215/ 85 R16 Recap on 2040-parts.com

Range Rover Hybrids press ahead on Silk Trail route to Mumbai

A trio of Range Rover Hybrid prototypes is well on its way to India on a 9,950-mile endurance drive through 12 countries. Land Rover is following the old Silk Trail to the east, but while it took ancient merchants months to complete the route, the Land Rover Hybrid team will be doing it in just 53 days. The Silk Trail is a historical network of trade routes which connected Asia with Europe and the Mediterranean, and got its name from the Chinese silk which was a lucrative trade item well into the 14th century.

One Lap of the Web: It Ain't Easy Being Front-Engined

-- Twitter friend @dudehugs is a Weird Twitter savant and a curator of goofy license plates. To archive the world's silliest vanity plates, you have to understand your subject, comprehensively -- which is why his daily driver Ford Focus has a Louisiana plate that says "KANYE." Thusly inspired, someone decided to chronicle whether every state had a vanity plate dedicated to the notable fishstick connoisseur and hip-hop artist Kanye West: The United Plates of Kanye diligently checks DMV records to see if someone's driving around with KANYE proudly emblazoned. So far, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, and Nevada have their own mini Yeezys.

Cadillac may get future rear-drive hybrids

General Motors' two mode hybrid powertrain, used only in trucks, will migrate to rear-drive cars in the next generation, said Tom Stephens, GM's vice chairman of global product operations. Two likely candidates: Cadillacs, says consultant Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics in suburban Detroit. Last month, GM said it is developing an electric motor that is 25 percent smaller and 20 percent more powerful than the motor used in today's two mode hybrid full-sized trucks.