Ford Motor Co. is offering 0 percent financing on the Ford Escape Hybrid for the first time ever.

Buyers in California and Washington, D.C., can finance the Escape Hybrid for no interest for 60 months. The offer begins Wednesday and runs through April 3.

California and Washington, D.C., are Ford’s two hottest hybrid markets, Ford spokesman Monte Doran said. “The real purpose is that we are continuing to raise awareness of the Escape hybrid,” he added.

The 0-percent offer cannot be combined with any of those other incentives.

Buyers in California and Washington can pick either zero-percent financing or rebates on the Escape Hybrid, which runs on both a traditional engine and a battery-powered motor, Doran said. The offer, which began on March 16th, ends in three weeks. [PRWEB]

See also Hayward Ford

Branick Industries announced that Allen Tires of Lakewood CA has installed nitrogen inflation systems at twenty of their service locations throughout Southern California.

“We’re very excited that one of the premier tire dealers in California has chosen our nitrogen solution for their customers,” said Gil Schoener, President of Branick Industries. “Nitrogen inflated tires improve a vehicle’s performance, extend tire life and improve fuel economy by maintaining a tire’s proper inflation pressure 3 to 4 times longer than regular compressed air.”

Nitrogen is also good for the environment and your safety. Properly inflated tires improve rolling resistance, last longer and require less fuel. That translates to less emission, less tire disposal issues and less dependence on foreign oil. And, according to the Rubber Manufacturers Association, under-inflated tires are the leading cause of all vehicle accidents. [PRWEB]

Hyundai’s claim that it offers “America’s Best Warranty™” is going to be tested in an Orange County, California Superior Court. On March 22, 2006, Green Welling LLP, a San Francisco class action law firm, filed suit against Hyundai for refusing to cover repairs under its warranty to correct defective clutch parts in 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GTs with six-speed manual transmissions. The action is filed under Case no. 06CC00052.

According to class action lawyer Robert Green, “We noticed an unusual amount of 2003 Tiburon drivers complaining about their clutches failing within the first 30,000 miles they drove the car. Not only was the clutch failing prematurely, but owners were complaining that Hyundai refused warranty coverage for the repairs needed to fix the problem.” [PRWEB]

New Jersey residents can now receive inventory RSS feeds from the Cherry Hill Triplex Group. This automotive group includes automotive makes from Dodge, Jeep, Mitsubishi and Kia.

“By offering RSS feeds we’re giving the Internet car shopper an opportunity to keep an eye on our inventory every day without having to come to our site and actually perform a search for a specific vehicle,” said Dave Damiani, Internet Manager for Cherry Hill Triplex.

“RSS makes it easy for consumers to discover specific new vehicle inventory they may be searching for. For example, should a car shopper be looking for a particular vehicle type in a narrow price range, he or she can come to our site and create a dynamic RSS feed tailored to that criteria.

“From there, using any RSS reader, this person can then subscribe to the feed they created and view all vehicles in inventory that meet their personal requirements – each day the inventory they see in their reader will change as our online inventory changes.” [PRWEB]

Compared to the 2004 sluggish situation, the Chinese domestic automotive market grew steadily in 2005. Car sales reached 296,800 units in June, setting a new record. In particular, the sales of intermediate and low-end cars showed a sharp increase in the first half of 2005. There is a cumulated sale of 2,256,511 cars in the first ten months of 2005, a 25.05% increase year-on-year. Sales volume of passenger cars manufacturers in November is climbing with an average increase of 10% compared to the same period last year, now making November the third sales peak after June and September. [PRWEB]

See full report at: Automotive Research and Markets

When enthusiasts come into the Mancuso Harley-Davidson Dealership in Houston, Texas looking for more power for their Harley, Walter Birmingham, Assistant Parts Manager, recommends a performance package that includes exhaust pipes from D&D Performance Exhaust.

A common way to add ponies to a V-twin engine is to add a high flow air cleaner, jet kit or fuel injection module and a high-performance exhaust pipe. These three upgrades working together will show the biggest bang for the buck.

“We have four criteria in selecting a pipe that include performance, fit, finish and heat shields,” said Birmingham. “If D&D didn’t meet the performance standards we wouldn’t recommend them. They are that good.”

Birmingham has indicated that Service Technician, Jeff Skipski, is on the dealership’s dynamometer daily and acknowledges the difference between manufacturers. “As an example, we started with a stock Sportster that produced 60 HP at the crank,” said Skipski. “We added a pipe, high flow air cleaner and a jet kit to the package. When finished running it through its paces we were making 78HP. That’s a great bump in performance.”

“Horsepower at the drive-ability range from idle to 4,500 rpm is the sweet spot for Harley riders,” said Dave Rash, Mr. D&D. “You can see, feel and hear the difference immediately. Our pipes not only look good, they make the Harleys sound just the way they are supposed to.”

D&D Performance Exhaust pipes are torture-tested on D&D’s state-of-the-art in-house Super Flow Eddy Current Ram Air dynamometer. This is done in combination with the Super Flow Bench and the first in the industry, multi-cylinder Lambda Fuel Air Ratio Sensors. They are interfaced with the Dyno for real-time meter and graph analysis. Each pipe is dyno tuned for maximum performance and sound. [PRWEB]

Adding more hogs to your Harley-Davidson such as batteries or a couple of more fit-ins like power-controlling switches can result in more power generation and thus a more robust performance. Unlike a car audio, a power vehicle is not so easy to manipulate with a remote control but can only be managed through the proper fittings.

