Lexus Forecast: More Power for 2007

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If you took a quick guess as to which car is faster, what would you say – the $44,000 Lexus GS300, or the $34,000 ES350? If you guessed the GS, you would be wrong. The ES is more powerful and quicker in acceleration, an awkward fact that can make Lexus dealers nervous, especially with the GS' more sporty character. This situation is due to the unusually early introduction of the 2007 ES model, which was well ahead of the GS and giving us a glimpse of the power upgrades in store.

Starting with the GS, expect the base 3.0L 6-cylinder engine to be replaced with 3.5L unit that's already in the ES350 and GS450h, bumping horsepower from 245 to 272. Expect the 4.3L 8-cylinder engine to be replaced by the 4.6L unit, upgrading horsepower from 300 to 380. This should effectively move the sedan from 0-60 mph in the low 5 seconds, more closely matching its German rivals. It will be interesting to see if Lexus will offer another hybrid in the GS line. So far, Toyota and Lexus have resisted offering multiple hybrid powertrains for the same model, but a GS550h using the 4.6L 8-cylinder can slot nicely between the 6-cylinder GS450h and the flagship LS600h. The GS300 will be renamed to GS350, and GS430 to GS460.

As previously noted, the 272 hp 2007 ES350 has already been introduced, replacing the 225 hp ES330. This is essentially the same 3.5 liter unit being proliferated throughout Toyota's lineup, but due to octane optimization, generates slightly more power than its Toyota counterparts. A hybrid version, if offered, would be called ES450h with virtually identical specs as the current GS450h, generating 340 total-system hp. It could also signal a similar powertrain offering for Toyota's Camry, which shares the same platform as the ES, and is currently offered only in 4-cylinder hybrid form.

The 2007 RX350, also introduced ahead of schedule, replaces the RX330. Similar to the ES, horsepower moves from 225 to 270. Expect a similar change on the 3.3L RX400h, which goes from 268 total system hp to 340 and renamed to RX450h.

The SC430 and LS430 will follow the same upgrade as the GS430, but to establish its flagship status, the LS hybrid version will get an exclusive 5.0L 8-cylinder unit that will generate at least 410 hp. The LS430 will be renamed LS460 and the 5.0L hybrid LS600h. The LS will have the world's first eight-speed automatic transmission, and it is unclear if and when this will be shared with other models.

It is doubtful the IS, introduced last year, will have any powertrain upgrades for 2007. As for the GX and LX trucks, they are certainly due for an upgrade, but truck engines typically lag in advanced technology than its passenger-car counterparts. For example, Toyota's variable valve timing wasn't introduced on 8-cylinder trucks until model year 2005, although it was available on its passenger cars seven years earlier.

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Lucro da Volkwagen cai 86% no 3º trimestre, para US$ 253,7 milhões

O Estado de S. Paulo/Agência Estado/Dow Jones

A alemã Volkswagen AG informou nesta quinta-feira, 29, que seu lucro líquido no terceiro trimestre caiu 86% em relação a igual período do ano passado, para 172 milhões de euros (US$ 253,7 milhões), prejudicado pela desaceleração no mercado de automóveis. A maior montadora da Europa em vendas reiterou que a receita e as vendas de veículos este ano devem ser menores que em 2008, mas ainda espera ganhar fatia de mercado durante a crise e registrar lucro no ano.

A empresa tem tido desempenho melhor que as concorrentes no atual momento de desaceleração da indústria, graças principalmente à ampla presença em mercados dinâmicos como China e Brasil e à exposição relativamente baixa ao mercado norte-americano.

“O Grupo Volkswagen Group está se mantendo extremamente bem apesar das condições adversas”, disse o executivo-chefe, Martin Winterkorn, em comunicado. “Ao mesmo tempo, a tendência na indústria automotiva significa que não há motivo para otimismo prematuro. O clima para negócios continua difícil”, acrescentou.

A Volkswagen foi uma das grandes beneficiárias dos programas estatais de incentivo à troca de carros em muitos mercados, incluindo na Alemanha, que elevaram a demanda por seus carros compactos.

O lucro operacional caiu 81% no terceiro trimestre frente a igual período do ano passado, para 278 milhões de euros (US$ 410,05 milhões). A receita diminuiu 10%, para 26 bilhões de euros (US$ 38,35 bilhões), com contração de 8,9% nas vendas de veículos, para 1,67 milhão de carros e caminhões.

A marca Audi continua sendo a que mais contribui para o lucro do grupo nos primeiros nove meses do ano, com um lucro operacional no período de 1,17 bilhão de euros, comparado a 2,06 bilhões de euros em igual intervalo de 2008.

Fonte:O Estado de S. Paulo/Agência Estado/Dow Jones/Nathália Ferreira | www.estadao.com.br

Autonomous Robotic Race Car (Race car with no driver)

Stanford University’s robotics lab has built autonomous cars for several years. Recently, it established a land speed record for a robot car — 140 mph in an Audi TT-S nicknamed “Shelly”. But their next goal is even more ambitious: to have Shelly race the twisted dirt road that leads up to Pike’s Peak. Chris Dannen writes in Fast Company about the changes that allow the car to safely navigate sharper turns at higher speeds:

The new autonomous TT-S is markedly different from Junior, however. Junior was environmentally-aware; it had cameras that could see objects and road features, and it paired that data with GPS data. All that processing required two on-board Linux computers running quad-core Pentium chips and programmed in C and C++.

