We, like just about everyone else in the automotive world, were blown away when Porsche took the wraps off the 918 Spyder hybrid supercar . The wizards in Stuttgart built the plug-in hybrid on the QT and kept it super-secret until rolling it out in Geneva, where it almost literally stopped the show. Now it seems Porsche is actually going to build it. According to England’s Autocar magazine, the Porsche …  Read More →

At long last, Google Maps has routes specifically for bikes. With the click of a mouse, the new feature allows you to plot the best (and flattest!) ride from Point A to Point B. Several cities, including New York, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, have bike-specific mapping sites. But Google is rolling it out in 150 cities nationwide and announcing it Wednesday at the 10th Annual Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. “This has... 

It doesn’t look like a car, and it doesn’t look like it would fly, but what is believed to be the world’s oldest “roadable aircraft” is for sale. The antique was built in 1934 by Frank Skroback and at the very minimum provides proof that people have long dreamed of cars that can be flown like airplanes. Or are they airplanes that can be driven like cars? No matter, because whatever you call it, it’s being... 

We won’t see electric cars racing through the streets of Paris in June. They’ll be racing through the streets of Barcelona in October instead. The EMXGP pulled the plug, if you’ll pardon the pun, on racing in the City of Light and pushed back the race date to give teams more time to develop their cars. Mark the new date — Oct. 16 and 17 — on your calendars. eGrandPrix Spain kicks off a week of activities surrounding... 

A Dutch journalist has exposed a loophole in airport security after carrying several liters of liquid on a transcontinental flight to Washington, D.C. Alberto Stegeman and two colleagues carried six Bacardi rum bottles filled with water aboard flights from Amsterdam to London and then on to Dulles International Airport. The ruse was pretty straightforward, too. They bought the one-liter bottles at the a duty free …  Read More →

Pilots are rallying behind Glenn Duffy, the air traffic controller suspended after allowing his kids to issue instructions to airliners at JFK airport, by ending their transmissions the same way Duffy’s son did — by saying “adios.” The Federal Aviation Administration has come down hard after the incident was made public last week , launching an investigation and suspending its practice of allowing visitors inside air... 

The postal service likes the Bright Idea and wonders if it would make a good delivery truck. The U.S. Postal Service has invited Bright Automotive to put an electric drivetrain in a standard-issue mail truck. Once the truck is ready to roll, the postal service will add it to its fleet for real-world testing in the Washington, DC area. The company joins the EV pioneers at AC Propulsion in developing prototype trucks for the postal service , which... 

Today is the 60th anniversary, again, of one of the most recognizable and beloved vehicles to ever clatter down the road. The exact anniversary of the Volkswagen Type 2, known affectionately as the Microbus or just the Bus, is open to interpretation. Volkswagen says it’s 1947 , when Dutch VW importer Ben Pon first sketched the design. You could argue it was 1949, when CEO Heinz Nordhoff approved production. Or you could say today is day... 

The masses of Autopia readers have spoken. After enduring a pummeling at your hands over our choices of the best snowicane cars, we invited you to tell us what you’d drive when the drifts are taller than you are. And damned if you didn’t come up with an impressive list. A few of them were completely impractical — ironic, given the hell you gave us for the Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, a car we’ve actually driven in the snow... 

Smart announced the winners of their “ Style Your Smart ” worldwide design contest today, picking four designs out of 50,000 entries. The winner of the €1,500 first prize, Tamir Shefer of Jaffa, Israel, plastered the Smart with beady-eyed, cow-nosed human faces reminiscent of an upbeat Dilbert cartoon. According to Smart, the design is “urban and human friendly at the same time and shows that cars and humans do belong together.”... 

Unless the kids are acting up in the backseat of the XC70, “naughty” is the last word that comes to mind when you think of a Volvo. The folks at Volvo want to change that with a new ad campaign and they’re looking for help from those of us with naughty minds. Advertising agency Arnold Worldwide says the “Naughty Volvo” campaign highlights the “…  Read More →

The so-called underwear bomber wouldn’t have brought down Northwest Flight 253 if he had succeeded in detonating the bomb in his pants, according to the results of a test conducted for the BBC. A controlled test using a decommissioned Boeing 747 found the plane would have landed safely in Detroit. The plane’s fuselage was not breached during a test that used the same amount and type of explosive Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (pictured)... 

It’s become clear Porsche is all-in with hybrids. The company rolled into the Geneva Motor Show with the 918 plug-in hybrid supercar concept, which followed right on the bumper of the 911 GT3 R Hybrid slated to compete in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. For the faithful fearing the dilution of a company built on a reputation for racing, fear not. Porsche is experimenting with hybrids, but it isn’t looking to chase Prius market... 

The numbers are in and they’ve been certified by the feds, so it’s official: the 2011 Mustang V6 puts down 305 horsepower and gets 31 mpg on the highway. The Environmental Protection Agency completed testing the V6 Mustang this week and Ford said today it is the first time a production car has made more than 300 horsepower while returning more than 30 mpg. We couldn’t come up with a car to refute that claim — if…  Read More →

Friday is the 69th running of the Daytona 200, one of the most grueling motorcycle races in America. As tough as it is riding flat-out under the lights around a track for 57 laps, imagine doing it on sand. Yes, sand. From the inaugural race in 1937 until 1961 (with time off during World War II) the endurance race was held on Daytona Beach . Not the city, the actual beach. We can’t imagine riding an old Indian or Harley-Davidson at race...