Report: Americans continue to drive brakes

Fewer people in work, less people go. It is a simple equation, which many experts on as explanation for the remarkable decline in the total miles of US drove motorists to refer in the depths of the recession.

So, explain like the fact that even as the economy shows driven finally real signs of recovery the miles continue to decline. This report from the Federal Highway Administration is only the latest indication that the Americans out of love can be with their cars.

In its report released this week, the Agency said the number of vehicle miles traveled – VMT in the jargon of the transport world - fall in the first half of 2013 continued. The past is prologue, the numbers would have recovered at least slightly according to the national increase in employment and income.

In a study earlier this month by John A. Volpe national transportation researchers Systems Center, that the number of miles that are individuals has greatly decreased the driving force in recent years. This number reached an average of 900 miles per month in July 2004. Until July 2012, it was up to 820 per month, a figure that the researchers had not seen since the last years of the last millennium.

"Almost 40 years of car tracks consumption, measured vehicle miles traveled, closely real gross domestic product." VMT declined during the recent recession, as it has during the previous. But unlike after previous recessions, it still not yet recovered", said Volpe researcher Don Pickrell and David pace in the report.

"Some causes are not new," said pace. "Car inventory is essentially on its saturation. Baby boomers drive less when they get older. It is more expensive to buy and own a car."

In addition, younger drivers of less not only because of the cost of buying and operating a vehicle, but also because of new restrictions on the licensing of teen can go. And there is evidence some analytical, some anecdotal, that younger Americans as expected by SMS contacts to socialize as with a drive to the to meet personally with friends.

But the Volpe study discovered some unexpected shifts. There was a remarkable decline in the vehicle-miles traveled by young adults, a group that traditionally more miles than most other groups, especially in a positive economic cycle clocked.

More observations:
The decline in driving was much more important for men than women.
Trial of men, in fact, decreased in every age group except those over 65.
The miles, the ages of 20 to 34 since the beginning of the new Millennium powered by women, dropped.

Women older than fell more driving, however, as seniors of both sexes are.

Contrary to popular opinion, the two researchers argue the decline in vehicle miles traveled does not reflect a switch to other modes of transportation, whether mass transit, biking or walking. And while there are clearly more teleworkers, the study found that it accounted for less than 1 percent of the general decline. Even the growth in e-shopping not explain happen what.

Other studies, among other things, produced by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, have similar characters that Americans spend less time in their cars, wait longer to get their driver's license and seemed found to fall usually always in love with the automobile.

"[Not] they need an increasing number of Americans [feeling] or want a car of your own" art Spinella CNW marketing, whose studied of carless households found the number doubled in the past two decades and is in line with the trend, less than 10 percent this year to reach for researchers.

Automotive proponents are thus, growing the U.S. market for new cars with a double-digit pace this year. Now company LMC automotive consulting predicts that 15.6 million of 2013, up from 14.5 million in the previous year total sales reach. But still nearly 2 million under the industry, would peak after the recession. And it remains to be seen, the rebound has much more stamina.

If anything, a study by r.l. Polk in the last month published found that the age of the average vehicle on the road from 11.2 years in 2012 on 11.4 years climbed - also with the automotive market bounced back so quickly that the manufacturer must fight to overcome capacity bottlenecks. This is a record - and a big jump from an average of 9.7 years Polk reported a decade ago.

"The car as a fetish of masculinity is probably over for certain age groups," transport behavior analyst Nancy McGuckin told The Associated Press. "I don't think that young men take care as much about the car they drive, to use as they."

Does it really matter? Affecting a culture of less enamored automobile have a widespread impact could, and not only those, once wrote that songs like "my Hot Rod Lincoln" or "Little Red Corvette."

Once money for cars distraction seems to be elsewhere, including the telecommunications industry, where smartphones become for many the car once set status symbol.

As automotive engineering, sales and service of the main sources of employment and an important factor in the country's GDP, the change for the future could have a huge impact. Also, the Volpe study points to the already under federal highway Trust Fund funded, what could be even harder pressed to cover the cost of maintenance of the infrastructure.

Each mile had motorists cut from their driving plans a significant impact on the future.

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Brain training may help elderly drive better

Carey Kirkella / Getty Images

Scientists are trying to find ways to train the brains of elderly motorists to delay the adverse effects of aging on driving skills.

By Dan Carney, NBCNews contributorCan elderly drivers exercise their brains to prevent or delay age-related declines? Studies show that they can. Now, scientists want to figure out how to apply that knowledge to driving to help retirees preserve driving skills in their golden years.

Demographers tell us that we will soon be swamped by a “silver tsunami,” as baby boomers pass into retirement. The implications of this are culturewide, but drivers will see the effects as they encounter more older drivers on the road.

“Society is aging around the world, so there is going to be a greater proportion of aging drivers on the road,” said Jon Antin, a research scientist with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

Drivers over the age of 65 perceive 30 percent less information from a glance at a scene than do younger drivers, on average, Antin said. And as age increases, perception decreases even more.

Antin is conducting a research project aimed at providing a group of older drivers with brain-training tools that should expand their field of view and increase their speed of mental processing to make them safer, more aware and more responsive drivers.

