The Opel Antara’s adaptability and functionality will be put to the test once again in January 2008. For the second year in a row, an Antara with Balázs Szalay and his ‘Szalay Dakar Team’ at the wheel will take on the Lisbon-Dakar rally – the longest and most difficult cross-country rally competition in the world.

With expert assistance from GM Racing and sponsorship from General Motors/Opel Hungary, the private team’s brand new car – an Opel Antara RR – has been specially adapted to the harsh conditions and includes the latest GM race engine. In its first desert test at the UAE Desert Challenge in November 2007, the new Antara RR performed sensationally, helping the team to 8th place overall.

Balazs Szalay has been rallying Opel cars since 2003, and 2008 will be his 10th Dakar race. And with the versatile, dynamic Opel Antara, Balazs has the best chances of a top-place finish. Boasting a robust design, distinctive lines and a powerful stance, the Opel crossover is sure to cut a fine figure as it battles through the sand dunes and challenging conditions toward Dakar. The team will be assisted throughout by Gregory Prior and Ross O’Blenes, two GM Motorsport engineers who participated in the engine development for the Dakar Antara and spent time in Hungary fine-tuning the car. “The GM Racing engineers will be a great help when it comes to the technical side of the rally, and give us the assistance we need to pose a greater challenge to the other professional drivers in the race,” says Balázs Szalay.

The 9723-kilometer Lisbon-Dakar rally begins in Lisbon/Portugal on January 5 and ends in Dakar/Senegal on January 20, 2008. To date, 580 vehicles have signed up for the 2008 rally, which promises to be the toughest in the event’s 30-year history.

State air quality regulators Wednesday unveiled new emission rules affecting all diesel trucks and most freight ships calling on California’s major seaports.

The regulations, expected to be approved this week by members of the California Air Resources Board, will cut toxic pollution spewing out of the state’s bustling port complexes by up to 75 percent by 2014.

The rules also regulate trucks servicing California’s largest railyards, several of which are located just outside the sprawling Long Beach-Los Angeles seaport — the nation’s largest.

CARB Chairman Mary Nichols said the new emissions standards are long overdue and will help reduce deaths and illnesses linked to air pollution generated by the growing port and transportation industries.

The new Saskatchewan government has eliminated the provincial sales tax on used cars and trucks.

The change came into effect Monday. Rod Gantefoer, finance minister for the Saskatchewan Party, says those who have paid the PST since Nov. 8 can apply for a refund.

Used vehicles that are eligible include all cars, all sport-utility vehicles, all light passenger and cargo vans and all light trucks.

Every night, columns of hulking blue and red freight trucks invade China’s major cities with a reverberating roar of engines and dark clouds of diesel exhaust so thick it dims headlights.

By daybreak in this sprawling metropolis in southeastern China, residents near thoroughfares who leave their windows open overnight find their faces stiff with a dark layer of diesel soot.

After Mary Leung opens her tiny open-air shop along a major road soon after dawn, she must wipe the soot off her countertops and tables; the tiny yellow-and-olive bird that has kept her company is harder to clean.

Volvo Trucks North America will lay off up to 650 people next month at its Dublin plant in southwest Virginia.

It is the second round of layoffs since November 2006, when about one-third of the plant’s 3,170-person work force was let go. Many of those workers were rehired and the plant now has 2,900 workers, Volvo spokesman Jim McNamara said in an e-mail Friday to The Associated Press.

The new layoffs, which will occur at the end of January, are permanent, McNamara said.

McNamara said the new job cuts reflect “current market demand.”

The 1.6 million-square-foot New River Plant is the largest Volvo truck manufacturing center in the world. It manufactures 148 vehicles daily.

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority has stopped importers from withdrawing at least 2,970 used passenger vehicles out of the Subic Bay Freeport.

SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said he issued the order after the Supreme Court made a final ruling denying the motion of the Motor Vehicle Importers Association of Subic Bay Freeport Inc. (MVIASBFI) to sell the used cars outside the freeport.

The Office of the Solicitor General received a copy of the court’s Oct. 30 resolution on Nov. 9. Arreza said his office received a copy on Nov. 16.

The court maintained its previous positions. On Feb. 20, 2006, it exempted the Subic Bay Freeport from the ban on the importation of used motor vehicles on the condition that it cannot sell or market them outside the freeport.

The elimination of PST on used cars and trucks has had little impact on vehicle sales in Moose Jaw.
The idea was a Saskatchewan Party promise during the recent provincial election campaign and took effect when the new government came into power Nov. 21, retroactive to Nov. 8.
“After the initial announcement, people were a little hesitant because they wanted to hold off until the election was all said and done,” said Stan Topola, business manager at Village Ford Lincoln.
“After that, we saw a little bit of an increase in used vehicle sales.”
Tim Giokas, used car manager at Murray GM, hasn’t seen any increase in used vehicle sales, while Kim Hoffman, owner of Grand Auto Sales, said used vehicle purchases at his lot have gone from about one a week to three a week starting Nov. 20.
Although he’s pleased with the tax exemption, Hoffman wishes the government would go a step further and include all used vehicles, not just light cars and trucks.
“We sell motorhomes and motorbikes here and you still have to pay PST on them,” he said. “And on three-ton trucks.”

Like many children this time of year, the Imlay City Fire Department has a wish list of its own. It’s asking for a slightly used ladder truck.

The Imlay City Commission on Tuesday took the first step toward acquiring a truck when it cleared the way to bid on a used fire truck from the City of Farmington Hills.

The commission amended its purchasing process that calls for bids for items over $5,000 in value.

Imlay City Fire Chief Kip Reaves said the city has been looking for a ladder truck since July. His search went as far as Indianapolis and as close as Farmington Hills in Oakland County.

Chrysler LLC said Friday it is recalling nearly 600,000 Dodge trucks and vans to address concerns that the vehicles could shift out of park without the key in the ignition.

The recall affects 576,417 2001-2002 Dodge Dakota trucks, Dodge Durango sport utility vehicles and Dodge Ram vans and the 2002 Dodge Ram pickup. In some cases, long-term wear on the gearshift assembly could erode the height of the shift blocker, creating the potential for the vehicle to shift out of park.

Chrysler spokesman Max Gates said there have been nine incidents involving injuries connected to the issue. No fatalities have been reported, he said in an e-mail.

Owners will be notified beginning in January 2008 and dealers will replace the gearshift blocker and bracket assembly.

A marketer for Caterpillar Inc., Mr. Cai is working to crack the China market for earthmovers called wheel tractor-scrapers. Already a decades-old product in America, these dirt-scoopers, which weigh in at 38 tons, haven’t made much headway in China, which still relies on the smaller “hex” — industry jargon for hydraulic excavator — and trucks on most construction sites.

To change that, Mr. Cai and his colleagues have eschewed traditional advertising techniques. Instead they’ve taken their show on the road, adopting a tactic popular in China’s burgeoning market.

For the past year, Mr. Cai has taken more than 40 trips, stopping in different Chinese towns to try to showcase feats that he hopes will fully create some village buzz — and that he knows is a lot cheaper, and believes is more effective, than advertising. “Word-of-mouth is the best form of publicity for the construction industry in China.”