Search Results for: cars

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW public consultation could spark further improvements to the European Union (EU) system helping cross-border motor insurance claims, when insurers are unable or unwilling to settle quickly or efficiently. The consultation has been launched by the European Commission, which wants to test the operation of national compensation bodies established by the 2000 fourth motor insurance directive.…

BY KENCHO WANGDI, in Japan
VISITORS to this year’s World Expo at Aichi, Japan, are being introduced to a new low pollution tram that needs neither a driver, nor rails. Developed by Toyota researchers, this Intelligent Multimode Transportation System (IMTS) is guided along standard roads by embedded magnetic markers, enabling it to be steered and controlled automatically.…

BY KENCHO WANGDI, AND KEITH NUTHALL
GIVEN the environmental pressures of global warming laws and clean air legislation, the energy industry is always looking-out for new technologies that can help it deliver services, without the being criticised for harming the planet.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Car & Truck Rental Association (ECATRA) has called on the European Union (EU) to create taxation legislation allowing leasing companies to be refunded motor tax when transferring vehicles between EU countries. In a consultation paper for the EU’s ongoing CARS21 review of automobile policy, ECATRA said this was “one of the main problems facing the industry”, which often wanted to move vehicles to re-sell them.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
ASK the average motorist to identify which automotive technologies have advanced the most in recent years, and very few would mention coatings and finishings. Certainly, when it comes to innovation, carmakers are eager to promote new developments in performance, economy and safety.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) has called on the European Union’s (EU) governments and car industries to adopt long-term innovative strategies that guarantee a sustainable future for the EU automobile industry, a key purchaser of steel and other metals.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament and the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers have compromised on the final shape of a directive reducing sulphur content in marine fuels. The result is legislation that permits higher sulphur usage than the parliament wanted, cutting its marine fuels content to 1.5% by 2007, for all vessels in the Baltic, the North Sea, and the English Channel, and passenger ships in all EU seas and oceans.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ENVIRONMENTAL health officers will be well acquainted with international efforts to develop hydrogen cars, but local authorities in Denmark wants to go further: they are planning to launch Europe’s first hydrogen-powered train. Three towns in western Jutland – Vemb, Lemvig and Thyborøn – have pledged funding to run a hydrogen train along the 59-kilometre railway that connects them.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IN a political hair-and-tortoise move, a European Commissioner from a country where the Lada once reigned supreme has told speed-loving German motorists he will press for European Union (EU) speed limits of 90kmh (55.9 mph). Latvia’s Andris Piebalgs, energy Commissioner since last November, told the Die Welt newspaper “I personally support the idea”, which was originally proposed by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NORWEGIAN company car fleets wanting to import second-hand cars should not have to pay a special tax not applied when buying used cars within Norway, the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) Surveillance Authority has claimed. It is threatening Norway with legal action on grounds of illegal discrimination if it does not scrap the tax.…