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These rust and scratch stickers are designed to make your beautiful bike/car look rusted and scratched so that passing thieves assume it's not worth stealing due to its apparent shabbyness.

Via 

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Lamborghini Gallardo + mad skill with a Sharpie = one heckuva tattooed car. Seriously, this is one amazing paint job, though I suspect many people would consider it a travesty. 

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• "A pedestrian hit me and went under my car."

   

• "The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intention."

   

• "I had been learning to drive with power steering. I turned the wheel to what I thought was enough and found myself in a different direction going the opposite way."

   

• "Coming home, I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have."

   

• "No one was to blame for the accident, but it never would have happened if the other driver had been alert."

• "The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go, so I ran over him."

   

• "I saw the slow-moving, sad-faced old gentleman as he bounced off the hood of my car."

• "He applied brake and his car stopped, I applied brake and my car didn't stop."

   

• "The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him."

   

• "An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my vehicle, and vanished."

• "I was sure the old fellow would never make it to the other side of the road when I struck him."

   

• "To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front, I struck the pedestrian."

   

• "When I could not avoid a collision, I stepped on the gas and crashed into the other car."

   

• "I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way."

   

• "In my attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole."

   

• "As I approached the intersection, a stop sign suddenly appeared in a place where no stop sign had ever appeared before. I was unable to stop in time to avoid the accident."

   

• "The telephone pole was approaching fast. I was attempting to swerve out of its path when it struck my front end."

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Volvo have announced that their new C30 will have far better fuel efficiency, all thanks to a few common sense, low-tech design features.

The diesel C30 will be unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, and is claimed to achieve an impressive 52.26 mpg.

In order to get this figure that high Volvo used low-friction transmission oil, tweaked the engine management software, added higher gearing in 3rd, 4th and 5th, fitted low rolling resistance tires and aerodynamically smoothed all parts of the body.

In essence, they didn't do much at all. Every car manufacturer could, and should, be doing this to every single car they make.

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The first commercial car to be powered by compressed air could be about to hit the production lines, as Indian automaker Tata Motors prepares to build ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre's design.

We're not certain if it's the same air car that we hit just under three years ago, but if it is, it's about time! The City Cat runs on nothing but compressed air -- which can be refueled at "air stations," and overnight using a built-in compressor -- with a not too shabby top speed of 68MPH and a range of 125 miles.

The Air Car designers are working on a hybrid version that can compress air while it's operating, potentially making cross-India journeys possible: Toyota Prius, eat your hybrid heart out.

As EcoGeek points out, the game ain't up just yet for completely emissions free travel since the problem of the source of the electricity (usually acquired from fossil fuels) has yet to be solved. Plus, the fugly design really doesn't do it any favours: why does "green" have to mean "gah?"

VIA 

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General Motors Corp. may build as many as 60,000 of its Volt electric cars for their inaugural year on the market, four times the sales of Toyota Motor Corp.'s hybrid Prius in its U.S. debut, people with knowledge of GM's plans said.

Production at that level may allow GM to sell the plug-in Volt for less than $30,000, said the people, who didn't want to be identified because the plans are confidential.

Toyota's Prius can be bought for $22,175.

A high-volume debut for the Volt is designed to go 40 miles without recharging.

Toyota has sold more than 800,000 Priuses, and the hybrid helped the Toyota City, Japan-based automaker earn a record $14 billion in its last fiscal year. GM lost $1.98 billion in 2006.

Demand for cars less reliant on gasoline is growing as automakers face stricter emissions rules around the world and the U.S. tries to cut its dependence on imported oil.

The Volt is charged at a household outlet and uses an on- board engine to generate electricity when the battery runs down during travel. The engine, powered by gasoline, diesel or a hydrogen fuel cell, only recharges the battery and doesn't drive the wheels. Its full range is about 640 miles on a tank of gasoline, about double the range of a typical car or truck.

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Tata Motors is set to roll out the world's cheapest car next year, enabling those at the bottom of the traffic pecking order to move up a notch.

And it will put the Indian dream of owning a new car - a symbol of status in a status-obsessed culture - within reach of tens of millions of people.

The car maker Tata Motors has not divulged many details about the car other than its shockingly low sticker price of 100,000 rupees, or 1 lakh in Indian currency. That's just over £1200, less than half the price of the lowest-priced cars on India's market today.

The car's rollout comes as India's economy expands at a faster-than-expected rate of 8% a year, second only to China. In this country of 1.1 billion people, sales of small cars are expected to double to two million in the next three years, as the country's emerging middle class expands from 50 million people today to an estimated half billion by 2025.

Supposedly, the 1 Lakh Car - Tata has yet to release its official name - will be a 4-door as big as a Volkswagen Rabbit, much of it will be plastic, and it will have a rear-mounted 30-horsepower engine. By comparison, a Rabbit has about 150 horsepower.

Tata is counting on it being a mega hit. It better be, analysts say. A huge volume of sales is necessary to make up for the car's tiny profit margin of less than 3%.

But its success could spell trouble for India's urban planners and environmentalists who say a drastic increase in car ownership could overwhelm the country's already crowded roadways and worsen its air quality.

The need for more affordable cars is sometimes glaringly obvious. In India, it is not uncommon to see entire families of four or five, precariously balanced on a motorcycle, weaving through traffic.

Environmental groups have already expressed "great concern" about India's air quality, especially in most of the country's largest cities, where they say the air quality is already at "critical levels."

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The secretary of transportation announced this morning that the federal government will provide New York City with $354 million to implement congestion pricing, if the State Legislature acts by March 2008 to put in effect Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s proposal for charging traffic fees in Manhattan.

The announcement is a major step forward for Mayor Bloomberg’s plan, but it does not guarantee that the congestion fees will pass muster with Albany and the City Council. The transportation secretary, Mary E. Peters, singled out the mayor for praise at a 10 a.m. news conference in Washington:

The average New York commuter now spends 49 hours stuck in traffic every year, up from 18 hours in 1982. While some may be content to accept growing gridlock as a way of life, Mayor Bloomberg is not going to let traffic rob the Big Apple. He has stepped forward with a plan as brass and bold as New York City itself. New Yorkers must understand that we must stop relying on yesterday’s ideas to fight today’s traffic jams.

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Mayor Bloomberg in New York is proposing a congestion charge which will be lesser for hybrid vehicles.

On a smaller scale, some boroughs in Britain have now also started penalizing the more polluting cars. Bolstered by the London borough of Islington, the Borough of Lambeth has now established bands for the different cars. A 4x4 would now pay up to 74% more for its permit (up to about $400), whilst the least polluting cars, such as electric cars would pay up to 74% less (about $60).

Richmond was the first council to introduce a scheme whereunder owners of the most polluting cars pay more for their parking permits. Other London councils, including Hackney , Lambeth and Islington were soon to follow suit and adopted the same concept.

Unfortunately the money is not recycled into green initiatives: it will be used to fund road safety and travel cards for the elderly.

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