In the recent 2nd Philippine International Motor Show, INQUIRER.net speaks with several car manufacturers about the recent concept cars they have lined up in the future. These “cars of the future” are now using other alternative means of powering engines, including electricity (using more powerful and less expensive batteries). Hybrid cars are also the rage today, as manufacturers respond to pressures the global green movement to come up with ways to cut on energy consumption amid the oil price increases.

Here’s a video interview with Mitsubishi vice president for customer service Dante Santos who explains how an electric car works.

Here’s a video interview with Korean carmaker Kia Motors explaining the displayed “fuel cell electric vehicle” or FCEV. The FCEV runs on electricity produced by combining stored liquid hydrogen with oxygen, as explained by Edgardo Castro Jr., training manager for Columbian Autocar Corp, Kia’s local distributor.

Here’s also a closer look at Toyota’s hybrid Prius sedan that alternately runs on gas and electricity. Toyota has created a hybrid pickup naming it as one of their “cars for the future.” Unveiled earlier this year, the Toyota A-Bat is further elaborated on by Allen Rufo, Toyota Philippines vice president for customer service marketing, who also gives his views about hybrid vehicles in the local market. Video taken at the Philippine International Motor Show held at the World Trade Center.

Finally, Japanese carmaker Honda unveils a new version of the Jazz, also called Fit in other countries. In this video interview, Honda Philippines head of sales operations Voltaire Gonzales talks about the new features in the Jazz.

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Those who saw the 1975 film “Death Race 2000” based on Ib Melchior’s short story “The Racer” might get a kick out of the 2008 remake written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson simply titled “Death Race.”

In a future America, prison inmates are forced to compete against each other in a driving arena. The prison warden forces a prisoner (Jason Statham of “The Transporter”) into becoming a driver, and he becomes a crowd favorite known as “Frankenstein.”

The cars in “Death Race” are deadly as the title implies. Take a gander at these awesome road machines, view the images here but don’t take these cars out on the road!

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By Reed Stevenson
Reuters

AMSTERDAM — Next time you’re stuck in traffic on the way to an unfamiliar destination, navigation device pointing the way, look around.

Chances are, there are other drivers just like you, staring back and forth between the tail lights ahead and the little screen with a digital map instructing you to stay on the road — a road often clogged with bumper-to-bumper traffic.

A new wave of personal navigation devices, led by TomTom of the Netherlands, promises smarter, more reliable traffic information to help them avoid road congestion and find alternate routes to their destinations.

Traffic information on navigation devices has long been available over radio frequencies and more recently, over mobile data connections, by using information from traffic cameras and sensors on the road.

Garmin, TomTom’s main rival, has a deal with Sirius XM Radio’s XM Satellite Radio to offer traffic information across North America.
[Read the rest of this entry »]

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By Cenon Bibe
Philippine Daily Inquirer

IT WAS not what I had expected.

The trip from our place in Cainta to the station of the Light Rail Transit in Santolan, Pasig City, usually took 15 to 20 minutes. In the morning of August 5, the day for the Santolan to C.M. Recto leg of the Rush Hour Commute project of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and INQUIRER.net, it took 40 minutes.

Sitting in heavy traffic throughout the usually short trip, I was dead sure that I would be in for a long journey to Manila that morning.

My watch read “8:12” a.m. as I met my partner Alex Villafania of INQUIRER.net at the waiting shed across the train station on Marcos Highway.

We were supposed to have met before 8 a.m. to undertake our part of the project to gauge the various ways of getting from one point of Metro Manila to another.

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By Agence France-Presse

SINGUR, India — His voice shaking, security guard Sanjib Chowdhury says he fears opening the gate of the eastern Indian factory that is assembling what will be the world’s cheapest car.

Furious farmers and rights groups say the expropriation of land in West Bengal state for the plant was little more than theft and protesters are doing their best to throw a spanner in the works.

“Villagers are threatening to kill us if we keep working at the site,” he quakes through the iron gate of the project where the Nano, dubbed the “king of econoboxes” with its promised price tag of $2,500, is being made.

“I didn’t report for duty for two days, I was so scared,” Chowdhury said at the factory in Singur in West Bengal, viewed by the state’s Marxist government as a test case for drawing more big-scale industry to the impoverished region.

The car — which Tata chairman Ratan Tata conceived with the aim of getting Indians off their motorcycles and into safer cars — was unveiled with huge fanfare early this year at India’s premier automobile show in New Delhi.

