Although The Great Race has been postponed due to the recall of travel permits through China, the show will go on. According to the official website, "Great Race Sports owners, executives and participants are dedicated to honoring the history of this illustrious race." We think that the race, assuming it does take place, could gather a great deal of attention the world over. We've been keeping an eye on the race with posts on the E85-powered 1967 Aston Martin DB6 that will take part and other ethanol participants. This bears watching.
The Indica has always been the ugly duckling in the European market, where it survives because there's nothing cheaper available (well, the latest Fiat 600 can sometimes be found for under 6,000 EUR). The car is also sold in South Africa, where it's a huge success.
The Indica is driven by a 1.2-liter engine or a Xeta 1.4-liter I4, good 70 HP, or a 1.3-liter DICOR diesel (newer versions will be sourced from Fiat). You can even get an Indica converted to run on Compressed Natural Gas. Sadly, The Indica doesn't have many good green credentials. The most popular option, the Xeta 1.4 version, has decent-but-not-great mileage, delivering 33 mpg in mixed cycle and 23.5 mpg in city usage. Tata claims that the Indica models produce 158 g/km (diesel) and 167 g/km (gasoline) of CO2.
Let's set this story up by placing the players on a map. First, Kia, which is a South Korean automobile company. Secong, Mali, which is a country in Africa. Third, Kia Netherlands, which sells the Korean cars in Holland.
Now that we're clear on who's where, here's the story: According to AfricaNews, Kia Netherlands is offering new car buyers a chance to purchase carbon offsets by funding biodiesel production in Mali. New Kia buyers in the Netherlands can calculate their annual CO2 emissions and donate money (between 15 and 65 Euros) to a Dutch charity, Trees for Travel, which will then plant, among other things, jatropha plants in Mali. The oil from the jatropha seeds is then processed into biodiesel and distributed locally. It may take a global network to organize this scheme, but on the face of it, it makes a lot of sense.
I'm pretty sure this is AutoblogGreen's first story about Guinea Bissau, the small west African country. An official in that country's Defense Ministry said last week that Guinea Bissau Armed Forces has a plan to make ethanol "within a few years" through a military program. In the short posting of this news over on Macauhub there is no mention of the feedstock that the ethanol will be made from. Instead, the article mentions why the military would be involved in growing crops for biofuel: too many members of the armed forces. The Guinea Bissau military apparently has 3,000 too many staff that can be ordered to grow fuel (and raise cattle). The Defense Ministry's production, modernization and social action department is responsible for the program.
The 2009 Dakar race will be the longest ever, so having an improved and powerful diesel under the hood is something Mitsubishi is probably quite happy to have. That these new diesel powerplants are also being called "clean diesels" is something the rest of us can cheer.
Mitsubishi announced today that the"High Performance Clean Diesel" engines will be used in improved versions of the Pajero Evolution used in the 2008 Dakar event. Mitsubishi CEO Osama Masuko is looking to extend Mitsubishi's string of victories, but VW is just one of the competitors that isn't going to let them win easily. Mitsubishi car buyers might be the real winners here, because Masuko also "announced that the event will be providing essential technical feedback for the all-new range of high performance clean diesel engines, which have been confirmed will make their debut at the Dakar in 2009," according to the press release pasted after the jump.
January 2008 will mark the thirtieth running of the Dakar Rally in which competitors spend sixteen days racing thousands of miles across the Sahara. The course has been lengthened 3564 miles this time and Volkswagen is set to take another shot at beating the Mitsubishi Pajeros. The Mitsubishis have won nine of the last eleven races including all of the last seven. VW will be continuing their commitment to diesel engines in racing with the factory team entering four Race Touareg 2 TDIs. While the production Touaregs use a 3.0L V-6 TDI, the race version uses a 2.5L inline-five that puts out 285 hp in the 2007 race. The 2008 race starts on January 5.
[Source: Motoring.co.za, via GermanCarBlog, thanks to Christian for the tip]
Zimbabwe has opened the first biodiesel plant in its territory. Considered the fifth largest one in the world, the plant was built in Transload, 15 km north of the capital Harare. The capital came from a joint venture of Zimbabwean and South-Korean companies and is expected to produce about 100 million liters of biodiesel per year from wheat, soy and sun-flower seeds.
It is expected that this plant will help the country save $80 million in imported oil. Something very necessary for a country which is currently under international sanctions against president Robert Mugabe.
_thumbnail.jpg "Beijing 2008: BYD e6")
