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Not sure about that. Manufacturers are starting to build vehicles that have been designed as EVs from the ground up.

Not really. Not seriously anyway. If they were serious about it they would be investing heavily in battery companies and securing supplies. The only company I've seen working on making an EV that doesn't look idiotic recently is Porsche. The new Leaf looks better than the old one but that's not saying much - the old one was terrible looking. The Kona is just another boring and fairly ugly hatchback. I own a Bolt and while I like the styling for a hatchback, it isn't exactly sexy either.

The big automakers are just dipping their toes in the water and waiting. They don't want to take the risk and possibly be wrong.

This is not just a shakeup in car design, but in their production lines and logistics as well, and such things take some time and effort (as Tesla found out).

Of course but I work in the industry and they aren't really putting in the effort or money. They're all claiming they are going to introduce electrified cars but none of the big autos are really pushing their chips onto the table and those promises haven't materialized into real products for the most part.

My understanding is that a couple of these companies are simply having a real hard time sourcing the batteries.

They're having a hard time of it because it's a critical technology they wouldn't be outsourcing if they were serious about it. Tesla seems to be the only ones that grok the fact that they need to vertically integrate to get the economies of scale and a competitive advantage. Unless Tesla's competitors have a lead on some mysterious battery tech that will supplant Li-Ion in the near future and are willing to dump tons of money on it then they are playing a dangerous game.

It's not quite like that though, because small sport utility vehicles are really fun as performance cars. Think rally vehicles...

Now if they were ACTUALLY producing a minivan? Then yeah I'd question they brand tie-in.

All they have to do to be a pretty decent success is not make a sport SUV half as ugly as a Porsche Cayenne. Maybe don't make a station wagon you call an SUV...

Consider cost for efficiency in generation vs loss in transmission. Greater capital costs for equipment require state subsidy more than smaller ones, and it doesn't take much to understand that a PV solar panel array for a residence or pylon for a factory are more competitive.

Not sure if I fully agree with your statement, but I will stay away from Tesla stocks, too. Too much of the stock price is hope and emotion, and I suspect there will be a lot of tears at some point in the future.

Oh, and if I had the money for a Tesla X P90D I would buy this car instead: http://www.porsche.com/interna...

Coal isn't the cheapest fuel and has multiple logistical challenges renewable generation avoids. Nuclear is profitably run by French state (85% ownership), and is increasing in Finland. Germany is increasingly involved in Energy trade due to its central position in Europe, so the eventually outcome may be 100% renewable which work for industry - Porsche has a solar-powered factory in Berlin-Adlershof.

The front page of Porsche USA isn't that bad in my testing (from about 500px to 1024px wide). Things get put in more or fewer columns, but that's similar to what happens to text in any liquid layout. The most drastic changes are the layout of the "Build & Find" menus near the bottom below about 500px and the addition of a "hamburger" menu at the top below about 700px.

We have actually been in a webinar that demonstrated this new "responsive web design" that they will be pushing on our corporate website (read: forced upon): www.porsche.com and the respective dealerships's [blah].porschedealer.com (where [blah] is the name of the dealership).

now you've offended the dickhead gods and they will smite you for blasphemy against the Diesel one. If you watch his movies you must adhere to the dickhead code otherwise you will cast down into a fiery furnace of Zuffenhausen.

Porsche's first car with Porsche Stability Management was the 911 Carrera 4 in 1998. And car electronics were quite good in 2004. I think the Carrera GT is like the Dodge Viper - designed to be a driver's car that takes skill to drive competently at the edge, contrasted with the Nissan GTR (yes I know it came later), in which the electronics take care of that for you.

The key is that the Carrera GT on public roads at legal speeds will be far safer than most cars, because of its far superior handling, grip, and brakes.

You need your sense of taste checked. It doesn't look ugly at all. And a Le Sabre? Are you kidding? Have you even looked at the pictures? Are you blind?

If you want to compare to Porche, compare to their saloon, the Panamera. Or, perhaps, a BMW M5 or a Mercedes S500, which is what this provides similar features to. Except the acceleration, which is comparable to a Porche 911 Carrera, which happens to cost $80k. Odd that. http://www.porsche.com/usa/models/911/911-carrera/featuresandspecs/

What you pay in electricity you will save several times over in fuel.

And just because they are limited in quantity means they can't be car of the year? You're coming off as a grumpy old fart who just doesn't like these newfangled electric autermobeels and will find any reason you can to be offended that somebody else thinks they're great.

The lawsuit was for laptops that broke because of heat damage. I have one of the busted laptops in my house. The thing powers on for 10 minutes before overheating and losing video.