Millions of car insurance consumers are buying their car insurance policies on the Internet today. Rate quotes and policies are available through a multitude of web sites, from insurance companies direct, to web sites that offer multiple quotes from a single application.

Money Saving Tips About Car Insurance explains the options, coverages, benefits, terminology, and unique situations that the average car insurance consumer should know and understand when shopping for a new policy.

With specific explanations of unique real-life situations that most consumers learn the hard way, Money Saving Tips About Car Insurance tells it like it is to give the consumer the opportunity to have a better understanding of what car insurance really is and how to better communicate about it. Many car insurance policies are sold without the in-depth information that is available and extremely valuable to the consumer.

Even if the car insurance consumer takes the time to get a rate quote from an agent over the telephone or in person, how much explaining will that agent do? Considering that liability coverage is all that is required by state law for financial responsibility, and if your vehicle is financed, the finance company requires you to cover the vehicle, the average policy will be quoted with minimum or near minimum coverages.

You might be asked if you are a homeowner to offer you higher liability limits to protect your home from a lien if you cause an accident, but even than, many homeowners are underinsured considering how many vehicles on the highways today cost over fifty thousand dollars. [PRWEB]

tagTRAX: car insurance policies | money saving tips | insurance consumers | rate quotes | insurance consumer

Driving Sports announced today the launch of Driving Sports Video, a new on-demand video series that provides auto enthusiasts with entertaining and insightful coverage of new cars, modified tuner vehicles and extreme motorsport action.

“In less than 20 years the print magazine as we know it will be obsolete. With the success of the Apple video iPod, Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) and the emergence of video-capable mobile phones, transportable video on demand is clearly the future for enthusiast media,” commented Ryan Douthit, Director of MediaSpigot LLC.

“We had long considered re-launching Driving Sports as a print publication, but the opportunity to take extreme driving experiences beyond the written word–to show the action in all its tire-shredding, clutch-grinding glory was simply too irresistible to pass up.”

Each episode of Driving Sports Video features both in-the-field and studio segments. “I’m really excited about this show,”  said Alison Dudek, who recently lit up primetime television as a contestant on ABC’s “The Bachelor: Paris,” and is a confirmed car nut. “I already called dibs for when we get a Mercedes SLR to test!” [PRWEB]

Driving Sports Video on Google shows the debut vehicles with car subwoofers that are so technically sound as to give the feeling of real home theater systems is a vehicle. These hi-fi integrated systems produce the sounds and images as sharp as any top brand of flat panel tv with the help of the built-in car amplifiers

In a poll sponsored by MonkeyMeter.com, Washington, D.C. and New York are the two top cities where drivers experienced road rage in 2005.

Using input from over 17,500 users from over 150 different cities the MonkeyMeter uses several calculations to determine the top ten cities with road rage.

Top Ten Cities with Road Rage for 2005:

1. Washington, D.C.
2. New York
3. Houston
4. Boston
5. Chicago
6. Los Angeles
7. San Jose, CA
8. Atlanta
9. Detroit
10. Seattle

[PRWEB]

Sunny Tan, author of the controversial fuel saving guide for motorists, Gas Mileage Tactics, is re-releasing his latest edition of his book with more additional ways to help drivers save their gas money.

Part fun and part enlightening, just about anyone can flick through a few pages from the book and expect to get serious results with their way of driving, which ultimately cuts down their gas mileage expenses.

According to Sunny Tan, many drivers out there resort to using different sorts of high tech gadgetry and equipments and have their cars modified, just to maximize the use of every drop of liter of their gas intake. However, in the long run, this will not only cause serious damages to their vehicles, but also burn big holes in their wallets.

“The reason car manufacturers like Toyota and Honda spend millions investing in R&D is to develop vehicles that are safe, reliable and roadworthy. What makes you think that some backyard mechanics in your area have that sort of capability in modifying a car while ensuring it is still roadworthy?”

“The fundamental thing about saving up your gas money and reduce the petrol consumption of your car begins all the way from when you start your car, how you maneuver the steering wheel and how you step on the pedals,” says Sunny Tan.

In some other countries like America, the IRS has provided a way for the drivers to claim some kind of deduction out of their mileage claim usage.

“Basically you need to maintain proper records of all you business use of you vehicle. You need to learn how to keep tax records for your vehicle, how to keep and log mileage records and vehicle expenses,” according to Sunny.

When asked about how much potential savings of the tax reduction for gas claims, he quoted an example that based on 2002 gas allowance of 36.5 cents per mile; one can get a rough estimate of $292 - $365 worth of tax reduction in a year.

In the book, Sunny writes about tips and techniques to get best possible gas saving out one’s car. The whole book was divided into several chapters such as good driving attitude, taking care of certain crucial car components and engine, getting the best wheels for the car and even some discussion on few popular gas saving devices.

Drivers who have learnt and practiced some of the techniques have discovered amazing results from their gas mileage savings alone. “I’ve recently tried some of the methods described in Sunny’s Gas Mileage Tactics book and I’m satisfied with the noticeably increased fuel mileage I am getting”, says one of the satisfied readers.

“In such trying times of rising petrol costs which could easily burn holes in many motorists’ pockets, Sunny Tan’s easy-to-read-and-apply e-booklet bearing tips on fuel-saving is like welcomed rain on parched earth during prolonged drought”, as described by a prominent and well-respected author and speaker. [PRWEB]

tagTRAX: ways to save money | gas mileage | mileage expenses | gas money