Automakers are using more recycled materials | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Detroit's automakers are finding new uses for worn-out jeans, discarded plastic bottles and manufacturing rubbish -- they're recycling them for use in new vehicle parts. With the rage over going green hitting the marketplace, auto companies are looking for ways to make their vehicles more sustainable, not just under the hood but behind the wheel. They're incorporating more recycled materials into interiors, upholstery and moldings, and partnering with suppliers to develop new bio-based products to...

Mayor Bing's SUV lease criticized | detnews.com | The Detroit News
-- Mayor Dave Bing is now being chauffeured in a $59,205 Yukon XL Denali delivered to the city on Wednesday, a move that is drawing criticism from unions and his rival in the Nov. 3 election. The mayor's staffers say the decision to lease the SUV with heated-leather seats, a Bose stereo system and satellite radio is out of his hands because Police Department officials say they need it to do their job. "It is the Police Department's decision. This is their requirement," said Karen Dumas, the mayor's...

Detroit conference to focus on plug-in electric vehicles | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders looking for ways to plug into the emerging electric vehicle market will find an outlet this week. Starting Monday, more than 600 people will descend on the MotorCity Casino in Detroit for a three-day conference dedicated to the making, marketing and deployment of plug-in electric vehicles. The inaugural event, called "The Business of Plugging In," brings together leaders from the automotive and utility industries, as well as researchers, policymakers...

Road rage's causes and prevalence debatable | detnews.com | The Detroit News
After watching yet another car whiz past me, while I -- and hundreds of other well-behaved Detroiters -- waited patiently in a construction zone on I-696 near Van Dyke, I was proud of the general politeness of the other drivers. There were narcissists, for sure, but none of us who were passed dished out vigilante justice by shooting out the tires of the offending drivers. This reality presented a sharp contrast to a recent survey I came across. In the annual AutoVantage Road Rage Survey, Detroit ranked...

Subtext of a driving hazard | detnews.com | The Detroit News
-- To boss: "u will hv story in 5 mins" To husband: "u pickd up m yet? u r l8 4 class!" Phone rings: "Hello? Hi, Mom. Yes, yes, we're fine. The boys are fine. No, the weather is good. If you saw it on the Weather Channel, why are you calling me to ask? Yes, I'll make sure the boys wear jackets. Gotta go, Mom, I'll call you back." To boss: "ok gimme 10 mins" From husband: "whats 4 dinner 2nite?" OK, not responding to that one. So here it is -- my multitasking confessional. Driving, talking, texting. Oh...

Small cars need work to outdo '90s model | detnews.com | The Detroit News
I have this hot car fantasy that just won't go away. Oddly, it doesn't involve a Porsche 911 and an autobahn. Nor an Audi TT on the Pacific Coast Highway. Not even -- in what will come as a shock to many who know my "Mad Men" fixation -- Don Draper and a 1963 Cadillac Eldorado. No, I daydream about downshifting off Ford Road and wheeling my own 1997 Escort to the apex of the crescent-shaped drive at Ford Motor Co.'s Dearborn headquarters, eagerly awaited by a huddle of senior managers and designers. In...

Pest control pickup takes a bow | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Bryan Baker was watching "Verminators," a Discovery Channel television reality show about a pest control company, ISOTECH Pest Management Inc. What caught Baker's attention wasn't just the bugs, rodents and other crawly creatures that were being exterminated, but the fact that ISOTECH's pickups were equipped with truck caps produced by A.R.E., the Massillon, Ohio-based company where Baker works as director of marketing. Baker did some checking and learned that 90 percent of ISOTECH's fleet of more than...

J.D. Power study: Young folks may love cars less | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Is the love affair between cars and young people starting to cool? That could be the case, according to a new study of auto-related online commentary among teens and young adults by J.D. Power and Associates. Between January and August, the market research company analyzed hundreds of thousands of "conversations" on auto-related sites such as Autoblog, personal blogs and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. The goal was to gauge the perceptions of Generation Y those born in the 1980s and 1990s...

A 'cheaper' Corvette that doesn't compromise | detnews.com | The Detroit News
There's always been a Corvette void. It's that dead space between models that other carmakers have filled -- making their offerings look less expensive and, thus, more attractive. The rocket ship $100,000 ZR1 sits atop the mountain, while the fiery $75,000 Z06 remains parked nearby, looking slightly agitated. Then there's the $49,000 base model Corvette -- the Cooper Manning of the Corvette family. It's the oldest, but no one brings it up in conversations about performance. Even the $26,000 price...

Car the center of designer's space | detnews.com | The Detroit News
-- An MRI exam of Holger Schubert's head might reveal an inner space of bare, winter-white walls, polished concrete, wall-to-ceiling glass and halogen lighting. "I like very pure, minimalistic, empty space," says the 41-year-old product designer. Schubert's home, under construction on two acres in the Brentwood neighborhood of West Los Angeles, will be a symphony in spareness: three glass boxes as the main living quarters, a pool house with cantilevered roof, a Japanese tea house and a glass-walled...