Smart Steering Wheel Gives a Health Check While Driving

In the early 1900's, Birmigham's Oliver Lucas developed a steering wheel fitted with an electric car horn that quickly became an industry standard. For many years the horn remained the only button found on vehicle steering wheels, but nowadays they are covered with a multitude of buttons for controlling everything from the vehicle's sound and climate control systems to on board computer functions and a connected smartphone.

Researchers from Germany's Technische Universitaet Muenchen, working in collaboration with BMW, have now extended the function of the humble steering wheel even further with the development of a sensor system integrated into the steering wheel that can give the driver a quick health check while driving.

Daihatsu Gets Creative with Three Micro-Sized Concept Cars for Tokyo Motor Show

Daihatsu is Japan's oldest car maker, celebrating its sixtieth year of production this year, having honed its skills in micro-vehicle design in an environment where space is at a premium, and the roads are as congested as any country on earth.

Toyota's controlling interest looks set to pay off as the world is belatedly realizing that small cars are the future. The three concept cars it will exhibit at the Tokyo Motor Show two weeks from now point the way to the future in several ways and have resulted in the company adopting a slogan of "Big Answer from Small" for the showing.

Third Iteration of Nissan PIVO EV Concept Headed for Tokyo

Nissan is the latest auto manufacturer to declare its hand in the lead up to the 42nd Tokyo Motor Show with the announcement that a new version of the PIVO electric concept car will take center stage. The PIVO 3 will be joined at the Nissan stand by two other concept electric vehicles, a light commercial van prototype and smart house technology that allows a Nissan LEAF's batteries to supply a home with electricity.

Despite the list of cars and technology Nissan plans to show in Tokyo, there's only a few items that haven't already been unveiled at previous events. The ESFLOW electric sports car had its world debut at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show back in March, while the TOWNPOD crossover EV made its public debut back in September 2010 at the Paris Auto Show. This leaves the PIVO 3 as the only previously unseen concept car set to make an appearance in Tokyo.

Ford Begins Taking Orders for 2012 Focus Electric | Upcoming Cars | Car Review

Ford has started taking reservations for its 2012 Focus Electric ahead of initial deliveries to dealers in California, New York and New Jersey. The vehicle is Ford's first all-electric passenger car and the first of five all-electric vehicles the company has planned for the next three years.

With a 23 kWh lithium-ion battery pack powering a 130 kW (130 hp) permanent-magnet electric motor producing 181 lb-ft of torque (245 N-m), the Focus Electric boasts a range of up to 100 miles (161 km) on a single charge and a top speed of 84 mph (135 km/h).

New York City's Taxi of Tomorrow Becomes Taxi Designed by Committee

Four years ago, New York City officials convened a group of taxi drivers, owners and passengers, to create a set of goals for the next New York City taxi cab, a project called the Taxi of Tomorrow.

A collaboration between the Design Trust for Public Space and the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission, the Taxi of Tomorrow initiative was claimed to be a complete re-imagining of the entire taxi system.

Subaru's BRZ Concept Sports Car Finally Breaks Cover

It feels like we've been waiting for Subaru's BRZ concept forever. The BRZ is a joint development effort between Toyota and Subaru, using a 2.0 litre version of Subaru's signature horizontally-opposed engine with Toyota's direct injection system.

Toyota will sell the car as the FT-86 which it showed as a concept two years ago at the Tokyo Motor Show and has since shown with revised styling.

Sales Trend After Strike Will Decide Road Ahead for Maruti Suzuki

Car maker Maruti Suzuki's performance for the quarter ended September 2011 has been weighed down by the recent labour strife at its unit in Gurgaon. The decline in operating margins, along with higher selling and distribution expenses and coupled with royalty payments to its Japanese parent, as a proportion of net sales in the second quarter of FY 12 compared to a year ago, did impact the company.

Its operating profit margin declined 420 basis points YoY to 6.3% in the second quarter of FY12 while its total operational income fell 14.4% to Rs 7,831.6 crore. No doubt, the company's average realisation per vehicle improved an estimated 6.4% YoY in the second quarter of FY12, but that was not good enough to compensate for higher operating costs in the quarter. Maruti's vehicle sales had also declined 19.6% YoY in Q2.

Renault to Greet New Year with Compact Car ‘Pulse' | In India | Diesel Engine | Car News

Renault will launch its compact car ‘Pulse' in India in January next year to make further inroads in the fast growing Indian car market.

The French carmaker, which currently sells two models in India, is also planning to introduce two more cars next year as part of its plan to sell one-lakh units in India by 2013.

Toyota Pimps the iQ

The annual SEMA show is a place where the mechanically remarkable is average, the unexpected isn't and where you'll find look-at-me engineering solutions well beyond the preposterous. Hence Toyota's decision to focus its SEMA display around tuning and pimping its iQ luxury city car was always going to create interest.

Three iQs have been created for the show's Tuner Challenge, with a fourth custom special displaying a radical chop-top look. Cars are getting smaller, so this is definitely a view of the future.

The 300kW Varley evR450 Electric Sportscar | Car News | Upcoming Concepts

Another high-performance electric sportscar broke cover last week from an unlikely source. To be built by a 125 year-old Australian company specializing in aerospace, defense and electric vehicles, the less-than-US$215,000 gull-winged Varley evR450 was on display at the Third Annual Australian Electric Vehicle Conference.

