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Scrapyard Gem: 2007 Mitsubishi Colt CZ2 5-door hatchback

YORK, England — Remember the Dodge and Plymouth Colts of 1971 through 1994? The Colt name stayed alive after that on Mitsubishis sold elsewhere in the world, and I've found a 21st-century example in a self-service wrecking yard near York, England. This generation of Colt served as the basis for the Smart ForFour, so (as promised) I'm following up a ForFour Junkyard Gem with this article about its sibling in the same knacker's yard. Like the ForFour, this car was built at the NedCar assembly plant in the Netherlands. Mitsubishi began using the Colt name in Japan back in 1962, then killed the name at home in favor of the Mirage when that car debuted in 1978. Export-market Mirages got Colt (or Champ, or Lancer and many others) badging at that point. For 2002, the Colt returned to Japan with a brand-new platform, and that's the generation we have here. The engine here is a 1.5-liter Mercedes-Benz turbodiesel, rated at 95 horsepower and 155 pound-feet. A 148-horse turbocharged gasoline-burning Mitsubishi 1.5 was available in the UK as well. The transmission is a five-speed manual. A six-speed automatic was an option. It's a small car but not microscopic; its wheelbase is just over 98" and its curb weight is about 2,500 pounds. The tall roof gives it great storage capacity, a trick often seen in kei vans. This generation of Colt continues to be sold in Taiwan through the present day, as the Colt Plus. In Europe, an all-new Colt based on the Renault Clio was launched last year. It was cheap. In Japan, cuteness was played up in Colt commercials.  

nuTonomy beats Uber to launch first self-driving taxi

In the cutthroat world of technology, if you're not first, you're last. With this in mind, it shouldn't come as a surprise to see tech companies and automakers clawing to be first in line to release self-driving cars. Uber recently partnered with Volvo in a $300-million project that should result in a self-driving fleet as early as next month. But amazingly, a 3-year-old company called nuTonomy has beat Uber to the punch by launching the world's first self-driving taxi in Singapore. Cambridge, MA,-based nuTonomy has been privately testing self-driving vehicles in Singapore since April and is now allowing select residents in the city's one-north business district to be driven around in its self-driving taxis for free. Customers will be able to summon one of nuTonomy's self-driving taxis through the company's app and will be picked up in a Renault Zoe or Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car modified for autonomous driving. While the taxi will drive itself, an engineer from nuTonomy will ride in the vehicle to ensure that the car is operating properly and will take over if needed. There's no word on how many self-driving taxis nuTonomy put on the road, but the trials take the company one step closer to launching its fully autonomous fleet by 2018. The Wall Street Journal's Jake Watts managed to get a ride in one of nuTonomy's self-driving taxis and, while it went well, he claims human cabdrivers may not go extinct any time soon. According to Watts, the self-driving Mitsubishi lacked Tesla's polish and was overly cautious. The car did a fine job of avoiding jaywalkers, parked cars, and pedestrians on the short drive, but hesitated often, which could gives riders motion sickness, Watts said. nuTonomy CEO Karl Iagnemma will be speaking at Autoblog's UPSHIFT 2016 conference on transportation technology on October 6 in Detroit. Related Video: News Source: The Wall Street Journal, nuTonomyImage Credit: nuTonomy Green Mitsubishi Renault Technology Emerging Technologies Autonomous Vehicles Electric Uber driverless singapore nutonomy

Swarm of bees descends on man's Mitsubishi

A man in Wales got quite a shock when he returned to his car only to find it covered in bees. According to the South Wales Evening Post, an unnamed driver parked Mitsubishi Outlander in front of the Three Crowns Pub in Haverfordwest, a city in Pembrokesire, Southwest Wales. When he returned, he discovered a large swarm of honeybees had come to roost on the rear of the car. Thankfully, before anyone could disturb the bees, a Pembrokeshire Coast National Park ranger named Tom Moses came across the scene. "It was spectacular, I was driving through when I sported the big brown splodge," Moses told the Evening Post. "A lot of people were really amazed by it, cars were slowing down and people were taking pictures of it." The bees were swarming the car after their queen became lodged in the trunk, according to the Guardian. Moses has an interest in bees and often speaks to people about the ways in which bees are threatened by pesticides and habitat destruction. "At the national park, we like people to be aware of how important bees are and how people should be looking after them," Moses told the paper. The ranger contacted the Pembrokeshire Beekeepers' Association and two members came out to collect the swarm. "I was a little bit concerned, with it being in the middle of town outside a pub, that someone might do something stupid and get hurt or do something stupid and hurt the bees," Moses said. His concern is valid. It's a very bad idea to tangle with stinging insects when you don't know what you're doing. Bees swarm to protect their queen, and are liable to swarm anything they see as a threat. If you ever find yourself in this unlikely scenario, call a professional beekeeper who can safely remove the hive. Avoid hiring an exterminator though. Bee populations have a hard enough time as it is. Honeybee die-offs and disappearances have been on the rise since 2006. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, one of the primary culprits is Colony Collapse Disorder, which happens when all adult workers in a hive disappear leaving only immature bees and a queen behind. Related Video: