This was all a subterfuge undertaken with the board of Toyota USA to artificially inflate the sales numbers of their Prius in 2006. Alvarez received kickbacks totaling $2 million for the transactions, with the understanding that the vehicles not be rolled out for regular duty - the battery packs were only half built,…

"if I paid someone to do something including the use of their equipment and staff (as BP did with Transocean) then if something went wrong I would not expect blame to come back to me."

I work tangentially in the industry, and the guys that I spoke to (even before the incident) always said that no way would they work with BP, because they were an incident waiting to happen. (Personal anecdote. I don't speak for my employer. The secretary will disavow all knowlege, etc...)

Interestingly enough, I recall a lot of sturm un drang from the British at the time over whether blame was being placed on the UK because of the connections of BP. Here in the US, everyone that I know blamed BP, the company - I never spoke to a single person that placed any of the blame on the UK at all - perhaps…

Reverse: Chevy Volt politics - I made a typo-ridden post from my phone on oppo last night about a Volt that a friend of mine just bought. The primary difficulty that people seem to have with the Volt is that it is too expensive for what it is. I can see that argument - $40K is a big differential to pay back in…

"What is behind me, is unimportant."

I really like the hood creases, for some reason. The neon glowing stuff on the upholstery and vents is interesting looking in the pics, but I doubt would work well in a production car. The overall shape... I have to say that I'm not a fan of the really high beltlines on recent vehicles (although I suppose with side…

I can only pray that it happens.

3rd: There's plenty of plastic resin available from all the beads that have been lost overboard in transit. just go the the great pacific garbage patch and scoop out all you need.

My 11 year old wants the RX8 when she turns 16. She knows that she's rebuilding the rotary with me when it goes (only a matter of time), and she's looking forward to it. I'm happy with that - this girl with the Fiero is in a league of her own

So the difference is that Hyundai's use isn't a parody, in your view? I confess to skimming parts of the article, as my legal jones isn't in too good shape on a Monday morning. The whole 'dilution' thing is .. nebulous at best from the outset - but paired with advertising... interesting bit to get into.

Well, I've still got to get a few bugs worked out on the prototype in my garage... I'd have it done already, but I'm spending all my money on hair treatments because it all started falling out, for some reason (and I haven't been able to keep any food down, either. weird...) . Anyway, as soon as I feel a little…

Reverse: How Green are Electric Cars - For those interested in who this report is coming from, the Union of Concerned Scientists is a group founded to direct scientific research towards environmental issues, intead of military ones. They appear to be strong supporters of reducing greenhouse gases and tackling global…

Cool! Thanks for the update (my Spanish is not good enough for the article - glad for the Chrome autotranslate button - need to practice, though - my daughters are getting good at it, and my wife is fluent. Hate not understanding)

Unfortunate. Happens in the States too, I suppose (like this where a guy drove his Quattroporte "490 feet through a field, uprooted a 25-foot pine tree and sailed over a 6-foot privacy fence and into the family room of a home" killing a man and his dog watching TV. He was given probation specifically because the…

"While cleanup is happening, one very alert firefighter sees and hears this. Nothing short of amazing."

I wonder if the laws in Mexico are like those in the States, where the penalties are set up assuming that you have plea bargained down from something more sinister, so the minimum punishments are ratcheted up.

The pucker factor on some of those turns would be huge at speed (which is probably why the 'vitesse' wasn't being very speedy in the video. I would love to get any performance type of car on those roads, though - absolutely stunning

I work with a youth group, and we do a presentation every year, as the next crop of kids gets their licenses. We go over the basics:

Industrial research buildings can be dangerous. I spent almost 10 years working in a building surrounded by a couple of dozen tanks of compressed death - I can no longer smell NG leaks, because it was a constant smell in the building. Oddly enough, the only serious injury was from a compressed air line rupture…