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WASHINGTON January 6, 2009: Octillion Corp. (OTCBB: OCTL), a next-generation alternative and renewable energy technology developer, today announced the appointment of energy-capture experts and engineers, Mr. Stuart Brown, PhD, MBA, and Mr. Brian S. Hendrickson, to the Company’s Advisory Board.

Dr. Stuart Brown and Mr. Brian S. Hendrickson are published authorities in the field of energy harvesting, and are credited with numerous inventions, innovations, and patents in several engineering applications, including the capture of wasted energy for generating electricity — a key objective in Octillion’s research and development of technologies to generate electricity from the wasted energy of moving vehicles.

(Read the full post about ‘Octillion Boosts Engineering to Harness Energy from Moving Vehicles’…)

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Auto Express Car Reviews By Dan Strong06th January 2009 Honda’s Insight has broken cover, and Auto Express has the first official images!Set to make its public debut at this year’s Detroit Motor Show, the four-door, five-seater is set to be the cheapest model of its kind when it goes in sale in March.Expected to cost from £14,995, the rival to the £18,225 Toyota Prius also promises that it will be the first petrol-electric model to crack the lucrative family car market - currently dominated by the likes of the Ford and Volkswagen. Honda bosses hope it will take sales from conventional choices such as the Focus and Golf.The Japanese company aims to sell 200,000 Insights a year worldwide – an ambitious figure given that only 18,000 examples of the previous generation found homes in nearly 10 years of production. (Read the full post about ‘Honda Insight Official - First Pictures’…)

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LAVERTON NORTH, Australia – January 6, 2009: Suzuki continues to be a shining star in the Australian automotive market after recording its sixth successive increase in annual sales.

Suzuki sold 1730 vehicles in December, boosting its total sales for the year to 22,523.

The record sales figure was a 4.4 increase on what was a record 2007 result, and continued the company’s remarkable run of six straight years of increased sales.

Since 2004 the company has more than tripled retail sales to cement its reputation as one of the fastest growing vehicle brands in the country.

“This is another record breaking year for Suzuki in Australia, and given that Suzuki cars compete in less than half of the market segments, our 2008 sales figure represents an outstanding result”, said Suzuki Australia General Manager Tony Devers.

“Suzuki was one of just a handful of manufacturers to boost volume over 2007.

(Read the full post about ‘Sixth Straight Sales Record for Suzuki Australia’…)

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FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., January 5, 2009: Hyundai Motor America today announced sales of 401,742 for 2008, a decline of 14 percent over 2007.

“While 2008 was a tough year, we are encouraged that Hyundai was once again able to outperform the general market and increase our market share in the midst of unprecedented market conditions,” said Dave Zuchowski, Hyundai Motor America’s vice president of national sales.

“We are looking forward to 2009,” added Zuchowski. “In fact, to help us build on the tenth anniversary of Hyundai’s industry-leading 10-year/100,000-mile warranty, the ‘Hyundai Assurance Program’ has just been announced.

(Read the full post about ‘Hyundai Motor America Reports December and Full-Year 2008 Sales’…)

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BMW may be going ahead with plans to sweeten the 1-Series. Reports are indicating that there may be a special edition of the 135i in 2010 that could make up to as much as 330 hp (30 more than standard). This car would also feature upgraded suspension, upgraded brakes, unique body kit and lightweight carbon fiber panels.

Sounds like a job for a “M” car right? Well maybe not. The car is rumored to carry “Motorsport” badging (although Motorsport is exactly what “M” stands for in the hot BMWs, “Motorsport” never gets used on the insignia.) Plus BMW can’t call it the “M1” because that’s already been used in it’s history to mark a very different kind of car (and it may be making a comeback.) If BMW was really wise about the naming the car it would stick with the “tii” from the concept, which goes back to the classic 2002 model.

But the name doesn’t matter as long as the car makes it to the production line.

(Read the full post about ‘BMW 1-Series MotorSport version coming in 2010′…)

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Hyundai’s actually got something bigger than the Genesis. It’s called the Equus, and it’s been for sale in select markets (not the U.S.) for almost a decade. In this short time its already up for its fourth restyle, and Hyundai has released some official sketches of what can be expected. Just like the its smaller siblings the Azera and the Genesis, the next Equus will trade in boxy looks for some shapely curves.

The car should receive a 400+ hp 5.0-liter version of Hyundai’s Tau V8 engine, as well as an eight-speed automatic transmission. While the largest of Hyundais is set to go on sale in February of 2010, there is no word yet if that will also mean in U.S.

(Read the full post about ‘2010 Hyundai Equus first renderings’…)

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MILTON KEYNES, United Kingdom - January 5, 2009: Suzuki Motor Corporation recently celebrated 25 years of car production at its Maruti Suzuki plant in India. Maruti Suzuki (formerly known as Maruti Udyog Limited) was established as a Government Company back in 1981, and in December 1983, India’s first affordable world-class car, the Maruti 800, rolled off the production line at Gurgaon near Delhi.

This started a phenomenon and began to make the Indian consumer’s dream of owning a car come true. Prior to this time, the Indian automobile industry was dominated by just one or two brand names and offered little choice.

(Read the full post about ‘Suzuki Celebrates 25 Years Of Car Manufacturing In India’…)

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Lanicas have always been an interesting car brand. The rally-dominating Fulvia, Stratos HF, and Delta HF, made Lancia a brand to envy. But its car’s ability to rust while still in the showroom made Lancias a nightmare to own.Lancia retreated back to its home market in Italy, and paid its penance by staying out of most other major markets for more than a decade (they haven’t been sold officially in the U.S. since 1982.) Now it looks like Lancia got it’s act together, and it is back to building cars with seriously sexy looks and even decent quality. In fact, its parent company Fiat was ready to send Lancia back out into the world with a reintroduction to the U.K. market in 2009. (Read the full post about ‘Lancia stops U.K. invasion; puts world-domination on hold’…)

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by Jeremy Korzeniewski on Jan 5th 2009 at 12:29PM Click above for new high-res renderings of the Splinter Wooden Supercar The world’s greenest supercar project is progressing nicely. The last time we checked in with Joe Harmon and his team of woodsmen craftsmen from North Carolina State University, the all-wooden car’s hand-laid bodywork had been mated with the chassis, which was awaiting installation of the twin-supercharged, 32-valve Cadillac-sourced V8 engine and six-speed rear-mounted transaxle from a modern Chevrolet Corvette. Those 600 ponies will be funneled to the rear wheels, which have center hubs made from pressed and laminated wood, naturally. Even the transverse leaf springs are made from orange osage wood. (Read the full post about ‘Splinter Update: Students making progress on wooden supercar’…)

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MULGRAVE, Australia – January 5, 2009: BMW Group Australia will bring the BMW M1 Homage show car to Melbourne in February 2009, to form the centrepiece of its stand at the Melbourne International Motor Show.

The BMW M1 Homage was created in 2008 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the BMW M1 road and race car programme, the car developed by the highly successful BMW M GmbH division.

The BMW M1 Homage will sit alongside the all-new BMW 7 Series Sedan which makes its Australian public debut at Melbourne, and the just-released BMW X6 xDrive50i, both of which are powered by the first ever BMW Twin Turbo V8 engines.

The link is apt, given the BMW M1 Group 5 race version was powered by an 850 bhp twin-turbo six-cylinder engine.

“For BMW, heritage is always also a living heritage.

(Read the full post about ‘BMW To Stop The Show With The BMW M1 Homage’…)

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