I’ve always found most body kits to be silly. Side skirts, fender flares, and front splitters usually do little more than add weight and make a slow car look like it’s trying too hard to go fast. But every now and then a good, clean body kit can improve the appearance of a car, and if done right, even improve its aerodynamic properties.

Hybrids seem to be especially popular to make body kits for recently, with both the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion Hybrid receiving different takes on body enhancements. Toyota is taking the game a step further with its Aerius body kit which offers subtle improvements to the exterior without negatively affecting the drag coefficient.

Read more of this story »

Editor’s Note: Corey Weaver is a Ford Technical Expert and EcoBoost’s project leader.

One of the great challenges for automakers today is determining which technology or group of technologies will be the most effective in increasing fuel-efficiency and lowering greenhouse emissions - while still meeting the performance, quality and price car-buyers expect. The array of choices available and under development is significant, ranging from turbo charging, direct injection, six speed transmissions, electric power assist steering, weight reductions, electrification, bio fuels and hydrogen fuel cells.

We know there is a viable future for some of the most advanced technologies, but we also recognize not all of them are market-ready or affordable for consumers. Even advanced technologies take time to gain widespread acceptance. For instance, despite mainstream acceptance of hybrid technology, hybrids remain less than 3% of the market.

Read more of this story »

There was a time not too long ago that you couldn’t have paid me to buy another new American automobile. Don’t take that statement that wrong way; it wasn’t for lack of trying. I love the lines of the true classics like the ‘57 Chevy or the ‘65 GTO. But somewhere in the last few decades, the American manufacturers seemed to just give up on making a good product—and I went through several modern American pieces of junk before I gave up trying too.

Yet in the last two years there is one major American manufacturer, who, above all others, seems to have come out the other end of a dark tunnel with a clear vision for its future and a line-up of solid, well-designed cars on which to build—Ford.

Read more of this story »

Conventional drag racing is pretty much the furthest thing from a green sport, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying the hell out of it. Yet even this tire-melting, gas-wasting sport is diving into the realm of alternative fuels for a variety of reasons.

Roush, a leading builder of aftermarket Mustangs, is developing two Mustangs for the drag strip powered not by gasoline, but clean-burning propane.

Read more of this story »

As an undergrad in college, I had the privilege of twice attending the annual Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas. SEMA is mostly known for wild, outlandish, and powerful versions of street cars; it isn’t the kind of place you go to find people discussing fuel efficiency and hybrids.

But 2009 is a year of reckoning and big changes are afoot in the auto industry. One sign of the times: M&J Enterprises has brought to this year’s SEMA a Ford Fusion Hybrid equipped with an aero body kit to reduce drag.

Read more of this story »