Plenty of expensive cars out there for the super rich - and there are two wheel versions for the ones who want to experience a bit more of an adrenalin rush.

Demand for limited-edition two wheelers has never been greater--the number of affluent customers with plenty of time and money is growing--and the industry is expected to go over $100 million in sales this year.

....click the links to read more 

An interesting double came across my desk today and surely this demonstrates a twist that most would never have envisaged only a few short years ago.
An Indian car engineer and manufacturer,  Mahindra,   who most US citizens have never heard of,  is contemplating buying into the US because it sees US manufacturing as "cheap" labor.
Whilst the giants of the US auto industry,  Ford and GM openly talk about reducing production in order to survive.
Sounds unbelievable doesn't it - read the articles and you be the judges

....click the links to read more 

Hydrogen could become an important part of the transport industry in the future in the form of fuel cells as the need increases to move to alternate energy sources that are not as polluting and costly as fossil fuels.  The problem is that at the moment production of hydrogen can involve creating just as much pollution.  A group that goes by the name of the 20/2 Collaborative thinks they may have a solution to this.  They are proposing a solution that involves producing hydrogen in ponds of algae and then storing the product in large balloons sitting above the ponds.  The ponds will be able to be built directly in the locations where the hydrogen will be supplied from. 

This could be an elegant solution,  assuming it is viable,  that would bring together the skills of a range of professionals including civil and structural engineers,  chemical engineers,  through to electrical and mechanical engineers.  There are also other potential uses,  can you imagine the advertising space that this would produce.

....click the links to read more 

US aeronautics engineers and rocket scientists back in the 50's and 60's developed the idea of satalloons.  Here you can see a picture of one and it looks very impressive at 100ft diameter.  Just look at it in comparison to the car.

Pete Bitar is the creator of a new device called the Vertipod.  It works similar to a Segway except that instead of moving on wheels it flies.  It flies at about 40 Mph (Just over 64 Km/h)  and can reach a height of 15 feet (Just over 4.5 meters) from the ground.  You will soon be able to purchase on for around $10 000.  And for those engineers that like to tinker the bonus is that you have to assemble it yourself.

It seems Honda is gearing up to be the one of the first major companies to bring a hydrogen fuel cell car to market -- their FCX Clarity is set to go to production in 2008, in a move they're hoping will break the catch-22 dilemma stopping motor companies from engineering cars because there's no hydrogen distribution, and stopping fuel companies from distributing hydrogen because there's no cars that use it.

....click the link to read more

We note a recent press release from GM - "GM plans to make hybrids in China" and have a sense of deja vu as we look back to a similar release in 2006 -

"GM to Release Hybrids in China by 2008 (and Maybe a Hydrogen Car by 2020)" ,  obviously they are  keen to keep the story alive and fresh

GM is heavily promoting fuel cells as is evident by a further articles being released which detail GM's  fuel cell development credentials

Fuel cell technology is currently at the forefront of many other research projects such as the work being undertaken at The University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Georgia Tech Research Institute

The Beijing Olympics will be an ideal place for manufacturers to showcase there products and Hyundai are amongst many who have also made long standing commitments in this area for environmentally friendly vehicles for Beijing

.....click the links to read more

A four-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive vehicle is one in which the engine powers all four wheels either part of the time or all of the time. Most cars have two-wheel drive, which means either the front or back wheels are powered by the engine.

....click the link to read more

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp  said on Wednesday it would recall 215,020 units of the Lexus GS, Crown and three other high-end car models in Japan to re engineer a faulty fuel pipe that could lead to a fuel leakage.

....click the link to read more

Imagine a huge kite the size of a football field.  Now imagine it dragging a frieght ship,  a 460 foot ship to be exact.  This is what the shipping comany Beluga is going to be testing and hopes to reduce fuel consumption by possibly up to 50%.  The company developing the sail is SkySails and they have a history of making kites for large yacths but this appears to be the first time the technology has been applied to ships the size of what Beluga is using.

Two separate US researchers have created a new breed of robot helicopters and aeroplanes, which can land or "perch" on steep surfaces.

Eric Feron, an aerospace engineer, and colleague Selcuk Bayraktar from the Georgia Tech University, Atlanta, US, say that such drone aircraft could land on moving vehicles, unsteady ships or even hide inside caves.

....click the link to read more

On a recent fall day the two new bosses at Chrysler traveled to the company's test track in Chelsea, Mich., an hour's drive west of Detroit. The two--Chief Executive Robert Nardelli and Vice Chairman James Press--were to spend the entire day poring over every vehicle in Chrysler's lineup. It wasn't pretty. There was the cheap-looking plastic on the dash of the Dodge Caliber. A poorly placed cruise control switch on the Chrysler 300. Windows that rolled down herky-jerky on the Jeep Grand Cherokee. But what was remarkable about this visit was that by the end of the day Nardelli had ordered more than 200 engineering changes to fix the array of problems and make improvements, at a cost of at least $100 million

....click the link to read more

SEATTLE - Boeing Co . said Wednesday it has received 1,047 commercial airplane orders this year, already beating its 2006 record-setting total of 1,044 orders with more than a month to go.
Many of the orders where received at the recent Dubai Airshow .  The recent world environment has been of enormous benefit to Boeing

....click the links to read more

The car factory of the future is becoming a thing of the past.

Ford said that it had scrapped plans to engineer one such factory, a "low cost" assembly plant that it had promised to put somewhere in North America.

Ford said this year that the plant would be an important part of its revamping effort. Now it says it is not needed, because the company's newly ratified contract with the United Automobile Workers union allows it to save money by paying lower wages to many workers at existing plants.

The 8-foot, 8-inch Smart Fortwo micro car comes to U.S. shores in January, and even with gasoline prices well above the $3-a-gallon mark it remains to be seen whether Americans will flock to buy the engineering in such a tiny, two-seater car.

How safe is such a a small vehicle ? The attached link will answer many,  if not all concerns in this area

Ranging in price from $11,590 for the base version to $16,590 for a fully loaded Fortwo Passion convertible, the 1,800-pound car boasts 40 miles per gallon — a big draw for drivers worried about high gas prices.

....click the links to read more

When discussing solutions to the problems of pollution it's easy to get caught up in all the new technology that's being devised,  researched and created.  Sometimes however,  a little common sense can be just as effective.

Cars nowadays are powerful toys,  and it's always tempting to indulge a little.  Changing your driving style a little however can lead to better fuel efficiency,  which ultimately is going to be better for the environment.