You already DONT have a working laptop in that case, and given that most laptops crap out after 3 years ANYWAYS, getting a completely free replacement outside of the warranty period is a great deal.

Yes, the real winners are the lawyers, but what do you really expect with a class action suit? nVidia still had to pay for a large number of laptops, THEY certainly werent the winners no matter how you look at it.

Car analogy time: You own a new Porsche 911. One year later the engine craps out. You join a class action lawsuit because it's happening to a lot of people. After waiting two more years judge decides to give everyone brand new Chevy Aveos (fair comparison, since they are giving them $250 laptops). Sure, Porsche's paying, so they didn't "win", but you still got screwed out of 10+ yrs of driving a beautiful Porsche, instead you're stuck with a cheap compact car.

You would have been better off suing on your own, at least you could get the value of the car minus depreciation or a comparable car (Boxster, perhaps?), and trust me most of those laptops that broke had much faster processors than that $250 laptop since remember, this was a high-end GPU that broke, they don't pair good GPUs with slow CPUs.

The lawsuit was for laptops that broke because of heat damage. I have one of the busted laptops in my house. The thing powers on for 10 minutes before overheating and losing video.

You already DONT have a working laptop in that case, and given that most laptops crap out after 3 years ANYWAYS, getting a completely free replacement outside of the warranty period is a great deal.

Yes, the real winners are the lawyers, but what do you really expect with a class action suit? nVidia still had to pay for a large number of laptops, THEY certainly werent the winners no matter how you look at it.

Car analogy time: You own a new Porsche 911. One year later the engine craps out. You join a class action lawsuit because it's happening to a lot of people. After waiting two more years judge decides to give everyone brand new Chevy Aveos (fair comparison, since they are giving them $250 laptops). Sure, Porsche's paying, so they didn't "win", but you still got screwed out of 10+ yrs of driving a beautiful Porsche, instead you're stuck with a cheap compact car.

You would have been better off suing on your own, at least you could get the value of the car minus depreciation or a comparable car (Boxster, perhaps?), and trust me most of those laptops that broke had much faster processors than that $250 laptop since remember, this was a high-end GPU that broke, they don't pair good GPUs with slow CPUs.

Really? Allow me to put things into perspective.

A Porsche Cayenne Turbo gets 24.6 mpg. That's a two metric ton 4.8 liter 500 HP SUV. 0-62 in 4.7 seconds, 173 mph top speed. 177 gallon trunk and easily fits four full sized adults.

And it gets a gas mileage that is in the upper range of what people in the US thinks is impressive for a small car.

Seriously - get your collective heads out of your collective asses.

Allow me to reiterate - it's a fucking SUV with muscle car power getting the same or better gas mileage than you think is impressive for a small hatch back! And it's the least fuel efficient Cayenne in their lineup!

http://pictures.topspeed.com/IMG/crop/200807/2010-chevrolet-camaro-37-1_1600x0w.jpg

Going to go ahead and disagree with you there champ.

And if you think this http://www.porsche.com/usa/models/panamera/ is not ugly, then you're wrong about that too.

Sorry, in a day when you can buy a laptop for under 399 these premium laptops are absurd.

Sorry, in a day when you can buy a car for under US$ 13,000 these premium cars are absurd

Sorry, in a day when you can buy a TV for under US$ 100 these premium TVs are absurd

If you don't want one - don't buy one. I'm fairly certain Apple isn't holding a gun to your head, forcing you to buy any of their products.

While it's true there's a creep of luxury 'smaller' 4WD (Porche Cayenne etc) - being new, they're generally more efficent than the 2-stroke mopeds buzzing around, for example.

Efficient my arse: http://www.porsche.com/international/models/cayenne/cayenne/featuresandspecs/

An efficient petrol-run 4WD car can run with less than 8 l/100 km. If it's diesel, it can run with 5 l/100 km.

If it's just 2WD, then cut off additional 1.5-2 liters per 100 km.

I'm left with the same old question.

If the major car companies could indeed implement any of various technologies or techniques to enhance fuel economy, why would they NOT do it?

For instance, if just introducing turbulence in the fuel stream or direct injection in the chamber improved fuel economy substantially, why would they not do it?

Actually, they do.

TFA makes a few claims about the Transonic invention:

- Heating the gasoline.
- Pressurizing gasoline before injecting it into the combustion chamber.
- injecting it into the combustion chamber.

Pre-heating the gasoline is not common, to my knowledge, in passenger car engines. However, it is the subject of a patent. Indeed, there is an fascinating writeup by a determined and fairly clever amateur (maybe) on preheating the fuel. His concept seems dangerous, but it might work... Might, if we could test it adequately.

