Filed under: Etc. , Safety Automotive fatalities continue to drop year-over-year, which is perhaps not surprising in and of itself. What is surprising, however, is a study that notes a massive falloff in the number of motoring deaths. According to The Wall Street Journal, the total number of road fatalities in 2009 was 33,963 compared to 43,510 in 2005 – a 22 percent decline
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New study says road deaths drop precipitously – but why?
Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing , Mazda , South America According to The Wall Street Journal , Mazda is seriously considering a new plant in an emerging market, with Mexico being mentioned as the most likely target in order to have a base to enter additional markets in South and Central America. Of course, a plant in Mexico might also be used to supply vehicles to the United States by virtue of the North American Free Trade Agreement. If Mazda does indeed build a new plant in Mexico, it’s likely to partner with SumitomoCorp, which holds three percent of the Japanese automaker’s shares. Ford , from whom SumitomoCorp acquired those shares, is also thought to be a possible, though seemingly less likely, partner on the project
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Report: Mazda latest automaker to mull plant in Mexico
Filed under: Government/Legal , Safety , Toyota A new report from the The Wall Street Journal claims that the Department of Transportation is blocking the release of National Highway Transportation Safety Administration findings on the Toyota unintended acceleration issues. According to the article, NHTSA has compiled all the relevant information and written a report on its findings, but George Pearson, the former head of the agency’s recall division, says that he was told that the Transportation Department doesn’t want the information released. Why?
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Report: Feds block Toyota ‘unintended acceleration’ doc release
Filed under: Convertible , Performance , Porsche , Design/Style 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder – Click above for high-res image gallery When we look at the 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder rap sheet, it’s hard not go get a bit excited. It looks seriously terrific, it weighs but 2,811 pounds, and it packs 320 mid-mounted ponies. Good stuff. When we spent some time behind the wheel of the Spyder, we fell more than deeply in love with this, the purest of Boxsters.
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Unlikely Ire: Dan Neil excoriates 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder
Filed under: China , Technology , Roewe Google and the Chinese government are having a little row right now, but that hasn’t stopped China’s love for Google goods. The production lines for the Roewe 350 have started rolling out sedans, and the little four-door, designed as a sign of SAIC’s automotive futur,e is certainly headed for hundreds of thousands of Chinese homes. In the process, it will employ Google’s Android operating system, up until now only seen primarily on mobile phones and a handful of cheap PCs. Android was developed from Linux, and is a highly customizable OS with a huge range of adaptability
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Roewe 350: The first car to run on Android