Volkswagen on a Wednesday- Un-Pimp Your Ride

Quote from Henry Ford

An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous.

- Henry Ford

Volkswagen and BMW cuts jobs

German automakers BMW AG and Volkswagen AG said Tuesday that they would put thousands of German employees on reduced working hours as they slow production in the deepening economic downturn.

Volkswagen said it would put about two-thirds of its employees in Germany — some 60,000 workers — on shorter hours for five days late in the last week of February.

The company said some areas, such as component production and research and development, would be exempted.

BMW said a total of approximately 26,000 employees would work shorter times on some days in February and March, with workers at four plants affected. The company employs some 75,000 people in Germany.

German manufacturers' exports have been declining sharply, and demand at home also has been falling as the economy — Europe's biggest — sinks into recession.

The auto world may shift into the South and away from Detroit

Southern politicians have spent years luring foreign automakers to build cars in their states, with huge success. Most recently, Tennessee attracted a $1 billion Volkswagen assembly plant to Chattanooga. South Carolina has BMW. Mississippi landed a major plant for Toyota Motor Corp. Alabama boasts plants run by Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co.

It's not that Southerners are secretly wishing for the Big Three to collapse. But if those automakers were to falter, the new players are poised to ramp up production and possibly turn the South into the next Detroit.

"In the long run, having fewer competitors or weaker competitors is generally a good thing," said Efraim Levy, a senior auto industry analyst with Standard & Poor's. "It would contribute to a greater relative strength in the South."

Read the entire story in the Tennessean newspaper.

Aptera's Super-MPG Electric Typ-1 e is a cool, environmentally friendly car

Visit Aptera for more information about this really cool car.



The Typ-1 uses a commoditized, 'ruggedized' 3-phase motor controller designed for vehicular applications, and a 3-phase motor made by a company in Southern California. The rear drive suspension, and the drive reduction, are all designed and made by Aptera. Since the Typ-1e (electric) and the Typ-1h (series plug in hybrid) have different battery needs, this may result in different battery manufacturers for the two models. The Typ-1e is designed to use a 10 KWh pack, while the Typ-1h uses a smaller pack. The cycles and DOD are different for both applications. They will announce further information regarding the battery lifespan and warranty policy well before they begin manufacturing the Typ-1 next October.





Diesel or Gasoline? The first prototype, the Mk-0, was a parallel hybrid Diesel and achieved an average of 230 MPG at a steady state of 55 MPH. This was pure Diesel/mechanical drive with no electric assist. Diesel is attractive for its Carnot efficiency and the increased enthalpy of Diesel fuel vs gasoline. However, diesel contains lots of unburned hydrocarbons and NOX compounds, and it's impossible to get a small Diesel engine certified for emissions in California. Therefore, the typ-h uses a small, water-cooled EFI Gasoline engine with closed loop oxygen feedback and catalytic converter. This engine is coupled to a lightweight 12KW starter/generator. It's very clean and quiet.
*All info comes from the Aptera website.

Inside the Lane Motor Musuem

Visit the Lane Motor Museum to learn and see more.

HOURS OF OPERATION:
Thursday - Monday
10am-5pm

Tuesday & Wednesday
CLOSED

ADMISSION:
UNTIL DEC. 31, 2008:
Adults (18-54)- $5
Seniors (55+)- $3
Youth (17 & under)- Free

AS OF JAN. 1, 2009:
Adults (18-64)- $7
Seniors (65+)- $5
Youth (6-17)- $2
Under Age 5- Free

LOCATION:
702 Murfreesboro Pike
Nashville, TN 37210
615-742-7445

150 miles per gallon car developed by AFS Trinity Power Corporation

This is what we need to have available with the costs of fuel so high now. You might even be able to justify a drive in the country or cross-country in this car. I may just have to order one as soon as they are available.
~Corey Webbspun



AFS Trinity Power has developed patent-pending technology that makes it possible for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to achieve 150 MPG, go 40 miles in all-electric mode, and use gasoline for additional unlimited miles in hybrid mode.

In July 2007, in order to very quickly demonstrate all of the key attributes of this technology, the company mounted an effort to build two fully operational XH-150 SUV prototypes using off-the-shelf components. The two vehicles—modified Saturn Vue SUVs—were built in less than six months. They were unveiled on January 13, 2008 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit (Press Announcement) and (Salon.com test drive report).

