Auto Mag on the Net

 

A new year is about to come. So, I thought of the automotive business ideas that triumphed within 2007, as they might as well be good for 2008. Here is the set of ideas I found from abcactionnews.com:

1. Person to person parking space rental: Peasy.com is an online marketplace for parking spaces, enabling drivers to search for and book spaces before they leave home, and letting British homeowners monetize unused parking spaces by adding them to the network.
2. Stress-free car shopping: American buyers who are in the market for a new car, but don't want the headaches of searching and haggling for the best price, now have an alternative that can help them sidestep the usual dealership woes.
3. Integrated auto insurance for teens: A combined package of insurance and a GPS tracking device (the 'Safety Beacon'), Teensurance offers parents the ability to monitor their teenager's behaviour on the road.
4. Mobile car rental, wherever it's needed: Aiming to become more nimble, car rental company Europcar is introducing mobile car rental facilities in the UK. Small rental booths are hooked up to the company's central booking system and are manned by an agent during peak hours. During off hours, customers can drop off keys and make their own reservations over a built-in reservation hotline.
5. Car dealership catches female fever: Although research finds that women are responsible for the bulk of purchasing decisions, one arena that continues to overlook this important target market is auto dealerships. Not so at Vancouver's Clutch.
6. Ridesharing with a social twist: One of the problems with traditional carpool matching sites has been the anxiety most people feel when faced with the prospect of sharing a car with someone they don’t know. The solution? Tap into the power of social networking.
7. Insurance discounts for GPS-guided drivers: Drivers who use GPS devices are less damage-prone than their old- school brethren. Which is why a Dutch insurance company is giving them 10% discount on their auto insurance.
8. Crowd clout & Japanese auto parts: An Australian start-up is focusing on a 'group buying' niche: parts for Japanese performance cars. Auto Group Buy aims to combine the purchasing power of car owners with a keen passion for modifying, tuning and styling their vehicles.
9. Zipcar uses mobile GPS to pinpoint nearest car: Zipcar members can use their GPS-enabled cell phones to find the nearest vehicle and make an instant reservation, making spontaneous car-sharing easier than ever.
10. Navigate with your own voice: While most personal navigation devices come with a variety of voices to select from, from soft-spoken to stern, they all get boring after a while and aren't, well, personal. Now they can be: it's possible to have your own voice, or that of a loved one, tell you when to turn right.

Good luck and may you all have a prosperous new year!

 

It is pretty hard to pick the best out of a really lot of options for cars these days. So, let me share with you a set of best cars of 2007 featured in DailyNews.com.

Best SUV – 2007 Toyota FJ
According to Josh Max of DailyNews, “Relatively cheap and versatile, this roomy safari-ready vehicle is a great example of how an SUV doesn’t have to be a big block of stupid. It’s retro but also utterly mod, with 4x4 capability and an optional six-speed manual transmission … There’s more plastic inside than necessary, but overall the FJ was the year’s best way of asserting your inner bohermian.”

Best family sedan – 2007 Dodge Charger
Max said, “Most new sedans in this price range suffer from a boring sameness. Not so the Charger, whose stylish body and unique interior boldly go where most sedans fear to tread - and it's wicked fast. Whether or not you watched ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ and hankered for one of these rip-roarers, you'll get your money's worth out of this family speedster.”

Best truck – 2007 Toyota Tundra
“Tough yet pretty - in a pro wrestler way - this year the Tundra elbowed its way through the lock Ford's F150 has had on American truck enthusiasts. At 19 feet, it's the longest truck in Toyota's history, seats up to five, is available in regular cab, double Cab and CrewMax styles, and is a lot less bouncy than other trucks that cost more,” Max said.

Best sports car – 2007 Audi A4 Cabrio
“Its outstanding handling via an all-wheel drive system makes it safer to navigate, its hard floptop makes it a great year-round car, and it's loaded with the latest in technology, like Bluetooth capability and a navigation system. Its interior is all Audi-upscale, but on the road, it's fierce, and it features one of the better sound systems on the market.”

Best Hybrid – 2007 Ford Escape
“Mouse-quiet yet SUV-tough, the Escape got four new trim packages and three exterior colors this year, and an ‘appearance’ package includes silver metal fascias, body-side cladding and more. Mileage is a healthy 32 mpg in the city, 29 on the highway.”

He has great points, right? So, I hope that will help you choose a good car for a purchase. But, of course, you may also check the 2008 models. They are relatively better, most probably, due to innovations and new features.

 

Autocar, a well-known UK magazine, has recently presented its prestigious “Safety and Technology Award” to Mercedes Benz, a German brand of automobile owned by Daimler AG (the world’s thirteenth largest car manufacturer), at a ceremony in London. It is a form of recognition to the forward-looking drive system – the innovative DIESOTTO concept – Mercedes Benz has developed.

