A biweekly roundup of automotive news, good, bad and just plain weird:
A radar gun to catch texting drivers
While nobody likes speed traps, what about a different sort of dragnet - one to catch texting drivers? Distracted driving is a growing cause of accidents, and a particularly aggravating one when it's so easy to just use your Bluetooth to make that call or better yet, leave the phone off entirely when you're driving.
A company called ComSonics think they have the solution, a new type of long-range detector that can pick up on the electronic signature of a text being sent. With the device, which is still in prototype form, soequipped officers could scan for people taking their eyes off the wheel because they can't wait to LOL at their friend's hilarious emoticon choice.
Of course, there are all kind of problems to overcome, not least of which is what happens if you've got a passenger who's texting. For now at least, any text-and-driving counterattacks will be visually based, but there may be a new tool in the trunk of that Crown Victoria before too long.
Lotus quietly heads for the door
With the recent announcement that the Evora would no longer be sold in the United States, Lotus indicated a move towards track-only specials. The 2+2 Evora was the last road car the company sold here, but safety requirements over the type of airbags used are forcing it out of the showroom.
With no road cars for sale, it's hard to see how Lotus can survive for long in the U.S., and indeed on a global scale. Recent rumours are of plans to shrink its workforce by a full quarter. These are not hopeful signs.
And yet there are things that Lotus could do to be truly viable. The new Hyundai Genesis Sedan, for instance, has steering and handling tuned by Lotus, and it actually drives quite nicely, much more so than the previous model.
This expertise could pay big dividends for numerous other companies while keeping Lotus afloat and solvent, giving them breathing room to come up with something fresh. Another thought is that perhaps the Tata motor company that's currently bringing Jaguar back from the brink and Land Rover to the fore might do well to rescue a third ailing British brand.
Whatever the case, even if you weren't in the market for an Evora, it was nice when Lotus was still hitting the streets. Here's hoping they'll be back.
Sparky, the electric Nissan pickup
Getting around Nissan's broad Arizona tech centre takes some doing. What's more, the techs and engineers that work there have to haul around all kinds of stuff from building to building.
If there's one thing every good mechanic needs, it's a shop truck. Looks like things aren't that much different for a major manufacturer.
Enter Sparky, the Nissan Leaf pickup truck. Yep, you read that right: somebody chopped the rear roof off of a Nissan Leaf and grafted on the bed out of a Nissan Frontier, movable tie-downs and all.
It's adorable, and actually makes a great deal of sense for zipping around the vast campus. If you drive a Leaf, maybe rent a reciprocating saw this weekend - how hard could it be?
$20 million worth of Rolls-Royces head for Macau
The largest fleet of Rolls ever produced, the two most-expensively equipped Rolls ever made, and a total of $20 million: Now that's a fleet sale.
This massive outlay of wheeled finery is headed to Macau, where they will be used as the exclusive transport of guests of the upcoming Louis XIII hotel. Brainchild of entrepreneur Stephen Hung, both the hotel and its Rolls-Royce fleet will be fitted in tasteful crimson, with checkerboardpattern inserts and plenty of gold plating. Oh hang on, I've written tasteful in there. That's not quite right - these things look like Ronald McDonald joined SPECTRE.
However, the audacity of the plan has to be applauded, and it just goes to show what a strange and funny ol' world we live in.
VW celebrates 30 years of Synchro
As far as concept cars go, this is a doozie. It's a VW van - the current Transporter - set up with a short, bi-level pickup truck bed, an onboard espressomaker, a 200 horsepower, 332 foot-pounds of torque turbodiesel, with a short wheelbase and all-wheel drive.
If you own, or are interested in, either a Vanagon or one of those folding-side VW vans, this thing should make you hyperventilate and then collapse into a gibbering heap. It looks like a modern T-series Eurovan had a baby with a Unimog.
Why don't they bring these Euro-style vans over - hasn't VW seen what people pay for an old Vanagon? It's crazy: there's a whole untapped market over here, and meantime VW brings the unloved Phaeton back. Nuts, if you ask me.
Watch this space for all the best and worst of automotive news, or submit your own auto oddities to [email protected] Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendan_mcaleer.
