If you could get a loan for this car, would you buy it?  Hyundai, who is the official auto sponsor for FIFA, is blessing the world with a special series of turf cars for the World Cup in South Africa this year.  Could I get that in baseball please?  Check out a quick article here.  

Honda has a new concept to be shown at the 2010 Geneva International Motor Show.  The 3R-C3, not to be confused with this, is described as a "revolutionary three wheeled battery electric vehicle concept shows what a future minimal urban transport vehicle for one person might look like. The battery electric drivetrain is mounted low in the three wheeled chassis, therefore keeping the centre of gravity low and thus improving stability."  I think it looks like one of the motorcycles from Tron, which at the end of the day, is pretty cool.  It will be featured alongside the FCX Clarity.  See the press release here.  

Check out the 10 smallest cars in the world.  Aren't they cute?  I want to pick them up and play with them!  Today's economic and environmental concerns have been big players in pushing the development of smaller vehicles.  For obvious reasons, they are much more popular in densely populated urban areas where driving is limited, but they don't make a lot of sense for the more dominant long distance travel of most sprawling American cities.  I've seen one in real life.  I'm convinced that it is the only one in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex. 

Ian Douglas writes in the Telegraph this article about the Peapod, the latest offering from GEM, a subsidiary of Chrysler.  Just when I thought the Mac/iphone world couldn't get any more bizarre, along comes a car with an iPhone key.  Not keys that look like miniature iPhones.  Not a cute little iPhone keyring.  No, its an actual iPhone that starts the bloomin ignition!  I'm trying to work this out in my mind.  Other than a gratuitous cool factor, what are the practical benefits of this?  Are regular car keys becoming so obtrusive and offputting?  This suspicious attitude was of course was my first reaction upon reading the article, as is usually the case with all new fangledness, because I like to sit in self righteous judgment over new inventions or innovations out of sheer jealousy.  But then I started thinking.  This could be really cool! 

Well, hold on a sec.  Its not a real car, for as Douglas says from the article, "They haven't been crash tested by Ncap so I have no idea how dead you'd be if you hit something, the seats are made of gauze and from the photographs the whole thing has more than just a whiff of Playmobil about it," and elsewhere, "Canada and the USA have refused to allow it on the open roads so it can only be used in gated communities, campuses and the like."  But still.  For me this would be cool because the following could happen:

- I could actually own an iPhone. 
- I could store my phone, car keys and car stereo in my pocket. 
- I could have that arrogant, "why aren't you driving a car that goes 25mph" air about me, putting the SUV drivers (including myself) to open shame.
- I could actually own an iPhone.

And maybe thats it.  Having an iPhone for a key is bizarre enough, but it only makes any kind of sense in the equally bizarre world where souped up golf carts pass as cars.  That, my friends, is a world that I just don't understand, and I'm afraid I never will.  

You know that strange looking vehicle that Paul Blart: Mall Cop drove around at work?  That's called a Segway.  Now, imagine one of those, but for sitting instead of standing, and going up to 35mph.  Slap a shield on the front of it and a little steering wheel, and what you have is something pretty close Segway's P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility & Accessibility).  Project P.U.M.A. is Segway and GM's latest attempt to bring about "the shift that is needed for the future of transportation."  More from the site: "It values less over more; taking up less space, using less energy, produced more efficiently with fewer parts, creating fewer emissions during production and operation, all while offering more enjoyment, productivity, and connectivity."  The design appears to defy reason and logic, but a look at this video clip shows that it does just fine in staying balanced.  Sounds like a great idea for use in Urban areas, and if the above is true then it could be a viable solution for the future.  Of course that would mean an immense culture shift, especially in America, where a. many areas are spread out, and b. we Yankees value our powerful vehicles too much.   See Topgear's article on it here.  

How would you like to pay less for a car than you would a high end laptop?  Now you can, at least if you want to go to India to get it.  The appropriately named Tata Nano (pictured) will retail at $2500, with options to add air conditioning and power windows.  Read the article here.  

If you are into small cars, or work for the circus, this is a great series of articles on the 26 different models out there, everything from the Ford Fusion to the Proton Satria Neo.