Pressurizing the gasoline is fundamental to injection; the process is obvious upon inspection. Higher pressures are being used now to overcome other problems. So far, we are not seeing improved economy, largely because these techniques are being used to improve performance. More about that later.

Injecting it into the chamber is not new, nor is it unused in passenger cars. Porche uses the technique, and advertises that it does improve economy. This is not new art.

So, if these techniques are well-known ( I know of them, so I expect the engineers know them even better), why aren;t they beign used to improve economy?

Well, it's later now. Performance is also a goal.

Turbocharging is used to essentially stuff more air and fuel into the chamber and either improve performance or economy, at little cost since it uses exhaust gas to power the pump. Usually used to deliver performance. actually, to deliver improved performance from otherwise economical engines. Serving two purposes at the same time - good engineering. Supercharging requires engine power to deliver the improved performance, so economy is not a goal there.

And the American market at least is not so focused on economy. Somewhat, but we also want to be able to beat the other guy to the end of the ramp. Deal with it.

Toyota clearly demonstrates the incentive manufacturers have to pursue economical cars, though right now it's as much marketing as it is market share. All-electric cars were tried - the Chevy EV1. It probably failed primarily because it threatened dealer profits. There is some diversity of opinion on this. The EV1 was just an experiment.

But my answer to the question "why not" is simple. These techniques to improve economy are not without consequences. Preheating fuel increases pressure and therefore chamber pressures. This imposes new demands on engine design, some increasing weight and size, which is contrary to current design trends. Complex injector design needs to be tested to verify it can survive at least the 100,000 mile standards. Lots of inventors don't ever test long-term or design life. The EPA does.

Bottom line, for me, is that if it were that simple it's either a true breakthrough or it's not that good in practice. Which one is this? I vote not that good in practice, but if it is, the manufacturers will either license it or steal it. Or not, for a good (to them) reason.

You ever watching TV and they have those commercials for tech schools that teach auto repair? Sign up. Seriously. Work 9-5, make enough money to support the family and BBQ every weekend if you want to. Oh, and as a mechanic, you get paid by the job, so the better you are, the more money you get.

Decent money is about half of what I was making in the software business, but the work fits me a lot better. There's no taking work home in the evening. Projects have a very short and finite duration with clear objectives and metrics for success and failure. My boss is interested in what his employees do. My boss can do and has done my job and understands my job. Finally, I get to drive around some pretty nice cars every day. (If you high tech guys are in the market for a 911 drop me a note. :)

On the down side the tools for mechanic work are much more expensive than the tools I used in software (which I didn't usually have to buy). This is also a line of work that I don't want to be doing when I'm fifty.

Peter

Yeah. I remember.

Have you heard the exhaust note on one of these?

But alas, I'm just a photographer.

Yeah, we already have a McLaren buggy (http://www.ciao.co.uk/McLaren_Techno_Buggy__52819 92) amd a Porsche pushchair (http://shop3.porsche.com/international/kids/babyc arriage/wap04050016/), why not an Intel pram.

Oh, wait...

AFAIK the first serial hybrid was the Lohner-Porsche Electric Car, which was presented at the Paris Expo in 1900.

None of those things will EVER happen. Apple has come to understand you can run quite a profitible biz by having 7-10% marketshare.

So have these guys and small family businesses, and local restaurants vs McDonalds etc, etc, etc.

What is it with people that you have to have substandard quality but 99% market share to be good?

Sure, there is a market for the Dells and Microsofts of the world. Sure there is a market for Wal-Marts of the world. But there also is a market for quality vs quantity and cheap prices. After all. Apple is currently 158 on the Fortune 500 list (up from 263 last year), and Dell is 25, Microsoft 58.

Personally, I'm much happier typing this on an Apple than I would be in IE on a Dell...

Surely you aren't suggesting that in this post-911 world, your loving president should be spending money on anything other than the security of the homeland? Imagine what those COMMIES in the LIBERAL MEDIA! would do to him if spending on Protecting America's Children, Puppies and Kittens were to fail to keep pace with Moore's Law?

Cheapest Ford: $11,000
Cheapest Porsche: $45,000

That's $34,000. Go away.

Don't spout numbers without comparing Specs.

And there's no guarantee that you'll ever leave the city, so does the unsubstantiated claim that a Porsche might do 150 mean anything if you'll never be able to verify it?

