motors

Electric vehicles are sweeter than ever now that four Mitsubishi i vehicles, wrapped in Jelly Belly graphics, have invaded the Sweets & Snacks Expo 2011 in Chicago.

The Mitsubishi i vehicles, along with a pair of Mitsubishi Outlander crossovers, were whipping around the Windy City on Monday and Tuesday showing off for attendees of the Sweets & Snacks Expo.

About 500 companies and more than 15,000 national and international confectionery and snack industry professionals attend the trade show each year.

The Mitsubishi i will be available for test drives at Mitsubishi dealers beginning in November. The EV has a … Read more

General Motors has taken steps to make the Orion Assembly Plant even more energy efficient including using landfill gas to cut energy costs.

The plant will begin assembling the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic and Buick Verano this fall. With an upgraded paint shop that is heated by natural and landfill gas, the painting process will use half of the energy per vehicle of the one it replaced. The system runs exclusively on landfill gas primarily to generate steam for heating and compressed air for most of the year.

According to GM, both the Sonic and Verano use a new eco paint … Read more

Tesla Motors and Electric Power Research Institute join U.S. Department of Energy, automaker research teams and energy companies to accelerate the development of new energy-efficient technologies for cars and light trucks and the infrastructure needed to support them.

According to the DOE, the collaborative effort formerly known as FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership, is now U.S. DRIVE--Driving Research and Innovation for Vehicle efficiency and Energy sustainability. The goal is to beef up research and development of not only new vehicle technologies, but to also work on a broad range of energy infrastructure technologies.

"Government-industry partnerships like U.… Read more

The 2011 Honda CR-Z found itself on the receiving end of much criticism from the automotive press and enthusiasts, ourselves included, when it launched last year. Greenies didn't like the hybrid's merely average fuel economy, and enthusiasts chided its less-than-hard-core performance. A few of these enthusiasts figured they could do better. This is where Mugen, Honda's sometimes-official tuning division comes into the picture with its CR-Z Mugen concept, set to debut in July at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July.

Realizing that you can't please everyone, Mugen instead focuses on the needs and wants of … Read more

On a recent bus ride, I saw a guy use his smartphone to shop for a Porsche on eBay. It might sound silly, but he's not alone. Apparently, shopping for cars and car parts this way is part of a growing trend; on eBay Mobile, 90,000 parts and accessories and 2,000 cars per week sold during the first quarter of this year, according to eBay.

This week, the company released a magazine-like app for the iPhone to cater to two markets: users who want to browse and bid on cars on the go and people looking to find parts for their current ride. While consumers can--and do--already shop for cars on the regular eBay app, this new app specifically targets the car crowd.

I downloaded the free iPhone app, called eBay Motors, to see what was on the market. While a tad out of my price range, the first cars that popped up on the screen were a Ferrari going for $200,000 and a Bentley priced at $156,995. If I was interested, I could have hit a button to place a bid. But I scrolled down to see other details like the make and model of the car and a button that would allow me to check the history of the vehicle.

Steve Yankovich at eBay told CNET he calls this situational shopping: "the trend of buying an item on mobile the instant you are inspired, and not having to wait until you are in front of your computer or at the mall. When a car enthusiast is working on their car or at a motors event, they aren't in front of a computer but their smartphone is handy." … Read more

A few students in Atlanta Public Schools will soon be driven to school in a the nation's first hydraulic hybrid conversion of a traditional school bus.

Financed by a $50,000 grant from The Ford Motor Company Fund and converted by students at Georgia Institute of Technology, the bus will run on recycled biofuel.

There are more than 480,000 iconic yellow school buses in the United States, but this 16-passenger school bus is being painted green by students at Mary Lin Elementary School in Atlanta, Ga.

The students at Mary Lin have also organized a drive for used … Read more

General Motors on Tuesday announced a $2 billion investment for plant improvements, and to be save or add 4,000 jobs, in 17 U.S. states.

The automaker today announced plans for where some of the money will allocated.

GM will invest $109 million in its operations in Flint and Bay City, Mich., to support engine production for current and future fuel-efficient small cars produced for the U.S. market. The investment will also save or add 96 jobs at the two sites, GM said in a release.

The company will use the bulk of the investment, $84 million, at … Read more

In its first year the Chevrolet Volt has garnered several awards, including 2011 Motor Trend Car of the Year, Green Car Journal's 2011 Green Car of the Year, and Automobile's 2011 Automobile of the Year. And now the electric car with extended range is going to be built in a solar-powered facility.

General Motors announced it is building the photovoltaic solar array, the largest in Southeast Michigan, at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant. Sunlight will help to create the $41,000 Volt.

Once it's completed, the 516-kilowatt project built by GM and DTE Energy will generate 54,750 … Read more

Since emerging from bankruptcy reorganization in mid-2009, General Motors has invested $3.4 billion and has added or saved more than 9,000 jobs. The U.S. automaker today announced an additional investment of $2 billion; an additional 4,000 jobs have been saved or created.

The announcement was made by GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson during an event at the 54-year-old Toledo Transmission Plant in Toledo, Ohio.

"We are doing this because we are confident about demand for our vehicles and the economy," Akerson said. The company also released an animated clip (after the jump) about … Read more