<<<The cause for the collapse goes far beyond the European economic meltdown. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo slammed the government in Rome: “Once again, the exception is Italy, where we have witnessed a drop partly due to the economic crisis, but also to a hostile environment for ­luxury goods which have long been, and continue to be, an important resource for the country.”>>>

Seriously though, "poor clueless baby"? Roberto, that's the Chevy Cobalt of name-calling. Could you have at least stepped up to crude but strong (the Camaro of insults, if you will) and dubbed me a "stupid fuckhead"? Or make it personal, if you like: "idiot ginger" or even just "quitter." Worst of all, you were right next to a perfect option— "You're stupid, you stupid weak baby."

Kia Pride/Ford Festiva (Introduced in 1986, still sold as the Saipa Nasim and Saba in Iran)

Hillman Hunter (Introduced 1967, still underpins the Peugeot ROA, which looks like a 405, in Iran)

Volkswagen Gol/Fox (1980, updated sheetmetal but still on the old BX platform in Brazil as the Gol G4)

Land Cruiser 70-series (1986, still on sale around the world)

You think your gal has champagne taste? Jon Olsson, the Swedish professional skier and all-around extreme athlete, has just procured a second Lamborghini — this one's a Gallardo — to drive across Europe between ski events.

That's right. When last we crossed him, Olsson was used a Murcielago LP670-4 for the occasional trip, and made a Nissan GT-R his daily driver last season.

But bad news came when Olsson learned the Aventador he desperately wanted wouldn't be ready in time to be his daily.

"As you all know I have been debating on winter cars for a quite a while. As the seems Aventador seems to taking a while and there has come a few other alternatives into the picture I decided to get something temporary.

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When I saw the "temporary car" I was actually stoked that the Aventador was running late! I think this this thing tuned out sick! Best of all, no more rental cars!!!! This thing is 100% ready to be driven 50,000 km this winter! "

Yup. Olsson's gonna put 30,000 miles on an all-wheel-drive Lamborghini Gallardo this season.

GreenCarReports points out that Ford has posted pricing information for its new all-electric Focus, and the $39,995 price tag isn't just bad — it's ludicrous. The similarly all-electric Nissan Leaf stickers at $36,050, while the Chevy Volt — which you can actually, you know, drive between cities — runs $39,995. All three vehicles are eligible for a $7500 credit.

This is the Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:00 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parcel it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?

1st Gear: Chrysler Sales Jump 27%, Everyone Else Just Does OK
Most of the October sales reports are in, and the real shock is that Chrysler did well. Three reasons: First, last October's Chrysler sales were pretty awful. Second: There's a ton of new product. The third comes from Reuters: Chrysler spent big time on incentives. At least that last tactic never led to disaster in the past. Oh, wait...

2nd Gear: Volvo's Peter Horbury Has The Balls To Design Geely's Cars
Automotive News reports that Peter Horbury is going to head up design for Geely, the Chinese company that bought Volvo. So maybe this means there will finally be a Chinese car company cars that don't look like melted knock-offs of other companies' models. Meanwhile, Volvo gonna need a new designer.

3rd Gear: Subaru Reveals Production XV Crossover
It's an Impreza on stilts. We weren't expecting anything different. See more at AutoExpress.

4th Gear: Honda's Supercharged a V6 Accord Coupe for SEMA
Oh goodness, Honda's gone and stuffed a supercharged on its V6 Accord coupe. They say the front wheels now are responsible for 335 hp. Everyone likes more horsepower, except when it's done like this.

5th Gear: Brian Scotto's RAUH-Welt Porsche Bows at SEMA
One of the first RWB Porsches in America, this baby was built by Nakai-San himself. Scotto — a jack of many trades and the man who rode the Segway in that little Ken Block video with a few million views — drove the car 850 miles to the SEMA show in Vegas. It looks gorgeous.

6th Gear: Infiniti Is Setting Up a Global HQ in Hong Kong
According to the company, "As Infiniti grows its presence in the global luxury markets of North America, Europe, China and South East Asia, we selected Hong Kong as the optimum location for our new global Infiniti headquarters." What went unsaid: It's so much nicer there than on the mainland.

