Porsche 356 Fan Shroud on 2040-parts.com

EPA makes it official--greenhouse gases are pollutants

On the eve of an international climate summit, the EPA on Monday formally declared greenhouse gases to be dangerous pollutants, strengthening President Barack Obama's hand and laying the groundwork for a new 35.5 mpg standard for light vehicles. The finding is likely to have a greater impact on electric utilities, oil companies and manufacturers than on the auto industry. The EPA's scientific finding reported that these gases “are the primary driver of climate change,” which can intensify heat waves and increase ozone pollution linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses.

Q by Aston Martin at Pebble Beach 2014

Q by Aston Martin Vanquish Volante at Pebble Beach 2014 Q by Aston Martin is Aston Martin’s customisation programme for their cars, offering bespoke titivation to make cars even more individual than they already are. And a chunk more expensive too. And to illustrate just some of the customisation options possible for their cars, Aston Martin has decided to take four new ‘Q’ cars to this months event at Pebble Beach and will be displaying them at the Aston Martin estate – high above Carmel – alongside the new V12 Vantage S Roadster and DP-100 Vision Gran Turismo car.

Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid – details

The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid will show at Frankfurt The principle difference between the standard Prius and this new plug-in version is – you’ll never guess – that it adds the ability to charge the Prius’ batteries through a domestic outlet. The Prius can be fully recharged in around 1.5 hours, and the new lithium-ion battery pack – which replaces the old nickel-metal hydride pack in the regular Prius – is more compact and of higher output. Toyota claim that the plug-in Prius can cover round 12.5 miles on a full charge in pure ‘Electric Mode’, which is around double that of the normal Prius.