The Demo Site

Zolfe Orange

Britain has a rich heritage in niche sportscars, but unfortunately for American customers, few of them end up making it over to the Colonies. The oddly-named Zolfe Orange, however, stands as a unique exception. We first reported on the Zolfe Orange two years ago, when it was set to enter production under Suzuki Hyabusa power. But a lack of space and other concerns sent the lightweight GT back to the drawing board, finally to re-emerge, and all the better for it.

The revised Zolfe Orange now incorporates Ford-sourced engines, starting with a 2.3-liter Duratec driving an entirely respectable 185 horsepower to the rear wheels via the Mazda MX-5's five-speed manual. More powerful engines, a six-speed manual or an available automatic, and a limited-slip differential will be offered, promising to deliver strong performance from the composite body draped over a spaceframe chassis that weighs 1543 pounds. The project is lead by Nic Strong of British Midlands plastics manufacturer Spatz Arlon and former Caterham engineering chief Jez Coates, benefiting from additional input from other cottage automakers through the Niche Vehicle Network. AP supplies the brakes, Avon the tires and the interior ergonomics were benchmarked against the Audi TT. Best of all, the first year's run of 30 vehicles are almost all earmarked for the American market, so if you've got £27,500 (approximately $42k in greenbacks) on hand and are looking for something a little different, the juicy little Orange may be your kinda squeeze
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Click above for a high-res gallery of the Volvo FH16 700

And so, the new, top-secret Volvo S60R should kick a lot of BMW ass. Okay, we kid. Obviously. Those numbers go with the FH16 700 and yes, as you can see, it's a semi - the world's most powerful, according to Volvo Trucks. It replaces the FH16 660 as the company's range-topping long-haul model, and at the heart of the matter is the D16G engine. In addition to the 700 horsepower variety, this 16-liter six-cylinder diesel also comes in 600 hp and 540 hp flavors. Volvo says it's quieter and more efficient than its predecessor, as well as being clean enough to meet the Euro 5 emissions standards that are scheduled to take effect later this year. Three cab styles are offered, each of which can be rather nicely appointed from the looks of things. So, if you have the need to, say, move EuroDisney from Paris to Geneva, load up a few of these bad boys and you ought to be good to go. Click on the jump to check out the FH16 700's official video game and see video of the truck in action.

eCoupled photos

You've probably heard of wireless battery charging technology, but soon you might just see it showing up in your car. Fulton Innovation has teamed up with Leggett & Platt to bring eCoupled Intelligent Wireless Power Technology to your mobile phone, MP3 player, radar detector or just about anything else that needs electricity.

Instead of a web of snarled power cords, the eCoupled system charges any enabled gadget resting on the power pad. As in the illustration, enabled devices resting within range of the pad would be juiced up just as if they were plugged in.

Bret Lewis, director of Fulton Innovation, gave us a demo of the eCoupled system Wednesday night. Fulton had outfitted an iPhone and a Motorola Bluetooth headset with an eCoupled coil. Lewis took the two devices, laid them on a wooden bowl and, as if by magic, the two began to charge. The only indication the bowl was anything but dead tree was an electrical cord running from the back. Underneath, the bowl had been hollowed to accommodate a metal plate with the coil inductor. The same type system could easily be incorporated into a car's console or instrument panel.

Ideally, Lewis says, gadget manufacturers would incorporate the technology into portable devices as they're designed. In the real world, of course, there are potentially billions of legacy devices that could benefit from a third-party attachment to allow the wireless batter charging.

But it gets better! Lewis says the system can also transfer data, potentially allowing wireless coupling of music players and mobile phones with you car.

We also spoke with Ross Haith Jr. of Leggett & Platt who let us in on some commercial vehicle projects they have ready to launch as soon as this year. Read about that as well as press releases from the two companies after the jump.

W3 Triposto

Living in Montreal, you spend most of the year indoors dreaming up what you're going to do with those few weeks of summer when the skiing is bad. Now that the Grand Prix isn't around anymore, Canadian gearheads are looking for other ways to get their kicks. And when a retired engineer and a racing driver are penned up together in a snowstorm, this is what you get: the W3 Triposto.

The brainchild of Clyde and Hugh Kwok, the W3 Triposto takes a Porsche 911 and turns it into a unique speedster. Its open-air cockpit features 1+2 seating, like the McLaren F1, wrapped in pseudo-retro bodywork reminiscent of the 1958 Porsche 718 RSK (albeit one realized in carbon-Kevlar and aluminum). The flat-six has been tuned to deliver 300 horsepower, which propels the W3 to a face-shredding claimed top speed in excess of 300 km/h (186 miles-per-hour). Kwok and Son prefer working with 90's-era Carreras, but will gladly perform the conversion on any 911 for a princely $250,000, or $300k for a turn-key model. You'll just have to wait until the snow melts to take it for a spin.

Click above to watch video after the jump

The current Buick LaCrosse is one of those cars that passes you on the road and you don't even notice it. GM and the Buick design team are looking to remedy that situation with the 2010 LaCrosse. Classy sheet metal, vastly improved interior materials, and an all-new powertrain will help the new LaCrosse compete with the likes of the Lexus ES350 and the Lincoln MKS. A 260 hp, 3.0L direct injected V6 and a 3.6L powerplant that outputs 280 ponies means the new LaCrosse will also be able to compete on performance and efficiency as well.

We had the opportunity to talk with several of the people responsible for the new LaCrosse, and we had cameras rolling so you could get in on the conversation. Hit the jump to view the video for yourself, and if you'd like to read our extensive preview of Buick's newest sedan, click here.