Reverse:

⏎ Chevy finally sells more than a thousand Volts in a month [Detroit News]

⏎ Toyota made another robot nurse. So Data works for Dr. Crusher. [Toyota]

⏎ To celebrate Chevrolet's centennial, AdAge has a cool historical timeline of the company's ads [AdAge]

⏎ Toyota's stock hits 52-week low [TheStreet]

⏎ Peugeot unveiled its new Fiesta-sized subcompact. French cars used to be pretty. [CAR Magazine]

⏎ In Japan, new laws penalized a rental car company for renting to a member of the Yakuza [Business Insider]

Today in Automotive History:

Engineer Andrew Riker delivers the first four-cylinder, gas-powered Locomobile-a $4,000, 12-horsepower Model C-to a buyer in New York City on this day in 1902. The Locomobile Company had been known for building heavy, powerful steam cars, but by the turn of the century it was clear that the future of the automobile-and thus of the Locomobile-lay in the internal-combustion engine. Until it went out of business in 1929, the company built elegant, luxurious touring-cars and streamlined racers for wealthy patrons. A Locomobile, ads crowed, was the "Best Built Car in America."
[History]

The classical economic term for Greece's situation is "boned." But one problem contributing to the country's ongoing collapse is that millions of residents underreport their incomes or just flat-out don't pay income taxes.

In fact, the underreporting situation there is so absurd that economist Herakles Polemarchakis used it as a chance to hammer away on the proliferation of Cayennes in the country. "A couple of years ago, there were more Cayennes circulating in Greece than individuals who declared and paid taxes on an annual income of more than €50,000, a figure only slightly above the vehicle's list price," Polemarchakis wrote in a recent Economics Research Institute bulletin.

He goes on to mention the city of Larissa, which he says has the highest per-capita rate of Cayenne ownership [cue Clarkson voice] in the world.

Yep, it's a ten-banger in a box. The Viper may be dead for the time being, but Chrysler will still build you a V10 by hand, intended for use in drag racing. The 8.4-liter monster makes 800 hp and 695 lb-ft. No pricing info has yet been released.

There's another highlight from Mopar's SEMA spectacular: The company says it's got a limited number of Dodge Challenger bodies to sell. Maybe you could use one to build your own car, but without it weighing 11,000 pounds.

Yeah, so, this is happening. We knew a new Fusion hybrid would come when the new Evos concept-based model arrives next year. Now, the US Patent and Trademark office reveals not only what they could potentially be calling it — "Energi" — but also that it's a plug-in hybrid, too.

Do you care? Nope. But I was getting annoyed that nobody's reported on it yet and, well, doesn't it feel good to read it here before any other sites covered it?

Just remember that you heard it here first. For whatever that's worth.

CORRECTION: All the upcoming Ford plug-in hybrids will have Energi in their names — just look at the C-Max Energi — the bottom line is that regardless of name, the next hybrid Fusion will be available as a plug-in.

This is the Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:00 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parcel it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?

1st Gear: Elon Musk Says Tesla Model Vaporware Is Sold Out for 2012
Tesla's CEO and resident Bond villain tells Businessweek there are 6500 orders for the Model S. Apparently he's confused "orders" with "sales."

2nd Gear: Hyundai Veloster Goes Turbo
Car and Driver, this writer's old haunt, says Hyundai's CEO John Krafcik has finally said outright that a turbocharged Veloster is coming. More power is always welcome, but can weird looks and lousy steering also be sorted with some kind of bolt-on kit?

3rd Gear: Volkswagen XL1 Approved for Production
You remember VW's "urban city commuter modern hybrid suppository future-of-transportation" show car? Automotive News Europe reports that VW is going to build it. It's easy to green light cars when you're swimming in cash.

4th Gear: BMW Recruited Fat Volunteers to Help Develop Vehicles
The UK's Telegraph quotes BMW engineer Ralf Kaiser: "People are getting more obese and we want to find out how that limits their range of motion and how our vehicles can adapt to the changing needs of our customers." One thought is to lose some weight.

5th Gear: Ferrari Chair Montezemolo Tells Italian PM Berlusconi to Resign
The only exec in the Fiat group with a clue is telling Berlusconi that it's time to abdicate, as reported by Reuters. Respect for Montezemolo and all, but haven't the Italians learned their lesson about Corporatism?

