motors

General Motors will pull some $10 million in paid advertising from Facebook, the Wall Street Journal reported, striking a discordant note with the growing public frenzy over the social network's pending IPO.

GM marketing executives apparently started reviewing the company's Facebook strategy earlier this year, and eventually determined that it wasn't getting much mileage out of paid ads, unnamed individuals told the WSJ. The automaker, however, will continue to expand its use of free marketing on Facebook.

Marketing chief Joel Ewanick told the newspaper that GM "is definitely reassessing our advertising on Facebook, although the content … Read more

The new TL1 all-in-one racing, flight, and first-person-shooting motion simulator comes with some pretty neat hardware. This includes a spherical screen utilizing three projectors to deliver a whopping 5,760x1,200-pixel resolution, as well as a fully adjustable seating system that supports optional motion transducers.

Moreover, the Ariel Atom's auto DNA gets incorporated through a sleek 8-foot by 7.8-foot by 6.5-foot shell that houses all the components with steel and composite materials. … Read more

RYNO Motors' single-wheeled electric scooter is self-balancing, has a turning radius of zero when stopped, and only takes up about as much space as a folding bicycle -- so it's conceivable that commuters could bring one onto a train. Plus, it looks like it fell out of a Japanese anime.

However, it only has a maximum range of 20 miles between charges, a top speed that is limited to 12.5 mph (the actual top speed of 25 mph is limited to keep the RYNO scooter within the more relaxed legal boundaries of "personal mobility scooters"), and it looks like it fell out of a Japanese anime -- yes, for some people, that last point is as much a con as it is a pro.… Read more

Toyota will officially unveil the RAV4 EV next week, an all-electric SUV that could be an important indicator of electric vehicles sales overall.

The company earlier this week sent out a notice that it will debut the RAV4 EV on Monday May 7 at the International Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS26) in Los Angeles, an important conference for EVs.

Toyota has shown off concept RAV4 EVs already, but important details such as price and availability have not yet been disclosed.

The all-electric SUV is the fruit of a partnership between Toyota and Tesla Motors, which is supplying the electric powertrain for … Read more

The Chevy Volt will restart production "earlier than previously planned" due to an uptick in demand, General Motors announced earlier this week, but will this help to quiet critics?

The plug-in hybrid electric vehicle had been slated for a five-week production suspension, but that will be cut to four weeks, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press.

This is "due to increased Volt sales since January and the need to meet demand in our strong markets, including California," GM said in a statement, according to the Free Press.

The Volt came under withering criticism from some in the media … Read more

If you're looking for a good price on a new car, you'll want to start your search on eBay this week. AutoNation will be selling 29 vehicles for half their retail price on the auction Web site.

AutoNation Direct is the online sales arm of the AutoNation national auto dealership group. Until Friday, the company will post four vehicles on eBay each day on sale for half the MSRP. The vehicles range from budget-friendly commuter cars, such as a 2012 Ford Fusion Hybrid for only $16,385 to halo vehicles, including a the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro. The Camaro … Read more

San Francisco, Calif.--VIA Motors claimed a "first" today with the delivery of a pair of work trucks for use in California's Pacific Gas and Electric Company's (PG&E) fleet. These were no regular pickups, because although they are based on the Chevrolet Silverado, the trucks that VIA built are extended-range electric vehicles (eREV).

If you are familiar with the way the Chevrolet Volt works, you should have no trouble wrapping your head around the way VIA's eREV trucks function. For the first 40 miles of operation, the eREV truck is motivated solely by … Read more

As a first-time expecting mother who doesn't know many kids, setting up my home for a baby is a mysterious process that involves procuring little outlet covers and stacking wine bottles on the counter instead of the floor.

As for maximizing my home's environment for optimal infant motor development, let's just say I'm the aunt who assumes a newborn can play with tangrams (turns out they just chew on them).

So this morning I rather eagerly checked out a new online test that assesses the quality and quantity of motor development opportunities my home currently provides. … Read more

BARCELONA--Bill Ford, bitten by the Silicon Valley bug, has dreams of a fast-moving Detroit at the heart of a radical overhaul of personal transportation.

As the executive chairman of Ford Motor Company and great grandson of the company founder Henry Ford, he's got deep roots in a century-old industry. Ford predicts a future, though, in which computing and communications technology is no longer an accessory but instead a primary part of a car, and in which the auto industry works on the same time scales as the electronics industry.

There was a time when technology suppliers would have a … Read more