Ford to open Silicon Valley lab

Ford Motor Co., aiming to keep ahead of technology trends, will establish a research lab in the heart of California's Silicon Valley. The automaker said Friday the lab will open near Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., in the first few months of this year. Ford wants the lab to take on a start-up feel and expand beyond the traditional automaker mindset to encourage innovation and improve mobility and safety.

Smart car tipping strikes San Francisco

The Smart ForTwo: brilliantly designed to be safe, compact transport for two people and easily manoeuvred around the city. Although perhaps a little too easily manoeuvred, if what happened to four of the little blighters in San Francisco earlier this week is anything to go by. That’s not a standard parking procedure: ‘Smart car tipping’ has suddenly become a thing.

Porsche says 1952 356 Cabriolet is oldest one sold in the U.S.

A 1952 Porsche 356 cabriolet owned by Robert Wilson of Oklahoma City, Okla., has been named the winner of a contest to find the oldest Porsche sold in America. Porsche Cars North America ran the contest, which asked owners to submit documentation showing when their cars were first sold, as part of its celebration of 60 years of selling cars in the United States. Wilson's car, which he found in a salvage yard, was imported in November 1952 by Max Hoffman, who started bringing Porsches to the United States in 1950.