6th Gear: Former Delphi CEO Gets Slap on Wrist
Bloomberg reports that a U.S. judge has ruled that former Delphi CEO J. T. Battenberg III must pay a $215,000 fine for violating U.S. securities laws by misrepresenting a $237 million payment to General Motors. U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn in Detroit today entered that judgment against Battenberg and a $118,500 sanction against former top Delphi accountant Paul Free. A Detroit jury in January found them men misrepresented the GM payment and found Free committed wrong-doing in three other transactions in 2000 and 2001.

Reverse:

⏎ Chevy's Hot Wheels Camaro concept heads to SEMA [GM]

⏎ 74-year-old Craig Breedlove says he's shooting to break 800 mph ... on land [Hemmings]

⏎ Auto dealers take over Obama fuel rules fight [Automotive News]

⏎ Preview of Los Angeles auto show design challenge [Motor Authority]

⏎ The British government has loaned 10.4 million pounds to Lotus [TopGear]

⏎ Skoda is going to introduce a bunch more models. You care because the three-row crossover is coming here as a VW [InAutoNews]

Today in Automotive History:

On this day in 1930, President Herbert Hoover turns a telegraphic "golden key" in the White House to mark the opening of the 5,160-foot-long Detroit-Windsor Tunnel between the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan, and the Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario. The tunnel opened to regular traffic on November 3. The first passenger car it carried was a 1929 Studebaker.
[History]

Austin, Texas — home of the University of Texas, Matthew McConaughey, and the world's largest urban bat colony — may now add to its accolades that it hosts the world's smallest food truck.

A "Berlin-inspired kebap" restaurant is using a modified Smart car to peddle shaved-meat sandwiches around the city. We think they'd be better off with an actual car, or perhaps a bicycle, or a Segway. But believe it or not, the Smart seems to make some sense for Verts, the restaurant that owns it, because once the meat's cut from the spit, it only lasts for two-to-three hours.

That said, the little sucker's still fitted with enough of their proper food-serving kitchen stuff: There's a steam warmer, fridge, and fresh-water supply. All told, it's enough to run out with supplies for 50 sandwiches and then return to the home base.

In a larger context, the Smart kebap truck is one in a long line of innovations for bringing fattening foods directly to the mouths of Austinites; in 1999, two UT students started a business delivering fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies.

This is the Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:00 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parcel it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?

1st Gear: Fiat 500 Abarth will Debut at LA
Fiat is finally bringing Americans the hotted-up 500 with a turbocharged 1.4-liter engine and a sport suspension. But do we get the one with 135 hp or 170? Fiat's not telling us yet — guess we'll have to wait until the LA Auto Show to find out.

2nd Gear: Production Mini Roadster Unveiled
Now you can have a topless Mini with only two seats. Pity it's heavier than a regular Mini hatchback. Engines are the same as in the rest of the lineup. The Miata won't need any Ambien at night.

3rd Gear: Honda Realizes the New Civic Blows, Hurries to Fix
Automotive News says that because of the chilly reception this year for its redesigned Civic, which was universally panned for its cheap, hard-plastic instrument panel and center console, Honda is moving more quickly than planned on some mid-cycle changes. The mid-cycle update normally would occur in spring 2014. But Mendel said the change could occur sometime in 2013.

4th Gear: Saab Gets An I.O.U. For Next Year
Bloomberg reports this morning that Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile and Pang Da Automobile Trade Co., the two Chinese companies that agreed last week to buy Saab, have committed to invest approximately 610 million euros ($855 million) in the cash-strapped Swedish automaker beginning next year, according to the company's reorganization plan that was posted today on the Vaenersborg District Court's website. The Chinese companies will also provide a $50 million bridge loan for Saab to use during the reorganization, according to the court document.

5th Gear: Feds to Scrutinize Automaker Loans
According to the Detroit News, the White House is ordering a review of the Energy Department's loan programs because of blowback from the Solyndra scandal. Some automakers' loans are going under the microscope. What, our investigation wasn't enough?

