Mike Jackson is the Chairman and CEO of Auto Nation, the largest dealership group in the United States. Auto Nation showrooms around the country sell just about every brand of car offered here and Jackson is actually glad to see gas above $4 a…
Category: Autoblog
Study: Modern li-ion batteries have little effect on life cycle impact of electric cars
By now we're all aware that the environmental impact of cars and trucks goes well beyond the emissions produced during operation. There is the energy used to produce and dispose of the vehicles and their components, for example, and the cost of…
New investments by GE and others net A123 Systems another $69 million
With the closing of the latest round of private fund raising, Massachusetts-based A123 Systems now has an extra $69 million in the bank. General Electric put up $15 million of that amount, bringing its ownership stake in the advanced battery startup…
Detroit 2008 Preview: BYD to show plug-in hybrid and battery electric cars
A Chinese company plans to jump into the green parade at January's Detroit Auto Show. BYD Auto, which has previously announced plans to build a battery electric car later in 2008, will be one of five Chinese companies showing their wares at Cobo…
VIDEO: Tesla's ex-CEO Martin Eberhard in his own words
Now that the news about Martin Eberhard's new role at Tesla has been out for a few days, the man himself has finally spoken up about the change. Martin has published his side of the story on the company blog and there are no real surprises relative…
Thomas Built gets order for 288 SCR-equipped school buses
Thomas Built, the school bus manufacturing unit of Daimler Trucks North America, has received an order for 288 buses equipped with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems. SCR is the urea injection system used in conjunction with a catalyst to…
Toronto to experiment with plug-in hybrid conversions
Canada's biggest city is starting a program to evaluate the performance and benefits of plug-in hybrids. The city of Toronto will fund a pilot project through the Toronto Atmospheric Fund starting with ten current hybrid vehicles that will be…
USF1 boss Peter Windsor confirms deal for Cosworth engines in 2010
For a time in the 70s and 80s, Formula One wasn't dominated by automaker-backed factory teams. They were there, but independent teams were plentiful and often competitive. For many years most of those teams were powered by Cosworth engines,…
Frankfurt Preview: First hint of the Opel E-Flex concept!
Another of Opel's premieres at the Frankfurt Motor Show will be their own take on the E-Flex architecture. The power-train will be similar to the Volt but with a small diesel engine taking the place of the gas/E85 range extender. The Opel-badged…
Volvo bringing more models out with ‘Efficiency’ branding
Along with seemingly every other automaker in the European market, Volvo is set to expand the special branding that indicates the most efficient models in each of their lines. While Volkswagen has chosen to go with the more abstract BlueMotion label…