Jacek Koziel and Hans van Leeuwen, professors at Iowa State University, are looking to put a new put a new twist on the notion of drinking and driving. The duo has a $79,000 grant from the state-run Grow Iowa Values Fund to develop a cheap process of turning ethanol developed for fuel into a food-grade alcohol which can be used in beverages, pharmaceuticals and personal care products.
On Wednesday, August 30th, the Society of Automotive Analysts (SAA) will be presenting the third annual Strategic Planning Summit. In a press release, the SAA says that the Summit is "designed to bring together the leading automotive research, forecasting and consulting firms to address a wide variety of pertinent issues facing the industry today."
Pontiac is trying a new tactic to get the word out about its new G5 Coupe. Every single ad dollar earmarked for promoting the car will be spent on online. Pontiac's marketing director Mark-Hans Richer calls it "a radical experiment". While online-only advertising may not raise Pontiac's brand awareness among consumers like a traditional TV spot, it does allow the brand to target the youth male audience at which the G5 Coupe is aimed more effectively. Plus, it's a lot cheaper than buying a primet
Amid today's corporate news of Honda's highest-ever overseas and worldwide auto production is a note that July sales of Honda's mini vehicles increased 41.1 percent in Japan over last year. The dramatic increase is due to high sales of the Scion xB-like Zest, which went on sale in March 2006. Since that date, Honda's mini vehicle sales have increased in each consecutive month, compared to the same month the previous year. The
UPDATE 1: new pic added of Solstice Jazz
Nobody likes a tattletale, but is that any reason to blow up a speed camera that just caught you breakin' the law? A 28-year-old British man who had just gotten snapped by a speed camera thought so, and believed he could beat his ticket by blowing up the witness to his crime. Wrong. The hard drive of the camera survived and showed police the man returning to the scene in one frame and "sparks and flames" in the next. Here's a thought, did he have to walk in front of the camera to blow it up?
Writing in the Washington Times, William O'Keefe says U.S. automakers are using their "green" E85 campaigns to divert attention from a generous federal tax loophole that is creating an artificial market for ethanol.
Dave Thomas over at Kicking Tires is the first on the web to post his opinion of the new 2007 Element SC after Honda held a meet and greet for its new models last week. Thomas admittedly didn't get the Element at first when it appeared on the scene in 2003, but gives credit to the toaster on wheels for the market's current crop of box cars. The SC, however, is a new kind of Element that sheds a bit of the original's overtly utilitarian duds for a new front fascia with projector beam headlamps, a
