Five least-green vehicles

We are a generation seemingly obsessed with the environment, eager to cover our carbon footprints in any way possible--or at least give off a green vibe visible to our neighbors). And though many car buyers are jumping on the hybrid and electric bandwagons, the majority of us still crave brute-power cars and trucks. While being environmentally friendly is nice, there comes a time when you just have to be mean -- eco-mean, in this case.

Nissan-designed Santa’s sleigh

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 17 December 2008 14:30 Canadian designer Martin Uhlarik penned Nissan’s sleigh, which dispenses with reindeer altogether and can be used instead in conjunction with a rather faster steed, a Nissan GT-R. It’s quickly apparent that Nissan’s SC01 sledge will have a much greater load capacity than rival designs – and we’d certainly pull over fast if we saw this in our rear-view mirrors. Uhlarik is project design leader at Nissan’s Paddington design centre in London and was senior exterior designer on the Qashqai+2 and NV200 concept.

Hiriko folding car: The solution to urban car sharing? [w/video]

The Hiriko Driving Mobility Group has moved into the manufacturing trial of its two-seater electric microcar, which it hopes will offer a new car-sharing program that will transform the way we travel around our cities. The ‘first-mile' problem – moving between the commuter's home and mass transit hubs – and the ‘last-mile' problem – from mass transit to the workplace – has increased dramatically over the past few decades as more of us live in urban environments. 10 years ago researchers at the Michigan Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) decided to explore alternatives to shuttle buses and other ideas that failed to tackle the problem.