2009 Ford Transit Connect Family One Concept.zero cars

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Enough with the cargo haulers - Ford's new Transit Connect is just as well suited to being a people mover, and the Family One Concept, unveiled at this week's New York Auto Show, proves it.
While previous Transit Connect concepts served to illustrate the van's flexibility in a commercial setting, the Family One concept is designed for the family - specifically, Ford says, for "the coolest mom."
"The customers we envisioned," says designer Chiwei Lee, "are cosmopolitan parents in their mid-30s with highly refined design sensitivities." Those apparently include the need to tint the windows, apply a few floral decals, and paint the side doors bright blue. Apart from these unusual touches, the Transit Connect's exterior is mostly stock.
Instead, designers applied their touches to the van's interior, and specifically focused on entertaining those parked in the second row. Movies are projected onto a screen located above the front seats, while door panels, made from a white board, allow kids to doodle to their hearts' content. If they get any marker on the seat covers, they're easily removed, and can be washed inside the home.
The cargo area has also been tricked out with the family in mind. Both a hand sanitizer and sunscreen dispenser are built into a side panel, as are a set of walkie-talkies and a first-aid kit. A stroller fits beneath the cargo floor, and two Razor scooters hang from the cargo door.
Should any of those pieces (inevitably) become lost, Ford's equipped the Family One with its production WorkSolutions system. RFID tags, which can be placed on almost any object (i.e. toys, soccer gear, or perhaps even a small child), alert the driver if any objects are missing from the vehicle

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2009 Hyundai Nuvis Concept Rear Three Quarters View

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It seems Mazda's designers aren't the only ones studying fluid dynamics. When it came time to craft the Hyundai Nuvis concept, debuting at this week's New York auto show, designers studied the way water flows around the sides of a boat.
"Our goal was to create a living machine that the driver and passengers could be part of," said John Krsteski, manager of Hyundai Design. "There are no lines on or in this car that are standing still."
Both the idea and the execution are remarkably similar to Mazda's series of Nagare concepts, but the Nuvis still manages to keep its Hyundai identity intact. The overall shape and form of the concept's front fascia echo the production Veracruz, which isn't too surprising - Hyundai hints that this may influence a future production vehicle, albeit we doubt there's much of a future for the blue exterior accent lighting and gullwing doors.
The opposite can be said of the Nuvis' drivetrain. Hyundai wants to offer hybrid vehicles (starting with a Sonata in 2010) in the U.S, which will likely use the BlueDrive parallel-hybrid system similar to the one in the Nuvis.
Here, it couples a 2.4-liter I-4 to a six-speed automatic transmission, which is teamed with a 30-kW (40-hp) electric motor. The Nuvis can be powered by either the gasoline engine or electric motor alone, but can mix the two when droves of power are required.
Most interesting is the lithium-polymer battery mounted underneath the cargo floor. The 270-volt battery has a similar chemistry to lithium-ion cells, but allows more power to be stored in a smaller package. Similar batteries are used in Kia's Forte LPI hybrid, and we expect the technology to be a staple of Hyundai hybrids to come.

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Toyota Brings Back Former Executive in Hopes of Increasing Stalling U.S....

Toyota Motor Corp. is hoping to increase its falling sales by bringing back former executive Yoshi Inaba, who is credited with driving the company’s fast growth in the U.S. market.
Yoshi Inaba held several executive positions at Toyota during his time with the automotive giant including serving as CEO of Toyota Motor Sales USA, where he is credited with adding the Scion brand. Toyota is bringing back the former executive to battle its now slumping U.S. sales.Generally, the U.S. has generated some of Toyota’s and other Japanese auto companies biggest profits. Lately, however, Toyota’s U.S. sales have been steadily falling along with the rest of the industry.It is unknown exactly what position Inaba will take when he returns to Toyota’s U.S. operations. The Wall Street Journal reported that Toyota asked Inaba to oversee the key aspects of its U.S. business.