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By Agence France-Presse

BRUSSELS — Cars stuck in traffic or on slippery roads will be able to communicate with other vehicles in a bid to cut down on traffic jams and road accidents, plans of the European Commission showed.

“Today’s commission decision is a decisive step towards meeting the European goal of reducing road accidents,” said EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding.

Getting critical messages through quickly and accurately is a must for road safety, Reding said.

She said 24 percent of driving time in Europe was spent in traffic jams that could cost the EU economy 80 billion Euros ($124 million) by 2010.

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Editor’s Note: This is an account of Team CAR in the Rush Hour Commute race written by Stephanie Asuncion and Elvira Mata.

WE may have clocked in second and spent a fortune on gas, but we got to our destination without killing anyone for a seat. Best of all, our clothes were unwrinkled.

Expecting the ride to be long, we packed mineral water, pan de sal, gummy bears, audio CDs and weird conversation ranging from the difference between WiFi and WeRoam and how to tell if that homeless man is sniffing glue or just happy to see us.

Team CAR took an hour and 19 minutes to travel from EDSA North station all the way to Pasay Taft station, which has a distance of 16.8 kilometers. A dry run of the same route done on a rainy Sunday took all of 22 minutes.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

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By Reuters

TOKYO, Japan - Nissan Motor Co. has developed an accelerator pedal that can push back on the driver’s foot when it detects excess pressure and poor fuel efficiency.

Japan’s No.3 automaker said it would install the “ECO pedal”, which can be switched on or off by the driver, in its cars from next year. It didn’t specify which models would be equipped with the new technology.

Internal research showed that the system, which comes with real-time fuel consumption levels displayed in the instrument panel, could improve fuel efficiency by 5 to 10 percent depending on driving conditions.

Nissan is taking a three-pronged approach to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, comprising improvements in vehicle technologies, driving behaviour and traffic conditions.

Last year, it promised to equip all new cars with the fuel consumption indicator, which indicates the optimal level for fuel-efficient driving by displaying a green, flashing or amber light.

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By Caroline Ng and Fung Yu
Contributors

Author’s Note: The 3D images linked to this article uses Adobe Flash technology, which provides an immersive experience by means of virtual reality technology. Flash 9.0 is required to view the 360-degree, 3D images.

I’m shopping for a new car, specifically a small one with an engine displacement of 1.3L or below. After seeing the purchasing power of my money getting weaker amid the rising pump prices that seem to have no end, costly automotive parts replacements and increasing maintenance cost, the perennial traffic problem of Metro Manila, I believe it’s about time I retire my aging car and switch to one that gives greater fuel economy, more creature comforts, environmental compliance, and plenty of available cup-holders.

Car manufacturers who anticipate more increases in fuel cost but are also conscious of protecting the environment, have rolled out respective minis or compact cars. They range from the 0.8L Suzuki Alto and the Chery QQ to the 1.3L Toyota Vios/Avanza, Honda Jazz/City, and Nissan Sentra GX. In between, we also have the 1.0L Chevrolet Spark, plus the 1.1L Kia Picanto and the Hyundai Getz.

Most cars run on petroleum products derived from oil, which is a non-renewable source of energy. Oil is formed by the compression and heating of ancient organic materials over time. The oil we use today was formed by the preserved remains of prehistoric planktons and algae over the past 200 million years (remains of prehistoric land-based plants and trees turn into coal). This is the reason why oil is called a fossil fuel.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — Paranaque-based kart track City Kart recently announced that it will have its second Manila 701 endurance race from July 19 to 20.

This was according to its Managing Director Jean-Marc Freihuber who announced this year’s race will be tougher as they would be simulating every road condition imaginable.

Manila 701 started out as a small event at City Kart late last year and was limited to karting enthusiasts. It required teams to race around the track that was strewn with obstacles that simulated road conditions. The first one to finish 701 laps was declared the winner.

Freihuber said that this time, they will open the race to the first 14 teams that will have four to nine players.

New simulated road conditions would include blackouts, landslides, traffic jams, ice pelts, and “mini-volcanic eruptions.” Freihuber said they will be bringing equipment that could simulate these conditions.

The rules from the Manila 701 will still apply. The first team to finish 701 laps will be declared the winner. However, teams must formulate their own strategy to ensure that they would be able to finish the endurance race.

“There are no time limits but without proper strategy the players will get tired immediately. This kind of competition is grueling and in my estimate, it could run between 12 to 16 hours,” said Freihuber.

To add some spice to the race, live entertainment will be offered while the competition is running, he said. “It’s going to be a party until someone reaches the finish line.”

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