To veer off topic a bit: http://www21.porsche.com/usa/models/cayenne/cayenn e/
Relevent quote: "Top Track Speed: 133 mph". It may be that the Porsche really can't get up to 150. :)

It may also be that the click interpretation is due to a designed-in limitation/feature of the hardware. Given that both buttons were supported under Windows using the default Windows HID driver, and past experience shows that driver to support chording, I'd say that there's a pretty good possibility that the click interpretation is happening in the mouse and not the driver. If the mouse was capable of sending both click events, then the windows driver should have caught them. Of course, this is mere speculation, albeit grounded on actual verifiable observations, and it could be that our faithful reviewer never tested chording on Win32 / in a Win32 app that supports it.

It does seems plausible that Apple would have added that logic to the already complex mouse hardware, though, rather than making the driver more complex. They do have a history of making some poor implementation decisions with respect to long-term functionality.

But it was wrong. You got that right. :)

BTW, you spell "porsche" with an 's'.

Consumer spending in particular did not revive. Nevertheless, with deliveries of 15,209 new vehicles - including company cars and those leased to Porsche employees - the preceding year's result (13,179 units) was clearly exceeded. This is mainly due to the Cayenne

Ok, so that's an armored Porsche, but still :)

Nothing wrong with AIX. I use it daily, and I adore it. Nothing like the good 'ol mksysb bare metal backup/restore when you are doing DR.

-WS

Nope, the porsche cannot carry 3 passengers to lunch.

Sure it can. Looks like 4 actually...

The Lohner-Porsche Electric Car, unveiled in 1900 at the Paris Expo, was an electric car with a motors-in-the-hubs design. 1900!

This is just a guess, but look at his user name...

Cayenne

Bugatti was bougt by Audi in 1998?. Audi is part of the Volkswagen AG.

They have tremendous problems with the gearbox. The 1000hp is only a marketing thingy. But now their problem is that their gear box breaks after about 3 months with the power of the 1000hp. Their solution: A smaller version with only 800hp to match the gearbox.

Their problems:
- customers ordered the 1000hp version not the smaller one
- producing a gearbox to handle all that torque that 1000hp produce.

Are there any cars out there better than this?
Porsche Carrera GT At Porsche the don't design for top speed for driving straigt ahead, they design for top speed in curves!

Are there any cars out there better than this?

• Ferrari Enzo Ferrari
• Porsche Carrera GT
• Mercedes McLaren SLR
• Lamborghini Murcielago
• Saleen S7
• Koenigsegg CCR
• Pagani Zonda

BMW offers European Delivery, also Volvo, Saab, Porsche, Mercedes Benz, and maybe a few more I'm too lazy to look up, offer similar programs.

this is news how? the idea was built and proven over 100 years ago. ferdinand porsche, who was an ENGINE man, did this in like 1900 and won lots of races with his hybrid car. this feat alone put his name on the map beginging his career.
see this this page

MAZDA is established and respected? Maybe. Compared to Porsche? Are you high? Porsche has been racing and winning for more than 50 years - including 4 wins in Monte Carlo and 2 in the Paris-Dakar Rally. Japanese manufacturers hardly had a presence in rallying before just recently in the WRC. I mean.. I'm confused. Mazda? Racing history? Umm..

...that the new Porsche Carrera GT will be out, with 612 HP. That will make them look like a bunch of losers.

But seriously, can anyone tell me what you want with such a car on North American roads? Even on the German autobahn you really seldom have traffic conditions that allow going more than 125mph.

this is just stupid. why bother with that when you can have THIS.

Guess the wont be selling any of these then... ooooo shiny

There really isn't much to do in the way of research here. Most of the major manufacturers list their affiliations on their web sites.

• Ford makes it easy. They list their brands right on the front page. Along with the previously mentioned Volvo, Jaguar, and Mazda, there's the surprise of Aston Martin (think it was a coincidence that the major cars in the last Bond movie were a Ford, a Jaguar, and an Aston Martin?).
• GM makes you have to look a little more. Aside from the previously mentioned Opel, Isuzu, and Suzuki, GM also has ties to Fiat and Subaru, as well as owning Saab. (Toyota isn't listed, but I mentioned it before because Toyota sells the Cavalier under the Toyota brand in Japan.)
• Chrysler/Dodge make you work harder. You have to know that they're part of Daimler-Chrysler, and then you'll see that they not only have Chrysler, Dodge, and Mercedes Benz, but also Maybach and Jeep as well as "strategic relationships" with Mitsubishi and Hyundai.
• Similarly, Volkswagen makes it pretty difficult to find their list of brands, but it can be found. They're pretty small-time, only having Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and Skoda alongside the Volkswagen moniker.
• Porsche actually makes you have to learn history before you can get to its complex relationship with other brands. For instance, did you know that Dr. Ferdinand Porsche founded Volkswagen on Hitler's request? Also, before Porsche even formed Volkswagen, he did designs for Mercedes and Daimler. Over the years, Porsche (the company) and Porsche Design (separate company, same family) have consulted for quite a few different firms. As well, ties to Volkswagen have remained strong (the original 356 was based around a Volkswagen engine, as was the 914; lots of parts in all models of cars have been shared with VW; and the most recent model, the Cayenne, shares a base platform with VW's Touareg).