Chas Hallet, an editor of Autocar, has acknowledged the development success of the DIESOTTO concept being an impressive leading-edge technology that comes with a high degree of practicability and the potential to ensure a bright future for not just the automotive industry, but for the motorists as well.

Dr. Gunter Karl, who is responsible for advanced petrol engine design in the Group Research & Advanced Engineering Powertrain, does the honors of accepting the award. He said, “Our DIESOTTO concept shows how, in the medium term, a petrol engine can be made just as efficient as its diesel counterpart and how the internal combustion engine will remain a key drive concept when it comes to meeting private-transport requirements.” “We are very pleased to receive the Autocar award. For us, it represents confirmation from an independent source, highlighting the fact that this technology is set to play an important part in ensuring mobility in tomorrow’s world. It encourages us to continue working intensively in order to achieve this aim,” he added.

The DIESOTTO drive system is combined with a hybrid module, just like how it is features in the Mercedes Benz F 700. Doing so allows the system to show that a large and comfortable touring saloon has the capacity to return a fuel-consumption figure of just 5.3 liters per 100 kilometers; thus, enables a drastic reduction in CO2 emissions, without compromising the comfort and pleasure of driving.

Karl said, “Today we already aspects such as direct petrol injection in our latest models, for example in the Mercedes-Benz E 350 CGI and in the Mercedes Benz CLS 350 CGI. During subsequent stages of development, further DIESOTTO modules will be gradually phased into series-production development.”

DIESOTTO technology is an innovative development of the internal combustion engine. It has its first appearance in the Mercedes Benz F 700 research vehicle at the 2007 International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt.

 

Based from the sales of sports cars this year, the rich seems to get richer. Despite the fall, the sports-car market has been foreseen to hold strong in the coming year.

According to David Wurster, president of research firm Vincentric in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, “So-called ‘supercars’ costing $200,000 and up are in a different sort of marketplace … It’s a good example of the widening gap between the rich and poor in this country – we’re apparently going to see more wealthy people at the top who can afford to own the very best.”

Overall, the sales of sports car are in a decline. Sales of ‘ultra-luxury’ makes, such as Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Lamborghini, are down by the smallest margin so far this year by 6.9 percent. But, this fact won’t stop the manufacturers from producing hot new models for 2008.

From CNW data, the sales of ‘premium’ sports cars, including the Audi TT, BMW Z4 and Chevrolet Corvette, are down by 10.2 percent in the first 10 months of 2007, compared with the same period a year earlier. On the other hand, ‘upper premium’ models, including Dodge Viper SRT10, Mercedes Benz SL, and Porsche 911, are down by 13.9 percent. In these categories, significant models for 2008 include the redesigned versions of the Audi TT and the Dodge Viper SRT10 Coupe and Roadster.

The Nissan GT-R, the most anticipated new sports car in recent years, will bring spur as it debuts next spring as an early 2009 model. It will be powered with a twin-turbo V6 engine that allows the vehicle to run zero to 60 miles in less than four seconds.

Francois Gravigny, an analyst with the market research company R.L. Polk and Company in Southfield, Michigan., “It will be a true ‘halo’ vehicle for Nissan … The Japanese had gotten away from selling high-performance vehicles in the U.S., like the Acura NSX and the Toyota Supra, and Nissan is timing the return to that segment of the market perfectly.”

In the exotic segment, the new models include the Maserati GranTurismo (an elegant and civilized near-exotic coupe) and the stunning Audi R8. Gravigny said, “The R8 is the perfect model that illustrates the Audi’s new performance-based philosophy … It’s the first time any German manufacturer is really going up against the Porsche 911.”

The low-slung Tesla Roadster, the first modern electric-powered sports car, will also be a new for 2008. Tesla is expecting that well-heeled environmentalists and sports-car aficionados will be drawn to the $98,000 Roadster. Darryl Siry, Tesla’s vice president of sales, marketing and service, said, “A strong motivation for many of our customers is the fact that the Roadster will be the only production car available that produces zero emissions … But the design and performance of the car are each a powerful draw on their own.”

Wurster said, “The sports car market will improve a bit in terms of volume as America ages and can afford them … There’s a lot of guys waiting out there for their kids to graduate college so they can indulge themselves.”

So, there would really be a lot of wonderful sports car in the coming year.

 

In the past few weeks, everybody has been talking about the best cars. We could find several lists of top cars in different sites. Playboy, in fact, also had its set of hottest cars of 2008.

Playboy’s “2008 Cars of the Year” revealed that a high-performance hybrid surpassed competitors, a European import surges to the top, and a luxury carmaker provides one of the most fuel efficient and affordable vehicles on the road.