On April 8, 2008, AFS Trinity started a cross country tour to give Americans their first onroad look at what CNN and others suggested may be “the car of the future.” The XH-150 arrived at the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, April 20, 2008 (Video of Congressional Ride-and-Drives). On May 2, 2008, AFS Trinity and Ricardo announced a joint Extreme Fleet™ program that will slash gasoline and diesel use by car, SUV and truck fleets. (Press Release).

Find out more at the AFS Trinity Power Corporation website.

Sweet sorghum as the next great fuel?

Pass the biscuits and fill up the car.... ~Corey



The hardy sweet sorghum plant could be the miracle crop that provides cheap animal feed and fuel without straining the world's food supply or harming the environment, said scientists working on a pilot farming project in India.

"We consider sweet sorghum an ideal 'smart crop' because it produces food as well as fuel," William Dar, Director General of the non-profit International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) said in a statement.

Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is the world's fifth largest grain crop after rice, corn, wheat and barley.



Read the entire story HERE.

A Car Made in Ethopia by a Chinese Car Company

China's automakers aren't fooling around when it comes to aggressive growth. While you don't hear much enthusiasm from European or North American automakers about the market on the African continent, There's already at least two Chinese carmakers who've set up shop there as a way to expand beyond the borders of their home country. Holland Car is the first car assembly plant in Ethiopia, and it's kicking out a renamed Lifan 520. The 520 goes by the handle Abay in Ethiopia. Abay is the name of Ethiopia's largest river, and the hope is that the name will spur buyers to check the vehicle out. Equipment levels are luxury-level for its market, $16,000 price buys you safety gear like ABS, airbags and brake distribution, and quality is good enough that Lifan thinks it will change Ethiopian's opinions about a domestically produced car. Power is provided by a 1.3 liter four cylinder twisting a 5-speed transmission. The cars are assembled from knock-downs (CKD), and appear to have been solidly engineered. Lifan produces the 520 in several different locations – Russia, and Vietnam, for example.

Visit AutoBlog for the full story.

Mercedes-Benz; Ocean Drive

The Ocean Drive’s timeless presence begins with its face. The V-shaped grille is 30 percent larger than that on the current S-Class, standing upright à la the Rolls-Royce Phantom’s. Double C–shaped headlights not only echo Chanel’s streamlined aesthetic, they nearly replicate the French couturier’s logo. LED technology, also used in the taillights, makes this design possible and consumes less energy than other lighting alternatives. Even the door handles are unobtrusively flush with the body; they pop out electronically, activated by the touch of a finger.

In profile, the Ocean Drive’s strong character lines—long at the front, short at the rear—reference the sweeping fenders of 1930s-era Mercedes limousines without being cartoonish. "We took this element from the past and treated it in a modern way," Wagener says. A full-length chrome strip delineates the bronze and gold in the two-tone paint scheme that is another nod to Mercedes-Benz history. "It’s a very subtle contrast," he says, noting that nuanced variation in color continues into the cabin with the muted hue of the bird’s-eye maple wood. "We also combined the leather with fabric—something our designers picked up in Milano. You see it in the latest handbags, which we transferred into car design."



With a 128-inch wheelbase—20 inches longer than the Bentley Continental GTC’s and about 5 inches longer than the Bentley Arnage’s—the Ocean Drive provides ample legroom for four adult passengers. From within, the vehicle appears to be as wide as it is long, and, like the old 300 cabriolets, it does not lend itself to slalom driving. The front and rear corners drop away from the driver’s perspective, making wide berths a necessity.

While comparisons between the Ocean Drive and the Bentley Continental GTC are inevitable, Wagener claims such assessments are misguided. "The sedan is a totally different pair of shoes," he says. Indeed, the Continental GTC is the approximate size of the Mercedes-Benz CL-Class, so an open two-door CL would be more of a direct competitor to the Bentley than the four-door Ocean Drive might be. Still, the cars’ similarities—from their broad proportions to subtle details such as the wood trim that surrounds the hard tonneau cover of the Ocean Drive’s canvas roof—are apparent. Like the GTC, the Ocean Drive is endowed with a 12-cylinder engine and copious torque.



The Ocean Drive also exhibits Mercedes’ state-of-the-art electronics. Most of the vehicle’s functional systems—including the Comand screen with GPS navigation, and the digital audio controls—derive from the S-Class sedan. The car’s rear seats may be the best in the house, with abundant legroom and access to a DVD entertainment system. To ensure that cold air does not bother passengers or driver when the top is down, the Ocean Drive is equipped with the Airscarf system from the SLK roadster, which circulates warm air throughout the cabin.


Read the entire article in the Robb Report.