Cars and Motors

Aston Martin Lagonda Limited, famed for its high performance GT sports cars favored by the likes of James Bond, reckons its future lies far to the east of MI6 headquarters in the garages of China's rich and famous. The super-luxury 4x4 Lagonda SUV is expected to cost a pretty moneypenny and would likely leave 007 shaken, not stirred.

Cross your heart and hope to... live? In an effort to ensure the often bumpy road to romance gets off to a smooth start, the Chinese city of Chengdu has provided a Love Zebra Crossing painted up in lovely red & white.

Gentlemen, start your mornings! In honor of the upcoming 50th anniversary of Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., Japan's Asahi Soft Drinks is including one of 10 miniature model motorcars with selected cans of Wonda Gold coffee.

You can talk on your cell phone, even text, check your email, eat your lunch, tun-in your radio, change a CD.... You can even take in all of the distractions along the Strip in Las Vegas... if you hop a cab.  Or, you can take the Google autonomous car, currently a Toyota Prius, without a driver.

In fact, they're already here... but you wouldn't know it just from looking. Japanese automaker Honda has begun importing the subcompact Honda Fit into Canada from Guangqi Honda Automobile Co. Ltd., in China. The move may pave the way for the long-awaited next step: Chinese-made cars from Chinese automakers.

Red light, green light, what light? That's the question a growing number of colorblind people are asking when confronted by new LED traffic signal lights. Since up to 10 percent of the population suffers from red-green colorblindness, an answer is needed pronto... and Professor Taro Ochiai of Japan's Kyushu Sangyo University thinks he's got one: a redesigned LED traffic light easily visible by everyone.

The Toyota 2000GT SEV is a one-off, electric concept car being shown to the public at the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon. Designed by the Crazy Car Project under the direction of the Toyota Automobile Association, this “shocking” automotive update takes Toyota's iconic late-sixties sports coupe from flower power to solar power.

Someday we'll be "flying" our cars and computers by the seat of our pants, if a unique new sensor system developed by engineers at Japan's Advanced Institute of Industrial Technology is adopted by car & chair makers. It seems each person leaves a unique impression when they sit down and the resulting digital pressure patterns can be used to identify drivers from the bottom up, so to speak.

The 25 meter (82 ft) long Youngman JNP6250G developed by Chinese manufacturer Zhejiang Youngman is the “world's largest” public bus and can carry up to 300 passengers. Don't expect to “bus da move” in luxury, however, as specs for the JNP6250G indicate it has just 40 seats... you do the math.

The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round... even in Tibet, “the roof of the world”. The recent purchase of 53 new school buses by local authorities in Lhasa means many students in far-flung farming regions will ride to and from school in style (and safety) for the very first time.

By night, Qu Zhibo is a chef and restaurant owner from Zigong City in China's Sichuan Province. By day, however, he's “Qu Zhibo, Hummer Driver!”... or something vaguely resembling a Hummer. Qu designed and constructed his 1-of-a-kind, 4-wheeled, 8-tired tribute to American rolling stock with GM's mighty military machine in mind.

Black tires too dull & gloomy for you? Double Star Tires is hoping their colorful new line of Rainbow Tires will replace basic boring black rubber road rollers wheel, er, real soon.

In case of emergency, brick glass? Goodbye, yellow brick, road? Have brick, will travel? The puns come fast & furious when attempting to explain a low-tech safety measure found on Chinese passenger buses: yellow-painted, window-breaking bricks.

Marlon Brando may have been The Wild One but who says you can't be The Weird One? Certainly not Taiwan's Feng Yu Development Co., designers and manufacturers of the one and only Space Raincoat.

Volkswagen gets back to their roots with “The People's Car Project”, an innovative multimedia ad campaign that's turning heads and winning praise in – where else – the People's Republic of China.

There's no better way to see the sights of London than from the open top of a red double-decker bus, no matter that the bus in question is made in China. A landmark deal signed by Britain's Big Bus Tours sightseeing company will see 34 shiny new Chinese-made buses hit the streets of swingin' London just in time for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

Too cute for school? Not in Japan, where settling at mere cuteness means you're not trying hard enough. That high-pitched sound you're hearing isn't a school bus in need of a brake job, just its pint-sized passengers squealing "KAWAII!" in unison.

Chaaarge it!! Beijing is becoming China's “Electric City”, at least where drivers are concerned. An ambitious plan to set up 42,000 new electric car charging posts by 2015 intends to match the current number of gas stations in China's bustling capitol.

The innovative Teewave AR1 electric sports car concept from Japan's Toray Industries is made mainly from super-strong, lightweight carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, allowing drivers travel up to 185 km (115 miles) on a single battery charge.

Great Wall Motors has solidified its position as China's leading manufacturer of SUVs by rolling out the new Haval H6. GWM exports to over 120 countries & regions worldwide, so when will Sino-SUVs like the H6 hit the highways here?