away from pickups and sport-value vehicles

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