Odds and ends

Enthusiasts and owners worldwide can now enjoy a monthly publication called the Official Ferrari Magazine. Targeted at fans of cars, design, racing culture and fashion, the magazine features some unique and authoritative contributors, including Michael Schumacher. The ex-F1 pilot opens the...

Air quality in the capital city of Beijing is so poor that many Olympic athletes are concerned for their health. Over 3.29 million cars are registered in the city, and starting July 20, officials hope to engage a program that will take 45% of those cars off the road on alternate days, banning cars...

A package of proposed mandatory safety features under consideration for European Union member nations has generally been well-received. One provision, however, has raised concern among tire makers that road safety could actually be compromised rather than improved. Reducing tire noise without...

Apple's iPhone is the telephonic equivalent of a luxury car - sleek, stylish, feature-packed and expensive. Now Mercedes-Benz owners can integrate their luxury phones into their luxury cars with a factory-optional iPhone cradle housed in the car's center console. All of the iPhone's primary...

Proof that competition exists between carmakers even at the extreme upper end of the market, Lamborghini has signed an exclusive deal with Sirius to provide its satellite radio service in the Raging Bull's cars. The first model so equipped will be the Murcielago. Starting with the 2009 model year...

Finding proof of the effect of rising fuel prices on the average American requires little more than a trip to your local used car lot, freshly filled with SUVs and pickups while subcompacts see significant markups. But more evidence of the impact of the rising price of fuel has come in the form of...

Cars that navigate complex terrain or urban environments have already been built for competitions like the DARPA's (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) various challenges. In fact, GM and Carnegie Mellon won the Urban challenge in 2007. Now the two are teaming to bring that technology to the...

Always good for some over-the-top takes on muscle cars, sports cars and SUVs, the Specialty Equipment Market Association's (SEMA) annual show has chosen the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro as its official vehicle. The tuner-fest kicks off November 4-7 in Las Vegas, but it's industry-only - the public is not...

Redefining the meaning of a good customer experience, Nissan's UK GT-R sales program will be offering buyers of the everyday supercar a chance to participate in special Race Academy events at the track in Silverstone and on the legendary Nurburgring. The program consists of one-on-one instruction...

High-performance versions of more pedestrian street-going cars have been a favorite of carmakers and enthusiasts alike since the beginning of the industry. BMW's M division, in operation since 1978, has produced some of the best examples of the concept, with its legendary M3 sitting at the...

Unlike many concept cars that throw practicality out the window in an effort to achieve fuel economy or light weight, the Hungarian-designed Antro Solo manages to fit three adults while returning excellent fuel figures and highway speeds. Built almost exclusively from carbon fiber composite...

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced plans to create car-free zones in parts of Manhattan for three Saturdays this August as part of a new trial to see the effects on the number of pedestrians and cyclists. The no car zone will run along a 6.9-mile stretch of streets through Manhattan...

The leading Democratic candidate for U.S. president, Barack Obama, has promised he won't neglect Detroit the way President Bush has. The car industry has had an especially rough time through the first six months of 2008, and although the future may not prove to be as dire as some had predicted...

It's not the first time the Japanese have taken the novel concept to reality. A bridge over the Arakawa River already uses the vibrations from passing cars to power some of its lights at night. The new project will expand the technology to the other four bridges on Tokyo's Shuto Expressway. Working...

Update: Back in February Mosler announced it was building a new XX extreme performance street car to celebrate its 20th Anniversary. Last week the first production Mosler MT900 GTR XX was put through final testing at Florida's Homestead Raceway. With the test session came a few real-world...

When one thinks of Ferrari, images of bright red, low-slung racers come to mind, borne forward on the wail of a high-revving V8 or V12. For the crews and drivers of the Scuderia Soap Box trophy races, the louder half of the equation is left off. Gravity-powered racing at its finest, the competition...

Classic race cars once owned by Steve McQueen can fetch millions of dollars at auction and the latest car from his collection that’s up for sale is likely to continue the tradition. Last August a 1963 Ferrari Berlinetta Lusso once owned by McQueen sold for $2.31 million. Promoters of a 1970...

With the multimillion dollar Automotive X Prize competition in full swing we’re starting to be inundated with the myriad of designs and concepts from the 70-odd teams that have already signed up to build and race a commercially viable 100mpg vehicle. The latest concept is the TVA Gazelle...

A competition co-sponsored by General Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) called Challenge X is a multi-year effort that has brought together 17 teams fighting to find the best way to re-engineer a Chevrolet Equinox crossover with fuel consumption, emissions and performance in mind...

Built by BMW as a tastefully elegant and not-too-vicious sports tourer, the 6-series has not historically been the first choice of the tuning crowd, in Europe or elsewhere. But one mad coachbuilder in Lithuania decided to turn his efforts toward the car, and the result is an overly aggressive coupe...