1998 Bmw Z3 Roadster Convertible 5 Speed Manual 1.9l 4cyl Runs/drives Great Look on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Recharge Wrap-up: Derailing Malaysia's B10 plans, Tesla and Solyndra

Tesla Motors will lease the Solyndra building near its Fremont, California factory. The manufacturing facility is more than 500,000 square feet, but the cost of the lease and the production capacity remain undisclosed. The lease of the building, "located conveniently down the road from the Tesla Factory, gives us the space to expand our manufacturing and build more engineering labs as we build up production," says a Tesla spokesperson. The added manufacturing space will help Tesla meet its production goals for the upcoming Model X electric SUV. Trip Chowdhry, senior analyst at Global Research Equities, says that shifting some engineering duties from the Deer Creek facility to the new one could help solve current parking shortages, as well. Read more at Business Finance News. BMW has expressed concerns over Malaysia's planned B10 biodiesel mandate. Malaysia recently announced that it would use crude palm oil to make the B10 blend that would be required to be sold beginning in October, up from the current B7 mandate. "In our tests with B10 biodiesel worldwide, we have found technical challenges," says BMW Group Malaysia Managing Director and CEO Alan Harris, such as the fatty acid methyl ester in palm oil thinning motor oil. Mercedes-Benz also urges reconsideration of B10. The Malaysia Automotive Institute says it will include representatives from the auto industry in talks with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board. Read more from The Star. Pacific Ethanol's acquisition of a competitor, Aventine Energy Holdings, has been approved by shareholders. Pacific is buying Aventine for $192 million in stock. In 2009, ethanol suffered a price drop that forced Pacific Ethanol to decrease production and declare bankruptcy for four of its plants. Now its base extends from the West Coast to the Midwest, as Aventine Energy Holdings has four plants in Illinois and Nebraska. The merger more than doubles Pacific Ethanol's production capacity, making it the fifth-largest ethanol producer in the US. Read more from The Sacramento Bee. Related Gallery Tesla Model X View 15 Photos News Source: Business Finance News, The Star Online, The Sacramento BeeImage Credit: Tesla Green Plants/Manufacturing BMW Tesla Alternative Fuels Biodiesel Ethanol Electric recharge wrapup

Hyundai, Kia, Genesis and Subaru clean up in IIHS 2018 safety ratings

Hyundai, its partner Kia and its Genesis division are the big winners in the latest vehicle safety ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, accounting for six of the 15 models that earned the Top Safety Pick+ awards for 2018. Subaru was right behind with four, Mercedes-Benz had two, and Toyota, BMW and Ford each had one. Another 47 vehicles earned the Top Safety Pick designation, where Toyota had 10 vehicle models, with Hyundai recognized for nine models. All but one of the seven vehicles in Subaru's lineup, the BRZ, qualified for one of the awards. IIHS strengthened the criteria for the Top Safety Pick+ award for 2018 to require headlights to earn a "good" rating — an "acceptable" rating was previously enough to notch the "plus" award — and good or acceptable passenger-side protection in the small overlap front crash, which replicates a crash involving just the front corner of a vehicle. It also required vehicles to have acceptable or good headlights for the first time to earn a Top Safety Pick award. Most of winners for both awards qualified on the basis of optional upgrades. IIHS in October began evaluating the passenger side of vehicles in its small overlap front crash test after it said it became clear that automakers were neglecting that side of the vehicle as they focused on improving driver-side protections. IIHS first began conducting driver-side small overlap crashes in 2012. It began measuring both how well low and high beams illuminated the road and the amount of glare they produce for oncoming vehicles as part of its ratings in 2016. The Top Safety Pick+ winners are listed below. The list doesn't include any minivans, pickups or minicars, which don't appear on either list of awardees. Small cars Kia Forte Kia Soul Subaru Impreza (sedan and wagon) Subaru WRX Midsize cars Subaru Legacy Subaru Outback Toyota Camry Large luxury cars BMW 5 series Genesis G80 Genesis G90 Lincoln Continental Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan Midsize SUVs Hyundai Santa Fe Hyundai Santa Fe Sport Midsize luxury SUV Mercedes-Benz GLC The full list of Top Safety Pick winners is available here.Related Video: Image Credit: IIHS BMW Genesis Hyundai Kia Lincoln Subaru Toyota Safety Crossover SUV Wagon Sedan crash test

Is BMW the only real competition to Tesla Motors?

Tesla Motors chief Elon Musk probably isn't losing a ton of sleep over the new plug-in efforts by the makers of the "Ultimate Driving Machine," but maybe he should. That's what the Motley Fool is saying, presenting the case that the California company's real competition will come from BMW. What about the plug-in efforts of General Motors or Ford? Musk can hit the snooze, Motley Fool says. Unlike automakers that are "jamming battery packs into the existing vehicle design," BMW has built its i3 battery-electric and i8 plug-in hybrid supercar from the ground up. Like Tesla, BMW puts its battery packs into the floor of its vehicles. Most importantly, the i3 - and especially the i8 - are real performers. While the i8 is about 40-percent more expensive than the Tesla, it matches the Model S's 0-60 mile per hour acceleration times and handily beats its top speed figures. Tesla sold about 6,900 vehicles during the last three months of 2013 and BMW had more than 10,000 i3 orders on the books by late November and the first year's allotment of i8s is already sold out. The German automaker has what the Fool calls an "outside chance" of selling more plug-in vehicles than Tesla by next year, but Tesla is gearing up its gigafactory to get ready to sell a half-million EVs in 2020, so the race is most certainly on. You can read more over on the Fool.