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From the Ministry of Brilliant Ideas comes this doozy of a whopper of a notion: build ten new English "Eco Towns" to combat climate change. These town would provide 20,000 homes and—here's the rub—be largely devoid of automobiles. Let's set aside for a moment some of the obvious political footballs: building additional developments creates urban sprawl, which loads up strain on the underlying infrastructure which leads to higher taxes and so on. What we're really interested in is how this is going to affect cars. More »
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Bentley is refreshing. Their ultra-luxe, mega-horsepower sleds, favored rides of autocrats, royalty and rap tycoons, are such a specialized product that the Craftsmen of Crewe can pretty much reduce their whole climate-change/fuel-scarcity strategy to a question of customer relations. I promised I'd read the white paper on global warming etc. the company handed out at their New York Auto Show press conference yesterday—also available on Bentley's website—and now I have. Dry? To be sure. Wonky? Yep. But on the heels of the company's announcement at the Geneva Motor Show that it's going to seriously cut CO2 output by 2012, worth checking out. More »
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Agree or disagree with the sentiments of GM's product czar Bob Lutz, you have to respect him for his frankness. In our experience, it's fairly easy to identify a total crock of shit like global warming once you take into consideration the complex interactions of geophysics, global weather patterns and complex high atmosphere chemistry involved in climate change, which Lutz surely has. We're not here to make a statement on the science of climate change, and if Lutz wants to sell us shitboxes like the Cobalt and giant SUV's with mild hybrid systems stuffed into them all while flying his fighter jet around for shits and giggles we're fine with that. But then again, if the Vice Chairman of Global Product Development thinks this about climate change, it kind of makes a lot of GM's latest marketing a total crock of shit, too. [via D Magazine] More »
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One of Los Jalops has been a vegetarian for nearly exactly twelve years now. At the time, he drove a V8 automobile. Twelve years later, he still drives a V8 automobile. That is to say, he's sort of a hypocrite, yet with the amount he actually drives said V8 automobile, coupled with his reduced appetite for methane-emitting agricultural beasts, he's pretty sure he's got the moral edge on rich people who slum in hybrids while tanking up once a week and dine early and often at Ruth's Chris. Apparently, a British government agency has decided that in the fight against climate change, the nation's citizenry should be gently pressured into eating fewer bangers and topping off their mash with a tad bit less butter. Needless to say, we're sure the cattle lobby in the UK is hopping mad. – Davey G. Johnson More »
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The UK branch of environmental action group, Greenpeace took out a full-page ad in the Times (UK) criticizing the fuel-efficiency of the Ford Motor Company's fleet and the company's opposition to stiffened mileage standards. The ad, placed on "donated" space, Said Ford was the worst car manufacturer in its league, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. The group, whose well-documented opposition to GM refers to genetically modified crops, not General Motors, is targeting Land Rover vehicles as part of a campaign against gas guzzlers. In other news, Toyota said "Mwahahahah." Click through for the full text. [Thanks to James for the scan.] [Update: Ford's got a witty retort.] More »
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