The new TT-S, unofficially dubbed “Shelly,” uses a different system. It has no cameras, only GPS, and a smaller, less powerful computing box running Sun’s Java Real Time System running on Solaris. Why? Despite Junior’s speedy processors, it still takes the car between 20-50 milliseconds to react to inputs from its sensory equipment. Because the TT-S “Shelly” is traveling at much higher speeds–the team has pushed it over 140 mph–even 20 milliseconds is too much of a delay.

You can view more videos of the project at the link.

via Neatorama

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'Nuff said

Simplicity seems to be a theme on here lately, and I’m cool with that. Everybody can benefit from some more of less. It’s often easy to try and over-sell ideas. To overdevelop and over-complicate. So amongst the hoards of emails with ‘cooool ads’ that people you know outside of advertising send you, these were refreshingly simple. The McDonalds one below is a particular favourite. Ticks all the D&AD boxes:

A simple solution from Sharp:

And a simple piece of reactive outdoor:

Blogroman: 19 - Diskussionen

Die Frau verwirrte ihn. Nicht viel weniger als es Boss getan hatte. Konnte er ihr vertrauen? Und musste er es überhaupt? Durfte man einer Frau vertrauen, die sich gerade an einem fremden Auto zu schaffen machte?
“Also, wo wohnt ihre Ex?” Sie hatte die Tür geöffnet. Wenige Sekunden waren verstrichen. Schon saß sie auf dem Fahrersitz und entriegelte auch die Beifahrertür.
Tom blieb bei der Fahrertür stehen, trat von einem Fuß auf den anderen und rieb sich die Handgelenke, in denen noch der Schmerz der Fesseln gespeichert war. Er beobachtete, wie sich seine Befreierin nach vorn beugte, eine Klappe unter dem Armaturenbrett öffnete und in den Drähten wühlte. “Warum wollen Sie das wissen?”
Ihre Stimme klang etwas gedämpft unter dem Sportlenkrad des Audis hervor: “Weil die Frau in großer Gefahr schwebt. Wenn wir ihr noch helfen wollen, sollten wir uns beeilen.”
Das klang nicht nur logisch, es entsprach auch dem, was er längst befürchtet hatte. Dennoch blieb er stehen. “Wer sind Sie eigentlich?”
“Mona. Das muss reichen.” Ihre Stimme war noch immer gedämpft. Dennoch hörte er deutlich den genervten Unterton. Der Motor sprang an und Monas roter Haarschopf tauchte wieder auf. Noch einmal deutete sie auf den freien Platz neben sich, ärgerlich, mit einem Funkeln in den grünen Augen.
“Haben Sie Piet getötet?”
“Sollte ich mit ihm ein Kaffekränzchen abhalten?” Ihr Blick fing Toms unruhig wandernden Augen ein und hielt sie fest. Ganz langsam sagte sie: “Ich stehe nicht sonderlich auf langwierige Diskussionen!”
“Rote Gasse 5.”

Was bisher geschah

da un'auto: � in fin di vita

una mamma commento inviato il 11-09-2009 alle 11:54 da KATE per silentarrow;tutto il mondo è paese ma anche quì in Canada (orientale) stà cambiando,specie con i nuovi immigrati sopratutto europei e giovani non è più come una volta,quando attraverso sulle pedonali mica è scontato si fermino subito anche se dovrebbero……e che dire di quell’automobilista che oggi è stato condannato a 20 anni per omicidio colposo mentre guidava ubriaco per la 19ma volta’O di quel poliziotto beccato ubriaco (fuori servizio per fortuna)’Molti hit e run anche quì comunque…..

commento inviato il 11-09-2009 alle 04:18 da flavio semaforo io abito nelle vicinanze di quel passaggio e mi sono sempre posto il problema che possono avere i pedoni e i ciclisti ad attraversare quel tratto di strada, constatando che si trova in un rettilineo e li arrivano tutti ad alta velocita anche se c’e il limite di 30, io propongo hai politici se mi leggono di mettere un semaforo con rilivamento di velocita il quale se e’ superata compare il rosso

inoltre anche con chiamata per attraversare.

commento inviato il 10-09-2009 alle 20:55 da nestor attraversamenti pedonali Qui da noi (nel Canada occidentale) e’ abitudine rallentare in prossimita’ degli attraversamenti pedonali e appena il pedone si affaccia alla strada, i veicoli in entrami i sensi di marcia si fermano e non ripartono fino a quando la persona ha finito di attraversare.

Ferma restando la piena libertà di ognuno di esprimere la propria opinione su fatti che possano interessare la collettività o sugli argomenti specifici da noi proposti, i contributi non dovranno in alcun caso essere in contrasto con norme di legge, con la morale corrente e con il buon gusto.

Fonte: www.gazzettino.it