Posted on November 22nd, 2008 by ElectroGeek
Arnage replacement expected to emphasize performance, coach-building, and, uh, low emissions?
BY STEVE SILER
Though it’s been around in one form or another for decades, Bentley’s huge flagship Arnage/Azure is soon to be retired. The 2009 Bentley Azure T, launched at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show, is the model line’s swan song—and with a 5.2-second 0-to-60-mph time and a 179-mph top speed, the three-ton ragtop represents a helluva way to go out.
But Bentley won’t be without a flagship for long. The ultra-lux market “is our heartland,” said Stuart McCullough, board member for sales and marketing, during an interview at the L.A. show. He went on to say that the Arnage replacement will have an “attitude toward craftsmanship and longevity.” We take that to mean it will have classic styling and a palatial, extremely lavish interior that does not strive so hard to look modern as its market rival, the Rolls-Royce Phantom.
At the same time, we should also expect the new car to utilize more space-age materials such as the advanced lightweight-polymer seat tracks rendered through rapid prototyping that are found in the 0K Brooklands coupe and the new Azure T.
Finally, the new flagship will also be a torque monster, just like its predecessors. McCullough said that the company focuses on “performance delivery”—i.e. forceful acceleration through extremely high low-end torque. “Our engineers are obsessed with low-end torque.” Good. So are we.
Keep Reading: Bentley’s Best Yet to Come? - Auto Shows
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Posted on November 21st, 2008 by ElectroGeek
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Two engineers from China were sentenced to a year in prison Friday for stealing computer chip designs from their Silicon Valley employers and trying to smuggle the secrets to their homeland to launch a government-backed startup there….
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Posted on November 21st, 2008 by ElectroGeek
TEN SLEEP, Wyo. (AP) — The nearest Wal-Mart is two hours away, and only foul weather, a deer in the road or a Washakie County sheriff’s deputy would slow down anyone with a mind to drive there faster….
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Posted on November 21st, 2008 by ElectroGeek
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Word of mouth is one of the most common ways homebuyers and sellers find a real estate agent. Now, there are several Web sites that tout a more scientific approach: ranking agents based on criteria such as years of experience, how many sales they’ve closed, and the number of positive testimonials from past clients….
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Posted on November 21st, 2008 by ElectroGeek
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has banned, at least temporarily, the use of external computer flash drives because of a virus threat officials detected on Defense Department networks….
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Posted on November 21st, 2008 by ElectroGeek
NASA Television is broadcasting highlights from the ongoing STS-126 space shuttle mission in high definition (HDTV).
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Posted on November 21st, 2008 by ElectroGeek
A new digital library of Europe’s cultural heritage crashed just hours after it went online and will be out of operation for several weeks, the European Commission said Friday.
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Posted on November 21st, 2008 by ElectroGeek
The BBC Trust and Ofcom, the British media regulator, said the proposal would have hurt rivals in the private sector, including the Web sites of newspapers.
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Posted on November 21st, 2008 by ElectroGeek
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Archaeologists have unearthed an elaborately decorated 1,800-year-old chariot sheathed in bronze at an ancient Thracian tomb in southeastern Bulgaria, the head of the excavation said Friday. “The lavishly ornamented four-wheel chariot dates back to the end of the second century A.D.,” Veselin Ignatov told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from the site, near the southeastern village of Karanovo….
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