01 02 03 04 05 Ford Ranger R. Corner/park Light 251534 on 2040-parts.com

Lexus ES sedan production coming to Kentucky

Toyota Motor Corp. plans to invest $360 million to bring production of the Lexus ES sedan to Kentucky, making it the first model from Toyota's premium brand to be built in the United States as the carmaker pushes to localize more manufacturing. Under the plan announced Friday in New York by CEO Akio Toyoda, Toyota will boost annual capacity at its Georgetown, Ky., plant by 50,000 vehicles to accommodate ES output.

Art Center Summit 2009

The Art Center Summit, now in its third year, has finally seen the rest of the world catch up with its preoccupations. Initially conceived in 2006-07 to bring government, academic, and business leaders to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, to discuss issues related to mobility and sustainability, the summit has benefited from the financial turmoil that has recently gripped the world. Previously, the event was highly speculative and appealed mainly to designers working in the advanced mobility community; this year, the summit occurred against a backdrop of meltdown in the US auto industry, chaos in the global financial sector, and a growing realization - supported by the incoming Obama administration - that energy and transportation policy will form a key part of a Green future.

Volvo’s KERS system improves performance and cuts fuel use.

The Volvo S60 with KERS Flywheel (pictured) boosts economy and performance As car makers continue to get bashed by more and more stringent CO2 targets from governments around the world, cleverer solutions are called for to squeeze the best performance and economy balance possible from their products. And Volvo’s new Flywheel KERS system does look promising. Volvo are currently running UK tests of a KERS flywheel system developed by Flybrid Automotive, which takes kinetic energy generated under braking and stores it in a flywheel fitted to the back axle.