ˆ Hyundai to slow production of Santa Fe, Sonata

tags : alabama , hyundai , idle , layoff , manufacturing , slowdown

A 15-percent drop in Sonata sales since the beginning of 2008 is one reason Hyundai will idle its Alabama plant for 11 days between now and the end of the year (the near-2-percent drop in Santa Fe sales didn't help either). According to Hyundai Motor Company officials, the current sales slump and future sales projections of both models warrant the assembly slowdown. To limit the financial impact on the plant's workers, Hyundai will schedule the days on Fridays, and around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Hyundai also added, "We will continue to monitor the situation closely and hope that the economic conditions affecting our industry will soon normalize and allow us to return to a full production schedule as soon as possible." You and everybody else.

posted : 10/21/2008 @7:38:19 PM

ˆ Letterman remembers Paul Newman...and their V8 Volvos

tags : david letterman , davidletterman , paul newman , paulnewman , v8 volvo , v8volvo , volvo , volvo wagon , volvowagon

In the wake of Paul Newman's passing just over a week ago, we've seen countless, wonderful tributes to the man written from different points of view. He's remembered as an actor, a colleague, a racer, and most importantly, a towering philanthropist. One of the best non-written remembrances, however, comes from the mouth of David Letterman, who paid respect to Newman in one of his monologues on The Late Show last week. The whole thing's worth watching, but at around 3:45 in, Dave gets to the story about when Newman called him up one day and talked him into buying a custom Volvo wagon (a 960) with a supercharged Ford V8 underhood. You see, Newman was having one made and was very pumped up about it, so he asked if Dave wanted one, too. And you know, how do you say no to Paul Newman? Dave recounts the whole affair beautifully, and of course, it's also funny. After you watch the clip, head over to Swedespeed, where in 2003 they profiled a third car just like the ones built for Newman and Letterman, with even more background about Newman's car and what went into the build. This is the very definition of "sleeper."

posted : 10/13/2008 @4:49:30 PM

ˆ Mazda introduces clever start-stop system with direct injection

tags : direct injection , directinjection , mazda stop-start , mazdastop-start , smart idle stop system , smartidlestopsystem , stop start tech , stopstarttech

Mazda has announced a clever new start-stop system that promises fuel economy gains of 10% or more without the need for an electric motor. The Smart Idle Stop System (SISS) uses only direct injection and combustion to restart your vehicle, while most start-stop systems use an electric motor and traditional engine start-up process. SISS stops the pistons in the optimal position for an engine restart, and then injects fuel into the cylinders before the engine begins to rotate and lets the power of combustion turn the engine over to start. This enables an SISS-equipped Mazda petrol engine to restart in 0.35 seconds, or half the time of start-stop systems using an electric motor. The catch: SISS only works with automatic transmissions. Mazda's SISS system will be available in 2009, but the Japanese automaker hasn't yet announced which models will receive the fuel-saving technology, nor has it disclosed whether SISS will be available in the States at launch. With Americans becoming increasingly sensitive to fuel economy and petrol prices, we hope we're not left out in the cold.

posted : 9/22/2008 @11:34:51 PM

ˆ Cessna crash kills two ex-Touring Car drivers

tags : apex motorsport , apexmotorsport , david leslie , davidleslie , farnborough , fia gt3 , fiagt3 , plane crash , planecrash , richard lloyd , richardlloyd

Five people died Sunday, March 30th in a private plane crash in Farnborough, Kent in the UK. Aboard the plane were Apex Motorsport team boss Richard Lloyd, and former British Touring Car Championship driver David Leslie (pictured). Lloyd, who owned the plane, raced in the British Saloon Car Championship in the '70s, and then in the World Sportscar Championship with Porsches. Leslie was a long time driver in the BTCC for teams like BMW, Mazda and Proton.

Both men were killed when the plane experienced engine trouble just after takeoff and plummeted into a housing estate. Also killed were the plane's two pilots and an Apex Motorsport engineer who had been with the company just 12 days. They were headed to the South of France to set up the Apex Motorsport Jaguar that will be racing in the FIA GT3 Championship. Our condolences go out to the families of everyone on board.

posted : 4/1/2008 @9:24:04 AM

ˆ VIDEO: Alex Roy on the Late Show with Letterman

tags : alex roy , alex roy interview , alexroy , alexroyinterview , david letterman , davidletterman , the late show , thelateshow

You may remember Alex Roy as a member of Team Polizei, which drove a BMW M3 across the continental U.S. in the unofficial record time of 31 hours and 4 minutes in late 2006. The record is unofficial because maintaining an average speed of over 90 MPH for a day and a half isn't exactly... legal. You can read about the monumental effort required of Roy and his team in his book The Driver, or you could watch the video after the jump of Roy's appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman last Tuesday. Having met Roy, the amazing thing about him is that he's fully aware of how dangerous and crazy his endeavor was, and on some level agrees with those who take offense with what he did. It's a disarming quality that makes him easy to talk to even if you're one those who disagree with his need for speed. That comes through in his interview with David Letterman, who belabors the illegality of Roy's record run a bit too vociferously in our opinion. Roy takes it like a champ and we think, by the end, wins Dave over. And once you've got Dave, you've got Paul, too.
more ...

posted : 1/14/2008 @9:14:17 PM

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