Yesterday, at the San Mateo Superior Court in California, Tesla Motors filed suit against Fisker Automotive. Henrik Fisker, the creator of the Fisker Karma, was hired last year by Tesla to design its upcoming electric sedan, called WhiteStar. According to Tesla, the reason Fisker accepted this job was “to gain access to confidential design information and trade secrets, then announced a competing vehicle”.

After the Tesla Roadster was successfully launched, the company announced that next year or in 2010 they’ll also introduce an all-electric passenger sedan, priced somewhere between $50,000 and $70,000. Apparently, after Tesla found out that Fisker is about to create a competitor for the WhiteStar, they’ve fired him, decided to dump his original design and started working on another one.

So far, no official reaction from Fisker, but stay tuned because we’ll keep you informed in this interesting case.

read more from "Tesla Motors to sue Fisker"

Bookmark, E-mail or Share

After its US market debut in January, the Smart ForTwo was a big success for Mercedes with customers lining up to get the German little guy. The car’s fuel efficiency, its great image and the small size which makes it a perfect urban car, made Smart sell very well (almost 4,000 units sold so far and 30,000 reservations). However, its small size is also a big disadvantage and many were expecting the safety tests’ results before deciding to buy the car. And the news aren’t good at all.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released the first results of the crash tests and these aren’t doing Smart any favors, because, during side tests, the driver door unlatched and opened and officials said that this could lead to a driver or passenger being ejected from the car. So the Smart ForTwo got a 4 stars rating for driver safety and only 3 stars for passenger safety. And that’s not all, because the crash test were made using a car similar in size with the Smart. Imagine what would be the results in case of a crash between a Smart and, I don’t know, a Chevy Suburban.

Even though it’s equipped with a steel safety cage, four standard air bags (two in front and two on the sides, for the head and abdomen) and it has standard Electronic Stability Control, the Smart still isn’t a safe car and shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. I mean, c’mon, the car’s 8-foot, 8-inch and it weights 1,800 pounds.

read more from "Surprise! US tests show Smart ForTwo not so safe"

Bookmark, E-mail or Share

Halleluyah! If this works, hope we’ll get to see this action taking place in more countries. With Japan having one of the fastest aging populations in the developed world, the Japanese police will try to stimulate elderly drivers to give up their driving licences and stop driving. And don’t think they’re doing it because they have something against old people, but because drivers over 70 are responsable for 35% of accidents happening in Japan.

And the Japanese police are not doing this only by asking them to quit driving, but by also having around 30 partner companies which entice old people with discounts and cash incentives. For example, they get free home deliveries from a department store chain, restaurant discounts at Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel, reduced interest rates at a local bank and Domino’s Pizza is even giving them a 10 percent discount for its menu prices.

Now we don’t have anything against old people, it’s just that there comes a time in life when all you need to do is rest and relax and not drive around irritating and endagering other drivers. Because anyone who ever met on the road an elderly driver knows that they’re slow and they’re not paying very much attention to the road. Good job, Japan!

read more from "Japan to elderly drivers: Quit driving!"

Bookmark, E-mail or Share

Ok, this is very disturbing news. The famous porn star Jenna Jameson decided to let her Lamborghini Murcielago go and put it up for auction on eBay. The car is painted in pearl yellow and it has factory chrome wheels, factory yellow stiching, indash touch screen radio, aftermarket exhuast , front lift system, kevlar clutch, flywheel, filters, fluid change, acc belt, and throttle body sync. However, I’m sure most of us don’t really care about that. There are no mentions if this car was used in any of Jenna’s movies, so if you remember anything…well…keep it to yourselves. Though this part of the car’s description is really interesting: “This lambo is extremely clean, ready to go and priced right for a quick sale”. What do you mean it’s ‘clean’?

Anyways, if you want to check out the eBay auction, click here.

read more from "Jenna Jameson’s Lamborghini for sale on eBay"

Bookmark, E-mail or Share

I’m sure most of you are familiar with all these social networking websites, such as Facebook, MySpace or Hi5. And if some of you consider hanging on these websites only a waste of time, well, it’s not really like that. Because, besides helping you make new friends, apparently you can use these sites for some other really useful stuff.

A Volkswagen Beetle has been stolen in March in Shrewsbury and, because the police was unable to locate tha car, the owner asked Facebook users to look out for the Beetle. And, surprisingly, it actually worked, because a woman contacted the police and said that she saw a VW Beetle matching the description in aa Telford car park.

A spokeman for West Mercia Police said that “the stolen vehicle has been recovered and the vehicle owner has been informed [..] This is a very unusual way of recovering a stolen vehicle but we would like to thank the eagle-eyed member of the public for her assistance. It’s another example of the community helping police to detect crime and we would urge any members of the public who see anything suspicious in the area in which they live to call us.”

