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SPA platform will not support such a small car

Volvo is pushing off plans to build a compact crossover because its upcoming SPA modular platform is too large to support such a small car. The SPA platform will debut in 2014 with the new XC90 and eventually underpin most Volvos from the S60 and ...

Next generation will show Maserati's new styling direction

Maserati is in the middle of a revival with the new Quattroporte and Ghibli, and the next step is a new generation of its GranTurismo/GranCabrio sports cars. It is planning that the next generations of the cars to have radical new styling compared...

It can create parts 60 times faster than the conventional way

Ford has developed and patented a new quick-prototyping technique for sheet metal that reduces prices and build time for small quantities of a part. Ford calls new technique Ford Freeform Fabrication Technology, and it involves clamping a piec...

It will be built on VW Group's next-gen modular platform

Porsche second generation Panamera is still about three years away from going on sale, but Volkswagen Group’s new MSB modular platform for front engine, rear-wheel drive vehicles gives some hints about the next car. For example, to balance s...

Being knowledgable of costs for both genders lowers prices

The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University has found has completed a study titled “Repairing the Damage: The Effect of Price Expectations on Auto-Repair Price Quotes" that looked at gender’s effects of the cost of...

Cars were used to carry black market goods around World War 2

A cache of World War 2-era cars has been discovered by Italian geologist Gianluca Minin in an abandoned tunnel near Naples, Italy. Most of the vehicles were confiscated from the Italian police for carrying black market goods during the post-war oc...

The design is basically the same today as it was when it opened

BMW’s famous four-cylinder headquarters, situated literally across the street from Munich’s Olympic Park, celebrated its 40th birthday on May 18 of this year.  Since opening in 1973, it has become one of the icons of the Munich sk...

It would use the same platform with a more conventional engine

Volkswagen Group is the king of platform sharing, but it is still amazing to hear that Volkswagen is considering using the platform from the XL1 green supercar for an economical sports car. The concept would work like this. The carbon fiber re...

Energy use has been reduced by 7%

General Motors has released its 2012 Sustainability Report and announced that energy use is down 7% and carbon emissions are down 5.3% at its factories since 2010 towards a goal of reducing emissions by 20% by 2020. It now has 105 landfill-free fa...

The system will know the time of day and load on the grid

GM's OnStar has started a pilot program to balance the power stored from solar cells with energy from the electric grid. The system can look at the load electric grid and the power stored in the cell's batteries to know which source to use...