6th Gear: Rowan Atkinson Taken Over by Mr. Bean When Massa and Hamilton Crash
Missed the Indian F1 race? The Massa-Hamilton crash was good, clean, expensive fun. Atkinson spazzing out was the real prize, though. Check out a vid of the collision.

Reverse:

⏎ Honda warns Thai flooding will hit U.S. production. [Automotive News]

⏎ Bob Beaumont, who created early mass-produced electric cars in 1970s, dies at 79 [Washington Post]

⏎ Without Chevy, Campbell-Ewald chief runs a '100-year-old startup'. [Automotive News]

⏎ Ally Financial to launch unique Buyer's Choice car loan in 5 states [Freep]

⏎ Australian Company Building Electric Commodore [GoAuto]

⏎ Revised Land Rover DC100 Coming to LA Show [InsideLine]

⏎ All-New 2012 Honda CR-V: First Official Photos of Production Model [Carscoop]

⏎ Buick is paying dividends for GM. [Fortune]

Today in Automotive History:

On October 31, 1957, the Japanese car company Toyota establishes its U.S. headquarters in an old Rambler dealership in Hollywood, California. Toyota executives hoped to saturate the American second-car market with their small and relatively inexpensive Toyopet Crown sedans. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. sold its first Toyopet at the beginning of 1958; by the end of the year, it had sold 286 more, along with one behemoth Land Cruiser. Toyota cars were slow to catch on in the United States-it took until the mid-1960s for the company to gain a respectable chunk of the American market-but when they did, they did so with a bang. In 1972, thanks in large part to its success in the United States, Toyota sold its 1 millionth car, and three years later Toyota became the best-selling import brand in the United States. [History]

[www.caranddriver.com]

That's our word.

Now that's just unfair. At TTAC we hate all brands especially Toyota.

A typical photovoltaic cell is made of a thin boron doped P-type (P for positive) silicon wafer with positively charged 'holes' (missing electrons). One side of this original wafer is then doped with phosphorus to create extra electrons, and is called N-type (N for negative). Where the P and N-type silicon meet a junction is created that separates electrons and holes when exposed to light. Metal contact is made to both the P and N-type silicon allowing electrons to flow out of the N-type silicon, through a light bulb and back around to the P-type silicon. This movement of electrons constitutes an electric current - thus converting light into electricity!

Unfortunately photovoltaic cells are expensive to produce, as you traditionally need PCA_Nicole_DrShiaccess to elaborate, 'clean' manufacturing plants staffed by highly trained technicians. Most solar cells are therefore manufactured in developed countries that experience high tax, transport and labour costs, putting the technology well out of the reach of poor countries.

Nicole has spent the last two years researching an alternative manufacturing process and has designed and patented an affordable, simple and innovative photovoltaic device called the iJET Cell. Using Inkjet printing, aluminium spray and a pizza oven, Nicole has created metal contacts to both the negative and positive sections of a solar cell in the simple, low temperature process.

When asked to describe the process she says "To pattern the cell we spray on something like nail polish and then inkjet print a kind of nail polish remover which lets us etch certain parts of the wafer. This creates a metallisation pattern so we can deposit aluminium on the back surface of the solar cell and create our metal contacts to both the P and N-type silicon simultaneously using a very cheap, low temperature pizza oven! And hey presto we've created a simple, low-cost solar cell without having to use expensive high tech equipment or high temperature processes!"

____

Currently silicon and labour costs dominate the production of solar panels that cost approx US$4.80/Watt (www.solarbuzz.com). The iJET cell has been designed to reduce both silicon and labour costs by using:

a) thinner wafers (ideally 50um compared to standard 250um wafers used today) of a lower quality that are significantly cheaper than standard wafers and,

b) low-tech, low-temperature, low-cost processes that are well-suited to a developing country production environment where labour costs are less, jobs can be created and the panels can be used in the country where they are manufactured (reducing shipping and tax costs)

These key cost benefits will likely ensure that the iJET cell will be significantly cheaper than solar cells manufactured today. However at this stage of research it is difficult to give cost estimates as I am not yet sure what silicon purity level or thickness the iJET cell will be able to tolerate. After prototypes of the device have been created extensive economic research will have to be undertaken to determine the price of an iJET cell module.

[austmus.gov.au]