The fingertip frenzy isn't just about luxury cars, either. Sure, the $73,750 Range Rover SUV offers 10 buttons or toggles, not including the horn. And the $49,100 Acura RL sedan has 16, in addition to two thumb paddles for manually changing gears. But Toyota's humble — albeit fully-loaded — $26,040 Prius gas-electric hybrid sedan includes 15 places to mash a thumb into the steering wheel.

Automakers say the buttons help motorists keep their fingers on the wheel instead of having to fiddle with dials and knobs on the dashboard, making driving safer.

We're excited to be participating in the prestigious Volvo Ocean Race, which is very much like the 'formula one' of yacht racing. This is a fun and unique way to remind viewers all over the world that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest will be sailing into theatres next summer. Given the film's high seas adventures and nautical themes, this marathon sporting event is a great way to make some waves and generate awareness among the millions of viewers.

Americans make 51.3 billion trips to and from work in their own vehicles every year, accompanied by fleets of helicopters scrutinizing the traffic, scores of meteorologists watching the weather and the cheerful sounds of drive-time radio, offering the latest news and entertainment. The daily ride has given rise to audio books, the travel mug and a 7-Eleven Inc. trademark, Dashboard Dining. The national motto has become grab and go, and legions of businesses work feverishly to fill a near-sacred space: the cup holder.

Even though the nation's 138,000 convenience stores sell three-quarters of the gas in the country, says Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the convenience store association, a car is much more than its tank. It's the thirsty and caffeine-fueled driver the stores desire so intensely. "A lot of convenience stores think of coffee as the new black gold as opposed to gas," he says. "You only make a penny or two profit on gas, if you're lucky. You can make more off a 12-ounce cup of coffee than a 12-gallon fill-up."

A $1.3 million study by New York’s Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (funded by federal and state highway officials) links GPS data from participating vehicles into a central database and spits back data on traffic patterns. A driver with the right equipment gets realtime warnings if he's about to enter a congested zone, and can then route around it. Sounds great, but we can’t help but wonder: if everyone's connected, and they all follow the same prompts to avoid congestion, won't the traffic just hit them all when they adjust their route -- and again, when they swerve to avoid the jam they've just created?

Reporting the mixed results, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said the nation was "in the midst of a national epidemic" and urged motorists to buckle up. "If this many people were to die from any one disease in a single year, Americans would demand a vaccine," Mineta said. "The irony is we already have the best vaccine available to reduce the death toll on our highways — safety belts."

But the business of estimating oil reserves is contentious and political. According to Campbell, companies seldom report their true findings for commercial reasons, and governments - which own 90% of the reserves - often lie. Most official figures, he says, are grossly unreliable: "Estimating reserves is a scientific business. There is a range of uncertainty but it is not impossible to get a good idea of what a field contains. Reporting [reserves], however, is a political act."

"All the major discoveries were in the 1960s, since when they have been declining gradually over time, give or take the occasional spike and trough," says Campbell. "The whole world has now been seismically searched and picked over. Geological knowledge has improved enormously in the past 30 years and it is almost inconceivable now that major fields remain to be found."

The Arnage Drophead Coupé, based on the 2005 Arnage sedan, is the successor to the hugely successful Bentley Azure convertible. It is powered by a 450-horsepower, 6.75-liter twin-turbocharged V8 engine. The first of the four-seater convertibles will be ready for delivery in spring 2006. Bentley chairman Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen described the car as "the most sensationally beautiful convertible."

Insana: Well, GM and Ford are getting hit pretty hard right now based on how gasoline prices are. Are you worried about what the impact of a weakened General Motors might be on the economy because oil prices and gasoline prices are so high?
President Bush: Well, I think they're going to have to learn to compete. In other words, if the consumer starts saying we want a different kind of automobile, they're going to compete once again with, say, the Japanese automobile manufacturers to, to, to, to get a, to keep their lion's share of market demand.

What began as an experiment has become an important means of communication for GM. It has given me, personally, an opportunity to get much closer with you, the public. Often, I find your comments insightful and compelling. At times your criticism is harsh. But the fact that you have remained interested and continue to have faith in our efforts to develop great products is a worthy motivator.

Questions have been raised as to whether I will continue to be involved in FastLane given my re-focused responsibilities. The answer is an unequivocal "yes." From its inception this blog has been a forum for GM's leadership to discuss important issues with a spotlight on product... product plans, product virtues and truths. In fact, I hope to see more GM leaders begin to engage in this conversation on the FastLane over the coming weeks.

The PHEV Car is a hybrid vehicle driven by a compressed air engine combined with electric motor. PHEV CAR is driven by expansive force of compressed air and it also uses a battery driven motor when it is necessary. Compressed air engine is operated by two strokes (suction (expansion)-exhaustion) when the internal combustion engine is operated by four strokes (suction-compression-explosion- exhaustion). Compressed air engine is operated during the start, acceleration or going up a hill where the electric motor consumes a great deal of power rapidly. The compressed air engine converts back to the electric motor when the vehicle reaches a speed of 20-25 km/h.

Now, the car industry is feeling the pains of a consumer public that has gotten so used to discount shopping that it often won't buy at regular price. Car dealers have raked in record sales in recent years by luring customers with tantalizing incentives such as zero-percent interest and rebates worth several thousand dollars. But now that dealers are pulling back on those deals, they're not getting what they bargained for. Sales were down in the first three months of the year, and experts think consumers are holding out for the next big discount.

Here's the beef backing that brag: The 7.0-liter LS7 engine will produce at least 500 horsepower at 6200 rpm and 475 pound-feet of torque at 4800 rpm. Revving just slightly past its 7000-rpm redline through base Corvette six-speed gearing, it'll hit 60 mph in first in well under four seconds. The chassis is --drum roll--all aluminum. Magnesium and carbon-fiber parts also are used to help contain the total curb weight to under 3150 pounds. That'll put the new Z06's weight-to-power ratio below both the GT's 6.3 pounds/horsepower and the Viper's 6.8. Aero tuning reduces total lift and balances the front and rear lift coefficients while increasing the base Vette's 0.28 drag coefficient to 0.34.

I would like to suggest a trip to Sears for the purpose of purchasing a spring-loaded center punch, aka power punch. If you are unfortunate enough to find yourself trapped in a vehicle underwater, you need only to hold the point of the punch against the window, and push to load the spring. Presto -- no more window. This method works equally well on the side and rear windows of a car, but not as well on the windshield because it's a different kind of safety glass. The punch can be taped to the inside of a console, or anyplace else where it will be easy to find in an emergency.