January 8, 2012

Infographic illustrating Ford’s eco-conscious vehicle design and recycling goals using green icons and brief text.

REPREVE and Ford: A Sustainable Future Ahead

January 8, 2012 No Comments

Ford announced that through the use of REPREVE, the company plans to divert about 2 million post-consumer plastic bottles from landfills for use in new vehicles beginning with the 2012 Focus Electric – the first vehicle to feature branded REPREVE’s seat fabric made from a hybrid blend of recycled plastic bottles and post-consumer waste.
Taking it one step further, Ford and Unifi, the makers of REPREVE, will help collect some of the bottles destined for Ford vehicles by recycling plastic bottles from the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) taking place in Detroit on Jan. 9-10 and the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Jan. 10-13.
The companies will collect bottles at events throughout the year, beginning with the North American International Auto Show and Consumer Electronics Show, that will be recycled back into REPREVE recycled fibers:

Smart For-Us electric pickup in metallic silver with matte gray accents, shown in a studio setting.

Smart ‘For Us’ Pickup: The Future of Urban Driving

January 8, 2012 No Comments

Demonstrating once again its versatility and innovation, smart has announced that it will unveil a new concept called the “for-us,” during the press preview to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit’s Cobo Center (open to the public January 14-22, 2012). The electric drive for-us takes the shape of the iconic American pickup.
Intended to challenge ideas about how a “right-sized” urban pickup might look and perform, the for-us translates the practical load layout of a pickup to the reality of 21st century urban traffic. With its small outside dimensions, it could almost go unnoticed in the bed of a typical American pickup. Under the body, it’s anything but ordinary: state-of-the-art all-electric power with a 55-kilowatt magneto-electric motor, the for-us is agile and lively to drive.
Dr. Annette Winkler, smart CEO, says, “We at smart love pick-ups – if they are small on the outside, large on the inside, very safe and extremely comfortable. With the smart for-us a petrol station is no longer required!”