Composites will enable the evR450 to be "featherweight" and development relationships with other EV specialists Tritium and Ultramotive have yielded some significant advantages for the vehicle, though we're unlikely to see those advantages announced until 2012.

Car Carriers Profit From Record Global Demand as Shipping Slumps: Freight

Ships capable of hauling 4,000 cars across the world’s oceans may make the most money next year since the global recession as production reaches a record and demand from emerging markets swells cargoes. Shipments will rise 10 percent to 12.7 million vehicles in 2012, more than twice the fleet’s expansion, according to ABG Sundal Collier ASA, an investment bank in Oslo.

Rates for the 550-foot vessels will gain 36 percent to $15,000 a day, RS Platou Markets AS estimates. Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA, Europe’s biggest owner of the ships, will boost profit for at least two more years, analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg show.

Lamborghini to Drive Alongside Rickshaws in India | Car

Lamborghini SpA sees opportunity in the streets of Mumbai, where three-wheeled rickshaws zigzag through bumper-to-bumper traffic on pot-hole-infested roads.

Volkswagen AG (VOW)’s supercar maker plans to open its second dealership in India this year to meet increased demand for cars including the 36.9-million rupee ($750,600) Aventador, said Mohan Mariwala, managing director of Lamborghini Mumbai. Ferrari SpA, which opened its first dealership in the country in May, says it plans to open four more by the end of next year.

Renault to Launch Small Car in 3 Months | Upcoming Car | Mini Car | 2012

Sensing an increasing demand for smaller cars in India, French car maker Renault is planning to introduce a V-platform model within three months from now.

With complete focus on the the domestic market, the plan is to roll out the small car at the Auto Expo in January next year, according to Sudhir Rao, deputy managing director, Renault India.

BMW India to Launch Leasing Soon, to Become First Car Manufacturer in India to Introduce Leasing

After Mercedes Benz announced to introduce leasing of their cars in India, another German car manufacturer, BMW has announced of their plans to start leasing services in India soon. According to Dr Andreas Schaaf, President, BMW India, "We will become the first company to introduce leasing in India."

On asking when does BMW plans on introducing leasing in India, Mr Schaaf answered in two words, "Very soon." It was earlier predicted that Mercedes Benz India would become the first car company in India to introduce leasing in the Indian auto industry, but Mr Schaaf's statement has come as a surprise. Mr Schaaf announced about BMW India Leasing service at the BMW xDrive Xperience event in Gurgaon earlier this week.

Volvo V60 Diesel Plug-in Hybrid to Launch Next Year | Upcoming Car | Car Review | Geneva Motor

At its unveiling at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show earlier this year, Volvo said its V60 plug-in hybrid was "virtually production-ready." This was an accurate statement as it turns out, with the Swedish automaker announcing that from next year it will begin selling what is likely to be the world's first diesel plug-in hybrid production car.

The V60 plug-in hybrid has a range of up to 50 km (31 miles) when driven purely by the electric motor, with the car's total operating range extending up to 1,200 km (745.6 miles) when combined with the ICE.

Revenge of Electric Car Takes a Wild Ride | Upcming Car | News | Latest

In his 2006 documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car, filmmaker Chris Paine examined the birth and premature death of battery electric cars in the mid-1990s.

Now Paine is back with the commercial release of Revenge of the Electric Car, an insider’s view of an historic shift in the automotive industry, filmed behind closed doors between 2007 and 2010.

Jaguar Recalls 18,000 Cars in Britain | News | Upcoming

Indian-owned luxury car company Jaguar said today it was recalling almost 18,000 cars in Britain due to a problem with cruise control mechanisms.

The problem affects diesel-engined X-type models manufactured from 2006 to 2010. Customers have received letters saying that, in some circumstances, the cruise control, if engaged, cannot be disengaged in the normal manner.

Marchi Mobile's eleMMent RV - A Luxury Mansion on Wheels

Marchi Mobile has launched its eleMMent series of ultra-luxurious recreational vehicles. Designed to offer a mansion away from the mansion, the series comes in three, fully configurable flavors and offers everything you'll never need on the road, including automatic boarding stairs, a flybridge and an operational fireplace.

Partially based on a 2001 design by Luigi Colani, this mobile luxury villa resting on a DAF XF 105 track chassis features deliberately radical elements such as the highly conspicuous oval windscreen that make the it stand out at first sight.

Fisker Automotive's Karma sedan PHEV Finally on Sale | Car Review | News

Having unveiled the Fisker Karma at NAIAS 2008, Fisker Automotive had originally intended to begin sales of the Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) in late 2009, but funding setbacks saw the car's launch date delayed several times.

With the first deliveries to fulfill early customer orders taking place in late July this year, the wait is now finally over for U.S. retail customers with the 2012 model year Karma sedan hitting showroom floors after the vehicle received certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week.

Toyota and Peugeot Announce Plans for Hybrid Race Cars

Toyota is going sports car racing, and it intends to enter the hotly-contested LMP1 class from next year with a car powered by a petrol hybrid power-train. Though rumors have predicted a Toyota LMP1 car even before the company closed its calamitous F1 effort at the end of 2009, Toyota's presence appears certain to invigorate Le Mans racing which has been a battle of the diesel cars of Peugeot and Audi for the last few years.

Regulations for 2012 have already restricted the breathing, lowered the fuel capacity and cut the maximum turbocharger boost on diesel race cars, and now at least three major manufacturers (Toyota, Peugeot and Porsche) look set to use hybrid race cars by 2013.