Tomorrow's world: lightweight carbon composites

Once all the dust settles on The Great Battery Farce (the idea that the world's ills will be taken care of by sticking a battery in everything that moves and charging it up) we may eventually face up to the fact that the best way to move something around more economically, is to move less of it. That means making things lighter, a lot lighter. Car makers are working on it and manufacturers like Audi and Jaguar have already become masters in bringing aluminium to the mass production.

Kia going rear drive

Kia told its dealers it will launch a new full-size rear-wheel-drive flagship sedan in the U.S., and it is expected to be in showrooms here early next year. Kia's first-ever U.S. RWD production sedan will be called the K900 and is the same vehicle sold as the K9 in South Korea and as the Quoris in other overseas markets.

Ferrari California Handling Speciale (2012) first pictures

This is Ferrari’s revised California, which will be unveiled at the Geneva motor show in March 2012. It’s got more power, weighs less, and can be optioned with a chassis-sharpening Handling Speciale package, all features scooped by CAR last year. The California caused quite a stir when it was launched, ushering in a whole host of firsts for Ferrari: it was the company’s first convertible with a folding metal roof; the first with a double-clutch gearbox, the first front-engined V8 Ferrari, and the first with direct-injection engine technology.