I’m sure that Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook never thought his site would help people in such manner and who knows, maybe we’ll even get to see a new “Stolen Items” Facebook application. Would be cool, because with these sites having huge communities, I’m sure it would work.

read more from "Facebook helps police find stolen VW Beetle"

Bookmark, E-mail or Share

We all know Jerry Seinfeld and love him, especially for the popular “Seinfeld” TV series. And we also know he’s a car fanatic, with a large collection of cars, of which his favorite is a 1955 Porsche Spyder. However, on Saturday evening, while he was driving alone in his classic 1967 Fiat BTM, his brakes stopped working and, after he tried to stop the car by using the emergency brake, he tried to avoid an upcoming intersection and lost control of the car, which flipped over.

East Hampton Town Police Chief Todd Sarris told the press that, by flipping the car, Seinfeld avoided a very serious accident, because it all took place only a few yards away from the highway. Also, because the accident was caused by a mechanical failure, no summonses were issued.

Seinfeld walked away unharmed, but, as his wife Jessica told the New York Post, “he was a little shocked when he walked in and it started to dawn on him what happened”. We’re glad that he’s ok, but he’d better look out next time, because, even though these classic cars are beautiful, their technology is pretty old and next time he might not get that lucky.

read more from "Jerry Seinfeld unhurt after car accident"

Bookmark, E-mail or Share

As we’ve informed you yesterday, the Knight Rider got greenlight for series production, starting this fall. And today we got an official release from NBC regarding their future prime-time schedule and we found out that the Knight Rider series will get a spot on Wednesdays from 8 to 9 p.m and a rerun on Saturdays, from 9 to 10 p.m.

Click here to see the full NBC schedule.

read more from "Knight Rider to be aired on Wednesdays, starting this fall"

Bookmark, E-mail or Share

Porsche plans to take legal action against London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone, who wants to raise the congestion charge. The new charge will affect several hundred car models, including some Porsche models, high-performance cars, large family cars and SUVs and Porsche believes that, besides making successful people who own some of these affected car models, relocate to other, cities, the new rules are only a “political stunt” and have nothing to do with the environment, because, for example, the CO2 saved in a whole year is the equivalent to just a few hours of emissions from Heathrow Airport.

As Londoners probably know, the London Mayor is planning to raise the congestion charge from just £8.00 a day to £25.00 for some vehicles from October, and also remove the exemption for residents, meaning that some people will see their daily charge rise from just 80p a day to £25.00 a day. To get more info about Porsche’s Judicial Review, head over to the official website of the action (click here).

We really don’t know what to say about this, but considering that in a lot of other countries these environmental financial measures are usually only a reason for some people to make money or gain some political advantages, we think that Porsche’s has a good point here and it will be very interesting to follow what happens in this case.

read more from "Porsche continues fight against London’s congestion charge"

Bookmark, E-mail or Share

Photo credit: George H. Newman/Tampa Tribune

This is one lucky guy. Yesterday, Jorge Luis Cancino-Sanchez, 37, who was driving in his 1999 Ford Taurus, was hit by a train and, though his car is now a large pile of scrap, he walked away unharmed. Speaking to the policemen, he said that he recently moved from Miami to Plant City, was looking for directions and didn’t hear the train coming. A witness said it appeared that Cancino-Sanchez ran a stop sign at the crossing.
He said he drove into the road leading to Universal Structures looking for someone to give him directions.

Last year, a truck driver was not as lucky as this guy, because he was killed by an Amtrak train at the same crossing.

read more from "Car gets hit by train, driver gets away uninjured"

Bookmark, E-mail or Share

Yesterday, after a request by Mayor Adrian M Fenty, the Washington DC Council unanimously approved a legislation which will let the police place surveillance cameras on street-sweepers. The cameras will scan license plates and photograph vehicles illegally parked in a street-sweeping zone. Violators caught by the cameras will receive a $30 citation in their mail.

The cameras will cost $40,000 each and will be placed on two street sweepers initially and, during the first 45 days of the program, only warning notices will be issued. According to Washington officials, the estimated revenue will be around $200,000 every month.

So you’d better look out where you park your car next time you’re in Washington.

read more from "Surveillance cameras to be placed on street-sweepers in Washington"

Bookmark, E-mail or Share

Photo Credit: Chris Gardner / Getty Images

Independent US truckers tried to protest against the high fuel prices by pulling their rigs off the road or slowing down on major highways. They hoped that, this way, they’ll force president Bush to use the nation’s fuel reserve to lower the fuel prices. However, without the involvment of major trucking companies, the protests were not coordinated at all and useless. Not only this, but several trucker drivers also got tickets, for impeding traffic by driving at low speeds.

