How The Gas Tax Is Under Threat From Green Vehicles

by Paul Eisenstein

Live in the right part of California and work for the right company and you might be able to buy the new Nissan Leaf for as little as $12,500, as Autoblog has reported, due to the raft of incentives that are available for buyers of the little battery car and other high-mileage, low-emission products.

In recent years, lawmakers have been racing to come up with incentives designed to encourage motorists to migrate to clean, efficient vehicles. It's a clearly noble effort, but one that deserves a closer look in an era of fiscal restraint.

Several states are looking at a more direct form of taxation: a per-mile usage fee on battery-based vehicles.

The feds, and most states offering such incentives, have put caps on their zero-emission incentive programs, and most will vanish by mid-decade. But, ironically, if these programs do what they're intended to, the fiscal impact could be felt for years to come. It turns out that going green could plunge state and federal balance sheets into the red.

The short-term costs are already potentially significant. At the federal level, a $7,500 tax credit could drain billions of dollars a year out of the Treasury if major automakers come even close to their battery car sales targets by mid-decade.

Such cash incentives – along with other perks, such as access to California's HOV lanes – are designed to motivate the move to vehicles like the Leaf and the new Chevrolet Volt. Once momentum starts building, these givebacks can be phased out, proponents contend. But they're missing a big part of the picture.

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Renault unveils Sandero Stepway concept in Brazil

by Noah Joseph

If you've ever heard of the Dacia Sandero, it's probably from Clarkson teasing James May about it on Top Gear. The no-nonsense, bare-bones hatchback – sold alternatively as a Renault in markets where its budget subsidiary Dacia doesn't exist – is a favorite of Captain Slow.

In South America, the Sandero also comes as a crossover version called the Stepway, and taller though it is, it's just as decidedly spartan. That didn't stop Renault from drumming up some excitement over the budget range, however, with the show car you see here.

Envisioned as a successor to the current model and closer to a junior Duster, the Sandero Stepway Concept dials up the glitz factor just a touch with a sporty body kit, three-tone paint scheme and enough blue LEDs to light up the trendiest of night clubs. Also, some flower decals... for some reason. The result is something akin to a futuristic cup of cappuccino...

supported by: car rental in France

Umbrella Auto Design tricks out the Nissan GT-R's cockpit

by Noah Joseph

If the Nissan GT-R is going to seriously take on the Porsche 911, it's going to need to do a bit better on the interior fit and finish. Nissan's own people realized that much when they launched the Egoist edition of the new GT-R, but what if you've already got your Godzilla in the driveway? What are you to do then?

Turn to Umbrella Auto Design, that's what. The Seattle-based tuners have announced an aftermarket retrofit for the GT-R's interior that swathes the entire cabin – seats, dashboard, console, instrument binnacle, steering wheel, door panels, shift levers, etc. in luxe and racy black ultra-suede with silver diamond quilting and top-stitch. They've even repainted the plastics in black to match. Looks pretty slick, and they can reportedly carry it out on any GT-R in about three weeks. Check it out in the gallery below.

Escort Passport iQ marries GPS with radar detector

by Jeff Glucker


Escort has released its brand-new Passport iQ automotive accessory. We would call this a radar detector, but it appears to be much more than that. The Passport iQ, in addition to detecting radar and laser, has a built-in GPS unit, Bluetooth connectivity, red light and speed camera notifications, speed limit information and live traffic updates. All of this information is displayed on a five-inch, full-color touchscreen.

The price of the Passport iQ is $649.95, which, assuming it works as advertised, is peanuts compared to a few speeding tickets and a bump in car insurance rates. Escort offers the unit on a trial basis for free, for 30 days. It also comes with a 90-day free trial subscription to Escort's Defender Database, which comes loaded with thousands of speed trap locations.

The Latest Craze In Auto Accessories – The Train Horn

If you keep up with the auto industry at all you’ve probably noticed that the mighty train horn is becoming a popular accessory to put on your car or truck. These aftermarket devices are a sure way to get your ride to stand out in a crowd.

This all started by people actually taking horns off of locomotives and putting it on their trucks. These horns were extremely loud but in most cases were also fairly large, cumbersome, and not that nice to look at. So naturally some extremely smart person saw an opportunity and started building them specifically for cars and trucks. These new train horn kits are smaller, typically chrome, and much easier to install.

They are quickly becoming a craze. If you search youtube you’ll find video after video of people showing off their air horns. Often times the video will be of someone driving down a crowded street and just letting a long loud blast that startles everyone within 100 feet. While this is certainly not the most responsible use of a train horn it still kind of funny.

You have a couple options if you’re interested in buying a train horn kit. First you have to decide how much you want to spend. Typically they range anywhere from $299 to $499 but can go all the way up to almost $1500. Next you want to think about just how loud you want your train horn to be. The less expensive kits usually put out around 150dB and can give a 5 second blast while the large kits not only put out more decibels but can sometimes blast for up to 15 seconds. The louder kits are also larger so take that into consideration. You probably won’t be putting the big kit in your Honda civic.

So if you’re interested in learning more about train horn kits get over to http://trainhornsdelivered.com where Marc has a great selection you can choose from.

Bentley's traveling roadshow shows off heritage piece by piece

by Jonathon Ramsey

A cross-country road trip with enough spare parts to practically build another car? Sounds like something from Paris-to-Peking, but in this case it's actually the Bentley Heritage Roadshow -- and it's here in the U.S. Bentley's putting 1,000 rare items from its Heritage Parts and Accessories division on display, traveling across 8,000 miles of American countryside to do so.

Most of the Bentleys that have ever been built are still running today, and the marque's customers are fascinated with the range of available vintage, hard-to-find parts. Crewe is playing on this and laying it all out for enthusiasts via the traveling show – from owner's manuals to engine blocks. Follow the jump for the press release and have a look at the mobile chop shop in the photo gallery below.

General Motors mid-size sedans going all four-cylinder

by Damon Lavrinc

Straight from the "No Surprise" department comes word from GMInsideNews that all of General Motors mid-size offerings will come equipped with four-cylinder engines as the only available powerplant.

GM has made it clear for the last few years that a large part of its future product strategy is to downsize its engine line-up in preparation for the new 2015 CAFE standards. The shift has already begun with the introduction of the 2011 Buick Regal, available with either a 182-horsepower direct injected 2.4-liter or a turbocharged 2.0-liter putting out 220 hp and 258 pound-feet of torque.

The next model to go all-four-banger will be the next generation Chevrolet Malibu, slated to arrive late next year and likely packing – to begin with – the same 2.4-liter four. A range of direct injected engines, both naturally aspirated and turbocharged, are in the works, so the General won't be hurting for options, but expect the V6 to stick around for GM's larger offerings, including the next Impala.