Evinrude Outboard Exhaust Housing Lower 320838 on 2040-parts.com

Transmissions gone wild!

If you've been car shopping recently, or just paying attention to Autoweek car reviews, you've noticed that the six-speed automatic -- de rigueur as recently as a year ago -- suddenly has ratio envy. The new hotness? Eight- and nine-speed automatic transmissions.

Production output decline slowing

By Alex Michaelides Motor Industry 24 July 2009 12:09 It appears there may be some light at the end of the tunnel for ailing car manufacturers as the most recent vehicle production figures are released. The data, presented by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), show that, while production levels are still on the decline, the pace at which they are declining is slowing. Car production figures for June 2009 are still down by 30.2% compared with this time last year, however this is an improvement on the 50.2% by which production is down so far this year.

“Where is the sustainable vehicle design?”

The notion of a 'new paradigm in car design' was a theme running through talks by five panelists at London's Royal College of Art last week, who debated "Seriously now, where is the sustainable vehicle design?" Despite disparate backgrounds, there was broad agreement that a truly sustainable form of personal transportation is unlikely to come from an established automotive firm any time soon. Panelist Rob Holdway of Giraffe Innovation was most vocal in his approach to the subject, saying "Frankly, I think the car is unacceptable - we hear a lot about the sustainable car, but I don't think there is such a thing as a sustainable car". The audience - made up mainly of RCA students - also heard from Nico Sergent of Riversimple about how the company's seven-point business model, and its open source strategy, incentivized the company to build a truly sustainable car and mobility package that the current auto model simply doesn't allow.