Check out the complete list below:

• 2008 CAR OF THE YEAR: Audi R8 - This mid engine sexpot boasts a 420 bhp, 4.2-liter V8, and hits zero to 60 in a sexy 4.4 seconds
• BEST LUXURY SPORTS COUPE: Maserati GranTurismo - Features a 405 bhp, 4.2-liter double overhead cam V8 packs 339 foot-pounds of torque
• SMARTEST PURCHASE: Smart Fortwo - Sits eight feet by eight inches long and weighs a whopping 1,807 pounds
• BEST SPORTS SEDAN: Cadillac CTS - With a base engine of a 3.6-liter V6 that develops 263bhp, it is just as quick as the CTS-V
• BEST SUV: Land Rover LR2 - Equipped with a Terrain Response feature that adjusts the AWD and suspension for driving conditions
• BEST CROSSOVER: Buick Enclave CXL - Proudly sits on 19-inch wheels and is available with a luxury package including articulated headlights
• BEST CONVERTIBLE: BMW 335i - Not only does it whip from zero to 60 in 5.5 seconds, its light-weight steel top retracts in 22 seconds
• BEST EARTH-DAY CAR: Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec - Outfitted with three catalysts and a filter in the exhaust that erases every trace of smoke and N2O
• BEST PINT-SIZE PERFORMANCE: Volvo C30 - Dances on the sporty side with its full-width glass hatch and clipped Manx bobtail

An expert team of automotive writers who traveled the world selected those cars. They have test drove every new model available in showrooms this year. The vehicles will be featured in the January issue of Playboy.

 

Honda Racing F1, a team being run by Japanese car manufacturer Honda, launched Formula One’s first dedicated racing TV channel online. Created by Empirix, the channel is intended to encourage and boost the interest of the fans to watch the sport.

The purpose of the site is to provide the fans the ultimate experience in watching. The site will be hosting sophisticated new applications, which includes a dedicated video channel, up-to-the-minute news, and the opportunity for fans to add their own images to an interactive gallery.

The news will be following the 2006 research being published by the Federation Internationale de I’Automobile (FIA), a non-profit association established in June 20, 1904.

According to FIA, 87 per cent of the racing fans are relying on the Internet to stay informed about the current events in Formula One. This fact is what led the organization and the team to create a channel that will support the racing aficionados.

Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) collaborates with Hicklin Slade & Partners to direct fans to the Honda WAP site. So… what are you waiting for? Go and check it out! Let us all see the progress of the team throughout the F1 Grand Prix season.

 

For this year’s motor show, Ford and Aston Martin will share the stage like the old days. Ford Mondeo together with the Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante will be displayed on the same platform.

Ford Model with its frost white paintjob will showcase a body styling kit of real carbon fiber. Its discreet front lip and 35mm lowering kit highlights the sporty lines of the new Ford. Its elegant roof spoiler, rear skirt and two brand stainless steel exhaust system measuring 75x105mm provides it with that unique finish. To round up the look is the nicely hand-polished Loder1899 bonnet in a special edition Stainless steel look in a stunning silvery, glossy finish.

The elegant Ford was given a tire/wheel combination of 9x20 inch alloy wheel Sins in a shiny, black finish. The Loder1899 offers the 9x20 inch design wheel W1 in a special edition Polish glam or in black, glossy finish with polished spokes.

The Ford Mondeo also gains an additional 50 hp courtesy of the efficient motor management from Loder1899 that is further enhance by its sport exhaust system. Enthusiasts will definitely love the 4-way adjustable sport suspension of the Loder 1899 which allows drivers to adjust vehicle height, pressure level, gradient as well as strut compression to suit personal taste and needs.

Gasgoo.com has recently reported that the Jeep Compass is to be introduced to the Chinese market next March that is according to a senior Chrysler official.

Simon Elliott, President and CEO of Chrysler Group China Sales Ltd said in an interview with Cheshi.com: "We will start to import the Jeep Wrangler next spring, priced at 400,000 yuan ($5,400) here, but customers can make orders starting today."

The Jeep Wrangler heading for the Chinese market will be equipped with a 3.8 L V6 engine. The model has also two extra doors attributed to its 20.6 inches wheelbase which gives more interior space. Elliott is proud in saying that the Wrangler is the only four-door convertible on the market that provides more options for Chinese buyers who prefer Chrysler’s Jeeps.

Chrysler has started selling Jeep Compass in China last September and ever since has been in competition with the locally-built Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. It is powered by a 2.4 liter 4 cylinder engine and priced between 249,000 yuan to 289,000 yuan (US$33,200 to $38,500).

Still in connection with Chrysler’s China offensive, it has rolled off the first Caravan off its assembly line in Fujian-based Southeast Motor which is the first vehicle produced by Dodge in partnership with Chrysler and Southeast Motor.