Prodrive Ltd. is known as a group of motorsport and car engineering that is located in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. They are also known to draw up plans, build and put its cars on the race track for the well-known companies and groups such as Aston Martin and Subaru.

Like other race teams, Prodrive sells its race cars after giving them up from the competition. Either to other competitive teams for another racing event, and some will go to avid race car fans that are willing to collect such fine beauties.

Now that Prodrive has a handful of their own creation which is now in the retirement phase, it is only time for them to find their new home. To help with this plan, Prodrive is now providing a listing program on their own website for sellers.

Read the rest of this entry »

After the much awaited transition of power, changes are underway in all facets of the American community. One of the changes that we can believe in, as his campaign suggested, is in the car industry. But does Obama bring good news or otherwise?

“Everybody, from labor to management to creditors to shareholders, giving something up,” stressed Obama. He thinks that shared sacrifice among every industry including the car industry would have to be considered.

Ironic as it may sound, Obama has his own reasons. Automakers would have to wait and see what happens because this may mean that tougher conditions on federal loans will be imposed in his administration. To backtrack in Bush’s administration, he allowed automakers to get a specific loan so that they can keep up in spite of the recession. These loans had strict conditions that involved time tables as well.

Read the rest of this entry »

The US Senate has decided to approve $350 billion more of bailout money for the automobile industry. The budget, which is the second round of federal funds, is set to be released this year.

Sources say that the federal funds will be used to provide loan grants to automotive suppliers, auto finance companies and automakers.

The first $350 billion funds were released to fund emergency loans to automotive companies such as Chrysler LLC an General Motors.

The second round of $350 billion was released after aids to new President Barack Obama ensured that the funds will strictly be controlled, insiders say.

Obama designee National Economic Council Chairman, Larry Summers, said in a letter that the second $350 billion funds will not be allocated to industrial policies. He also said that the automobile companies will only receive the additional aid provided that they have a concrete reconstruction for long-term viability.

Read the rest of this entry »

During a recent speech engagement in front of the joint session of the U.S. Congress, President Barack Obama holds accountable the car manufacturers for their bad practices that pushed them to the brink while fighting the current recession.

The US President promised though to help them regain their grounds to be able to compete again and win the auto industry. Obama also pinpointed the millions of jobs depending on car manufacturing.

The Obama led government is taking actions to help revive the ailing car industry. The US President backed up the plans of former president George W. Bush in pushing for the emergency loans amounting to $17.4 billion to GM and Chrysler LLC.

The federal government has activated several taskforce to study the restructuring plans of the car manufacturers which are asking for an additional loan of $21.6 billion. They are also looking into the call for help coming from suppliers amounting to $18.5 billion.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the US, two factors pivot researches for alternative car fuel blends this year: the fast decline the world’s Petroleum content and the deterioration of air quality in all of US airport vicinities.

NASA (National Aeronautic Space Administration) worked with 11 research groups to test two synthetic fuels derived from natural gas and gasified coal. These gases were extracted using the Fischer Tropsch process. The research groups involved in this project included the US Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

These tests are being conducted at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in California. The main point of the research is to test the emission levels and performance of both alternative fuels.

It has previously been studied that synthetic fuels emit fewer harmful particles compared to standard jet fuel. This research, aside from looking into alternative jet fuels once Petroleum runs out, also considers environmental factors.

Read the rest of this entry »

*This is a guest post by our friends from Ford Blog Ford Car Talk!

Ford Motor’s Impact on the US Economy has always been huge. Since the Ford Model T came out in 1908 Ford has always influenced the US economy. Back in the early 1900’s it created thousands of jobs for people all across the country. In Detroit over ten percent of the economy is influenced by Ford and the auto industry.

Ford Motor’s Impact on the US Economy goes far deeper than just cars. Since several industries depend on companies like Ford, they can get greatly impacted as well. For example the steel industry and electronics industry’s get hit hard if anything happens to Ford. This is because they supply millions of stereos and speakers amongst other electronics for the cars. Even the steel industry gets affected because of all the metal used for the cars.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fritz Henderson, GM’s COO, foresees the future of the car manufacturer relying on four car brands: Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, and Buick. The statement was done after a strategic review of the Hummer and Saab brands.

He further discloses that Pontiac will experience significant production cuts while the Saturn line will have a different loom. GM is also collaborating with the Swedish government to help the Saab brand. Around 75% of the Saab sales is in Europe so the plan will not be a US approach.

The company will push with its plans of heavily investing on the Buick brand in China. This move will have a positive effect on the brand in the United States.

The four core brands of the auto maker comprise 83% of its sales in the United States in 2008.

The plan of the GM group revolves around the price of oil being around $130-$160 per barrel. The company forecasts oil prices to be at the level of $53 per barrel in 2009. The low oil price will be a big challenge for their plug-in vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt.

Read the rest of this entry »

Major car manufacturers like Ford, Toyota, American Honda, and General Motors all reported decline of sales in December 2008 as the whole auto industry suffers with sales plummeting by as much as 31%. The drop is the worst of the car manufacturing sector since 1992.

It was a picture of bad going to worse going worst for major players in the car industry. GM had its darkest dropped in sales since 1959 while Ford had their most horrible performance since 1961.

Toyota’s sale was down by more than 30 months for two consecutive months so is Nissan’s which was struggling for 4 consecutive months. Chrysler sold 53.1% lower compared to 2007.

Read the rest of this entry »

The United States Fuel Cell Council seeks the government to give them a dedicated funding of $1.17 billion to kick off the improvement of the hydrogen fuel cell infrastructure in the country.

The funding has long been approved with the enactment of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. They are hoping that the funding will form part of the budget for the fiscal year 2010. The council also recommends strategic areas to spend the funding. These includes an awareness campaign for people to know more about alternative fuels, refueling facilities, local production plants, research and development, and fuel transit system.

The council hopes to allocate around $375 million worth of fuel cell cars so the private and public sector can have a real time evaluation of how these alternative car fuel vehicles can also help them with their everyday lives.

Another big chunk of the budget will be devoted to research partnership which eyes to cut costs and improve performance in the long run.

Read the rest of this entry »

Japanese car manufacturer Suzuki is backing off its plans of building its assembly line outside Japan and is considering striking out production of their big cars.

Suzuki, last year, released some images of the concept car Kizashi which ought to be the building foundation of the production of big sedans. The Kizashi’s which literally means “something great to come” was originally scheduled to be in the showrooms early this year.

The original plan was to release 3 versions of the Kizashi. Suzuki was hoping to push to the market a wagon, a sedan, and a CUV. The first Kizashi is the wagon type while the CUV is the type 2 Kizashi. The Kizashi 3 displayed during last year’s New York Auto Show highlighted the beautiful lines of the sedan variant.

The Kizashi line of cars are configured and designed to compete with cars like the Toyota Camry and the Malibu of Chevrolet.

Read the rest of this entry »