DualTronic: automatics gear up for the future

ROBIN WAGER reports how collaboration between BorgWarner and Volkswagen has achieved a significant advance in transmissions technology with lightning-fast shifts. This is seen as having huge advantages in the market place, and demand is expected to account for 18 per cent of European passenger cars within four years...

Getting ready to bounce back

After lean years, legendary Lotus is ripe for revival. JOHN GRIFFITHS examines an intriguing concept for platforms, a new family of engines and ambitious expansion plans…

Fuelling the future

Corn, maize, starch, cellulose, termites, microbes, tropical fungus, straw, timber, sugar cane, biotechnology. These are the new buzzwords petrol-heads will have to get used to after a century and a half of increasing addiction to oil. BRIAN TOWNSEND points the way towards intriguing sustainable possibilities…

Icon status is for gods – not car makers

Spearhead of a plan to transform Malaysia into an industrial economy, Proton’s 23-year life has turned into a saga reminiscent of BMC’s troubled history. JON WIENTHAL explains, and offers a remedy…

Chances are it’s a Toyota

Thailand’s claim to be the ‘Detroit of Asia’ may be a bit over the top, but its automotive industry has nevertheless achieved remarkable results with government encouragement and by focussing on pickups. JOHN WEINTHAL discusses…

More dreams, more value for money, more authenticity

Olivier Boulay is general manager of the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center in Yokohama, Japan, where he works with a team of 20 people. Among those Boulay has worked for previously are PSA in the UK, the IdeA Institute in Italy, Porsche AG, Mercedes-Benz AG, Subaru and Mitsubishi. BRIAN LONG asks the questions…

The Atlantic may be wider than you realised

Two years after its re-launch in Europe, Cadillac has been reviewing its tactics. PIM VAN DER VEER uses the Netherlands’ level playing field to assess the difficulties of breaking into strongly held territory…

Lessons from international trade

Upon reading his obituary in a newspaper, Mark Twain wrote: ‘The notice of my passing is somewhat premature.’ Much the same can be said of the world motor industry, as this cogent analysis by GAREL RHYS suggests. He reasons there is still huge scope for growth…

German up-market hegemony said unassailable in Europe

But Lexus and other upstarts might be a dangerous combination, writes NEIL WINTON… In a country like the US where the speed limit is rarely as high as 80 mph, would you buy a Porsche Cayenne SUV rather than a Range Rover because the Porsche was the fastest SUV in the world?

A gargantuan task, rarely undertaken successfully

Former Jaguar engineering chief JIM RANDLE analyses the pros and cons of a union between General Motors and Renault-Nissan… with additional comment by PIM VAN DER VEER.

Driving ambition

JOHN WEINTHAL reviews the career of Dr Prachin Eamlumnow, dedicated to realising the ‘Detroit of Asia’ dream in Thailand…

Far-reaching decisions for Lotus

ANNE HOPE talks to Mike Kimberley, who helped Colin Chapman run the company, revived it after his death, and is now back at the helm for a second time…

Fuels of the future are here

The world is on the threshold of significant growth in biodiesel and ethanol use in transportation. PETER MULLINS sees it coming in a cocktail from all manner of sources: plant and animal waste, discarded foodstuffs,corn, soya and palm oil, and even the as yet little-known jatropha tree…

Love-hate car fest

Sweden seems riven in its attitude to the automobile. It wants to do the right thing environmentally. Yet it has a proud tradition of manufacturing cars and trucks, and these are essential to individual mobility in a large country. Thus PETER SALZER finds himself surrounded by ‘green’ machines at Stockholm’s irregular motor show…

My greatest engine of all time…

Deciding a shortlist of three was relatively easy, says KEITH READ. It was the history of Rover’s V8 that put it at the top of his list, ahead of distinguished company, Cosworth’s DFV Formula 1 engine and the Wankel rotary…

Totally committed to TVR

ANNE HOPE assesses where this specialist British marque is heading, and talks to its Russian owner Nikolai Smolenski…

Nirvana for few, hell for many

Hands over ears, Kuala Lumpur resident JOHN WEINTHAL gives a wry account of life in South East Asia’s noisiest city…

Obituary - Édouard Michelin

Talented if sometimes unpredictable fourth generation led world-beating family firm with panache…