A teenage driver should take a slightly different approach than middle aged drivers when looking for affordable auto insurance because teenagers are considered to be a higher risk than elders who have more driving experience; therefore, it is important to learn the methods of finding rates which fall into a teen's low budget.

Here is how to find car insurance teens can afford:

In order to find low auto insurance for teenagers one must first understand how the premium rating system works. Insurers adjust their rates based on their profits and losses; therefore, companies who are profitable in the teen driver category will offer lower rates as a way to attract new customers.

How do you find the carrier who wants to attract teen drivers by offering low rates? Simple, by comparing quotes! The bottom line is that the insurer who is cheaper compared to others, is asking for your business by offering affordable prices.

Instead of getting quotes one-by-one, utilize the services of sites like OnlineAutoInsurance.com which make the auto insurance comparison easier and much faster by allowing a driver to enter their information only once to get back instant quotes from multiple insurers at the same time. This way quotes can be compared instantly and affordable prices will stand out like a sore thumb.

Adding teenagers to parents policy vs. having them buy their own:

Parents often ask "Should I add my teen child to my policy or have them buy their own?" and the answer to that is "it depends on your circumstances".

Take the following actions to help determine what would be the best bet:

1. Get a quotation for adding the teen from your current company and compare the quotes to other companies as mentioned above in order to weigh out the price difference.
2. Caution: If the teenager is added to the parent's policy, the premium for all vehicles will have to be paid together; therefore, if the teen comes up short on their share, a partial payment will not be acceptable.
3. Keep in mind that adding a teen to a policy may cause ALL vehicle's rates to increase, even though they do not drive them although some companies do let you assign drivers to vehicles.
4. The benefit to adding a child to the policy is that they may be able to driver any other vehicle on the policy; vise versa, if a separate policy is purchased, they may not be covered on other household vehicles.

Courtesy of OnlineAutoInsurance.com

2010 Lexus RX350 and RX450h

Few vehicles have done more to establish a genre and define a brand as much as the Lexus RX. Introduced over a decade ago to suburbanite real estate agents and their Napa-weekending friends, the original RX300 helped boost Lexus sales by 60% when it hit dealers in late 1998. Over the ensuing years, Lexus' posh people mover slowly evolved to include a hybrid drivetrain, a refreshed exterior and tasteful appointments that helped solidify its success. For 2010, the RX plays the same tune but adds a few more instruments, a new backbeat and reworked crescendo.

This morning's Today Show on NBC featured General Motors' design chief Ed Welburn talking with host Matt Lauer live from General Motors' Warren Tech Center. Welburn previewing the Detroit Auto Show's coming attractions, including the new Buick LaCrosse and the Chevrolet Camaro. Most newsworthy, however, was the designer's willingness to pull back the sheet - albeit partially - on what looks to be a production-bound version of 2007's Chevrolet Beat concept. Welburn promised that the car would be unveiled at the show in Cobo, leading us to speculate that the Beat may come to the States after all. Check out the Beat concept's high-res gallery below, and video footage from the show after the jump.

Aptera 2e

Product delays from startup companies should come as no surprise, especially from those aspiring to build green cars. The latest is California based Aptera who is developing a tear drop-shaped, two-seat three-wheeler. The company had originally promised to start delivering the electric 2e by the end of 2008. Unfortunately, that first "production intent" example is still at least a week away from completion and, according to an email sent to people who had put down $500 refundable deposits, that vehicle will stay within the company. In fact, Aptera will be slowly building vehicles until at least October before it ships any to customers.

The reason is because in recent months the company has made a couple minor changes at customers' behest. You know, little things like switching the car's layout from driving the single rear wheel to the two front wheels. That and adding a roll down section to the windows so you can hit the drive through window without opening the door. In order to get a handle on real demand, the company is also offering people the chance to convert their deposits to non-refundable status, which will also get them an extra $250 off the final price. Check out the whole email received by those customers after the jump. Hat tip to aptera buyer!

Gallery: Aptera 2e

 Reynard Inverter

How many automakers, large and small, have referred to their latest ware as "race car for the road?" Too many to count, for sure. But if you're going to make a real race car for the road, where better to start than at an actual race car company? Take Reynard, for example. One of the leading race car manufacturers, Reynard has built the chassis for a wide range of formula racing series, Indy cars, touring cars...and have taken a room full of trophies to show for it. Their latest project is no less extreme in its performance, yet it is designed to be street legal (for our European friends) right from the start.

The Reynard Inverter is built around a precision-crafted steel tube frame overlaid with either a carbon-fiber or fiberglass body with full race-spec suspension. Buyers can choose from a range of motorbike engines for propulsion, including the engines from the Honda Fireblade or Suzuki Hayabusa, mated to a paddle-shifted sequential transmission with full throttle-blipping, flat-shifting capabilities. The high-revving motorbike engines coupled with low weight (only 400 kg or 882 lbs fully fueled) promises to return Formula One levels of performance, with cornering forces exceeding 4g's. The Inverter can be ordered in race or street trim (which essentially means the choice between slick or treaded tires), but if you're wondering about the name, it's derived from the Inverter's (claimed) ability to drive upside down on a tunnel ceiling at 100 miles-per-hour, thanks to its tremendous downforce. Now that the "race car for the road" mantle has been settled, we'd like to see someone build an upside-down race track to settle that score, too. In the meantime we'll just have to appreciate the salient details in the press release after the jump and the images in the gallery below.