Click the photo for a high-res gallery of the new Mini Cooper D
BMW has just introduced their cleanest vehicle yet to the UK market, the 2007 Mini Cooper D. The first generation Mini had a diesel engine available only in the base Mini One model. This…
Category: Autoblog
Nevada professor develops new solar hydrogen production method
As a fuel, hydrogen is wonderful thing because burning it or consuming it in a fuel cell produces only water as exhaust and it has good energy density when the gas is compressed. However, producing and storing hydrogen is problematic, to say the…
Tesla talking about future product plans with Brit magazines, no SUV coming
Tesla's SVP of marketing Darryl Siry has been on another sales tour of Europe filling in the magazines over there on the company's future product plans. For the most part there was nothing new that we haven't already reported on here over the past…
TAG Heuer's new lenses let you see at night
For those who may not have noticed, TAG Heuer, the Swiss creator of really expensive timepieces (is that redundant?) has branched out into other really expensive stuff, namely eyewear. Its latest effort is a new type of “Night Vision” lense that is…
First new VW Jetta TDIs now in transit to U.S. dealers
For everyone who has been waiting anxiously for the new fifty state legal Volkswagen Jetta TDI to arrive at U.S. dealers, it appears things are inching a little closer. A reader the other day spotted a transporter filled with Jettas festooned with…
U.S. corn subsidies aggravating Amazon deforestation
The law of unintended consequences has struck again and once again corn ethanol is at the center of it. The net benefits of producing fuel ethanol from corn are constantly debated here and elsewhere. Now there is yet another potentially huge cost to…
Johnson Controls boss confident in li-ion tech, worries about supply base
Click the plug-in hybrid Escape for a high res gallery
Michael Andrews, director-government affairs at Johnson Controls, is like most in the auto industry: he now believes that lithium ion battery technology will prove to be technologically viable.…
Tata delays introduction of the diesel-powered Nano
The last-minute relocation of the factory to build the new Tata Nano has meant an overall delay to the program. On top of the that, the diesel version has been delayed even longer. Most recently, Tata had planned to launch the diesel version of the…
SAE 2009: SAE J1772 plug standard could be finalized by this fall
The SAE task force that is currently working on a standard for a conductive connector for plug-in vehicles could finalize that work as soon as this fall. The proposed plug standard is currently going through certification testing at Underwriters Labs…
ALMS announces 2010 schedule; Laguna Seca moves to May, becomes 6-hour enduro
2008 ALMS at Laguna Seca – click above for a high res image gallery
On Friday, prior to this weekend's Petit Le Mans, the American Le Mans Series announced its planned 2010 schedule. Tentatively, nine of this year's 10 venues are carried over, with…