Besides the Bush appeal, the truckers also demanded that contractors pay them more to cover their fuel and other costs. For example, one trucke driver said that it costs him $1 a mile to drive one of the big rigs and the contractors are offering him as little as 87 cents a mile. Almost all trucker associations said they didn’t organize anything, being known that federal law prohibits the association from calling for a strike because it is a trade association.

In this time, in Washington, the top executives of the five biggest U.S. oil companies declared a $123 billion profit and, though they say they’re aware of the fact that high fuel prices are hurting consumers, they deflected any blame and said that their profits were in line with other industries.

read more from "Trucker drivers protested against high fuel prices"

Bookmark, E-mail or Share

Remember “Gone in 60 Seconds”? We’re sure you do and that was the first thing that crossed our minds when we first saw this. Because on Saturday night, thieves broke into the Xtreme UK showroom in Stourbridge, West Midlands and took off with nine cars, valued at over £300,000 (that’s about $600,000). The stolen cars were one Lamborghini Gallardo, two Subaru Imprezza WRXs, three Mitsubishi Evolution, a Porsche 911 and a Renault Clio V6.

Apparently, we weren’t the only ones thinking about the movie, because Xtreme UK chief, James Challis, said that “just like in the Gone in 60 Seconds movie, the crooks obviously knew what they were looking for.” However, what’s really interesting is that, if you take a look at the Xtreme UK website, you’ll see that they have live cams from the showroom, but these were pretty useless to the police in finding out suspects.

So, everyone in the UK, if you’re looking for a good deal on a high performance car, this might be your lucky day.

read more from "$600,000 car heist in the UK"

Bookmark, E-mail or Share

Bertone, the Italian coachbuilder and design company, is struggling with financial problems for quite some time now, after several years of financial losses. The final strike was a failed deal with Fiat, in April 2007 and at the end of last year Bertone applied for bankruptcy protection.

Now, several companies are interested in acquiring Bertone, among which are Mahindra & Mahindra, an Indian company which was also interested in Jaguar and Land Rover and rumors say that rival Italians from Giugiaro and Japanese-owned PCL Group are also interested in Bertone. And recently, the Chinese company FAW announced its interest in Bertone. FAW produces cars under joint ventures with the VW Group and Toyota, and under license for Daihatsu and Mazda, currently does not sell vehicles in western or central Europe, although it does do limited business in Russia.

read more from "New company interested in Bertone"

Bookmark, E-mail or Share

Yesterday, NBC announced that they are pleased with Knight Rider and gave the series greenlight for serios production, starting this fall. Though the pilot episode received strong ratings, when it was aired on February 17, 2008, the series’ fans reaction was not that great, many considering the actors awful, plus they saw the pilot as a big Ford commercial.

Just a reminder, Justin Bruening stars as Michael Knight’s son, Mike Traceur and Val Kilmer is KITT’s voice. NBC said that it’s possible that the “Knight Rider” series will be given a Friday night timeslot, but things might change before the show will start.

read more from "Knight Rider series to continue this fall"

Bookmark, E-mail or Share

To celebrate their 60th anniversary, Holden announced that it will introduce three new special editions of the VE Commodore, the SS V Sedan and the Captiva. Each model has over AU$8,000 of extras including new alloy wheels (18 inch for the VE Commodore and Captiva and 10 spoke 20 inch for the SS V Sedan).

GM Holden’s Director of Marketing, Philip Brook, said that “the 60th Anniversary Special Editions further highlight Holden’s dedication to quality at value for money prices, providing something for everyone, whether it’s an Australian family or an individual looking for that something special.

The Holden VE Commodore 60th Anniversary Special Edition got new 18-inch alloy wheels, onyx leather seat inserts, leather steering wheel, decorative moulding on instrument panel in micro silver, front grille insert, rear parking sensors and Bluetooth® connectivity for compatible mobile phones. The VE Commodore special edition is priced at AU$33,990.

The Commodore SS V 60th Anniversary Special Edition, besides the standard SS V features, got 20-inch 10-spoke alloy wheels, colour Satellite Navigation, rear parking sensors, chrome surround exterior door handles, high mount rear spoiler and special ‘60th Anniversary’ floor mats. The car will be priced at AU$55,290.

The Captiva 60th Anniversary Special Edition features rear view camera, 18-inch sports alloy wheels, seven inch driver information display & in-dash DVD player, leather gear shifter, new front fascia, front passenger under-seat storage tray, electrochromatic mirror, silver premium painted skid plate & fog lamp inserts, silver premium painted roof rails & door handles, new black bezel headlamps and new tail lamps. The petrol version is priced at AU$43,990 while the diesel one will go on sale at AU$44,990.

All cars will wear a special ‘60th Anniversary’ rear badge and are scheduled to go on sale on May 1st.

More photos after the jump.

read more from "Three 60th anniversary Holden special editions"

Bookmark, E-mail or Share