F.A. Porsche (the guys who designed the 911 and some Samsung LCD monitors)

Actually, no. If you read the previous posting you would discover that this is Porsche Designs GmbH, *not* the same as the car company, nor the designers of the 911. These folks started out in 1972 (when was the 911 first on the market?) and design everything from LCDs to kitchen sinks to scooters. But sorry, no 911.

And by reading into their website a little further, they have 12-14 employees. Makes you wonder why this laptop is so shoddy...

This Porsche and the other Porsche are from the same family, but completely different companies.

It's just the kind of thing that makes you realize that Ferraris and Porsches are boxy and swollen, and that you don't have to give up the dreams about cars you had as a boy.

I don't know about that. It looks quite a bit along the lines of the Carrera GT or the Enzo (though the Enzo has sharper lines). I don't know how much the Koenigsegg runs, but if it's anywhere in the vicinity of those two supercars ($500K and $650K, respectively for the Carrera GT and Enzo), it's out of most people's price range. It's certainly out of mine. Still, a sweet car, if not as boring as other Swedish cars.

Unlike software, however, building a house requires significant capital investment.

I and a good portion of the tech industry would argue that software too often requires significant outlays of cash and not all of your code can be sent out into the wild in the hopes that someone will champion your cause and help you out with some coding. Hiring a good programmer runs me anywhere from $60-$150k/year and benefits are going to add another 20% on top of that. Now, tell me how I can not hire a programmer or two and keep the $120-300k all to myself so I can purchase that Porsche I have been eyeing? Also, let's not forget the infrastructure costs (and SGI or a Mac per seat and cubicle space), documentation costs with a technical writer, distribution costs etc...etc...etc...

Actually I have seen the Porsche Bikes for sale here in the U.S., in Beveryly Hills, California, at the Porsche Design store near rodeo dr. up on that street that goes up and off to the side with a fountain at the end of it. Also BMW makes a pretty damn nifty bicycle.

Okay, I should've said the bikes are not available from Porsche (check their web site) in the States. If a retailer has enough demand, they surely can import the bikes themselves and make a handsome profit.

Most laptop manufacturers put their logo on the case of the laptop. Take a look at the Apple, Dell, or Compaq badges on many notebooks. So, the question is:

WHERE IS THE PORSCHE SHIELD? I would love to have one of these with that famous shield emblazened on the top.

Speaking of Helicopters and Porsches, you can get a decent 2 seater helicopter for less money than a decent Porsche.

Compare for yourself, $165 grand for a Robinson R22 Beta II helicopter versus $180 grand for a 2002 Porsche 911 GT2.

In terms of fun per dollar, a helicopter beats a Porsche any day!

Speaking of Helicopters and Porsches, you can get a decent 2 seater helicopter for less money than a decent Porsche.

Compare for yourself, $165 grand for a Robinson R22 Beta II helicopter versus $180 grand for a 2002 Porsche 911 GT2.

In terms of fun per dollar, a helicopter beats a Porsche any day!

Bah, I knew I should have bought a German car!

I bought a German car, and it's not diesel-based, so the simple act of buying a German car does not necessarily mean it's not going to use gasoline.

And as soon as that patent expired, the black helicopters flew off with the formula that turned water into gasoline.

This is a specious claim by Mr. AC. Diesel engines have been fuel injection since their creation; Mechanical fuel injection was used in cars in the 30s, but was generally too complicated for mass production-- but see the 1957 Corvette for an example. It was used in aircraft, see the DB601 that powered the Bf109 from the 30s through the end of the Reich. Alfa Romeo used MFI in the 60's just to make life especially hard for rare US Giulia owners for whom Weber carbs would be even more fiddly.

Electonic injection was invented in the UK in 1966, according to this; on the other hand, Ford says Bendix patented it in the early 60's (maybe the same?). Porsche started using FI in 1968.

EFI wasn't widely popular until there were cheap computers to do the thinking. This wave started in the 80's and was basically over by 1990. It had nothing to do with patents, and everything to do with regulations that made it effectively impossible to meet cold-start emission limits with carbs anymore. (The same thing that killed air-cooled VW engines in the 70s, and Porsche boxers more recently.)

-dB