Always looking for that perfect Christmas gift for the person who has everything, Neiman Marcus has put the ultimate commuter vehicle in this year's catalog - the Moller M400 Skycar. The ethanol-fueled Skycar is said to be capable of speeds over 350 mph, and gets 21 mpg.
Moving quickly on its plans to cut in half its list of suppliers, Ford has decided to award all its safety system contracts to only two suppliers, TRW and Autoliv. TRW and Autoliv already had 75 percent of Ford's safety system contracts, and will now split the $500 million in contracts previously held by other suppliers. Autonews reports sources at Sweden's Autoliv as saying that Ford will expect a more favorable cost structure in return for the larger volumes.
Hot on the heels of Porsche's plan to acquire a 20 percent stake in Volkswagen comes a rumor that surfaced in Germany today that DaimlerChrysler is also looking at a 20 percent piece of VW. Apparently, VW had approached DaimlerChrysler in the past, discussing various options, including a share swap between the two carmakers. DaimlerChrysler sources deny that there are any such plans in the works, and it is easy to imagine that Porsche's announcement could have pre-empted any sim