Then, by putting these drivers on the road in a car outfitted with sensors and cameras, he aims to identify and verify the driving safety benefits. Karlene Ball of the University of Alabama, Birmingham, has already demonstrated in her research that brain training does reduce the incidence of crashes among older drivers.

Now, Antin said, he wants to figure out how that happens and what kind of training is most effective. A third of the test subjects will use computerized brain training drills, one third will have activities they do in a specially equipped car and the other group will get no training as the control group. Antin will test them immediately after they conclude the brain training and then again six months later and again a year later to gauge their ability to preserve gains.

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Who needs a license? Cars come self drive

DETROIT — It's been more than half a century since some of the first concept cars boasting self-driving features were presented to the world and they're still not on the roads. But many auto executives say the industry is on the cusp of welcoming vehicles that make the idea of keeping both hands on the wheel an anachronism.

General Motors showed off "dream cars" in the late 1950s like the Firebird II and Cadillac Cyclone with features automakers are now starting to roll out in new models as the technology, based on sensors, lasers, radar systems, GPS, cameras and microchips -- improves and becomes less costly.

While most industry officials don't envision a fully self-driving, or autonomous, vehicle before 2025, features such as adaptive cruise control or traffic jam assist that automatically slow or apply the brakes for a car in certain situations are already being introduced. And much like anti-lock brakes became the norm after initial resistance, these new technologies will prepare drivers for a future where they are needed less.

"The whole concept of a car being able to drive itself is pretty profound," said Larry Burns, GM's former research and development chief and an adviser for Google's self-driving car project. "This is the most transformational play to hit the auto industry in 125 years."

The progress has been in the making for decades as GM's Firebird II, introduced in 1956, included a system to work with an electrical wire embedded in the highway to guide the car. Three years later, the rocket-like Cyclone boasted an autopilot system that steered the car and radar in front nose cones that warned of a collision and automatically applied the brakes.

However, the pace of invention has quickened, with such automakers as GM, Ford Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen AG developing technologies to help drivers avoid accidents. Some even envision a future where today's cars are more amusement.

"In the same way we all used to travel on horses and now horses are entertainment, you could imagine automobiles driven by people becoming more entertainment," said Chris Urmson, the Google program's technical head.

In a world where Nevada and Florida have already passed laws allowing the licensing of self-driving cars, the rush is on to make the job easier for drivers. For many, the ultimate goal is to take the steering wheel totally out of consumers' hands and eliminate accidents altogether.

"Once we have a car that will never crash, why don't we let it drive?" said Nady Boules, GM's director of autonomous technology development.

However, Boules and executives like him will have to win over a public that includes those who love to drive or simply wouldn't trust their lives to a robot. Others, like long-haul truckers, could resist the technology for fear of job losses.

"My mental model of trust in technology is a Windows blue screen of death. That's how much faith I have in PCs and computer systems," said Bryan Reimer, a research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's AgeLab.

Reimer, whose group studies human behavior in relation to transportation safety and has worked with BMW, Ford and Toyota, said people are terrible overseers of highly autonomous systems and a car that helps drivers rather than replaces them would be a better model.

J.D. Power and Associates found 37 percent of U.S. consumers it surveyed in March were interested in autonomous driving technology, but only 20 percent definitely or probably would buy it at an estimated price of $3,000. Consulting firm Accenture said last year that almost half of U.S. and British consumers it polled would be comfortable in a self-driving car.

Even if the industry eventually wins the hearts and minds of most consumers, it also must establish the infrastructure that supports self-driving cars, including not only the technology but the necessary legal and liability frameworks -- things that may takes years to put in place.

Bill Windsor, associate vice president of consumer safety at insurer Nationwide Mutual, pointed out the airline industry has had an autopilot feature for years, but people still man the cockpit. The same will be true for cars.

"It's going to be a long time before we're going to feel comfortable turning over all the day-to-day decisions in driving to a computer," he said.

Costs must come down as well. For instance, the laser-based Light Detection and Ranging system used by Google costs $70,000 according to a study released this month by consulting firm KPMG and the Center for Automotive Research (CAR).

For that reason, the rollout over the next decade of more semi-autonomous features that assist drivers or take control of cars in only some cases is the path the industry is taking with the idea of preparing consumers for a future with fully driverless cars.

"The socialization of autonomous driving is actually the difficult part. The invention of the vehicle is the easy part," said John Hanson, Toyota's national manager for environmental, safety and quality issues. The Japanese automaker has two autonomous car programs, one in Japan and the other in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Even some automakers developing semi-autonomous features for their cars don't believe consumers will accept a future without human drivers.

"The days of George Jetson getting in the vehicle, saying 'to the office' and then reading a newspaper, we don't envision for an awful long time," said Tom Baloga, BMW's U.S. vice president of engineering.

"We will always be the ultimate driving machine," he said, adding that there will be times when bored drivers stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic will turn over control of their cars. BMW has worked on autonomous technology for more than a decade.

Others developing autonomous technologies include: Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes, Nissan and Volvo, as well as suppliers, technology firms and universities. Chip giant Intel Corp created a $100 million fund in February to invest in future auto technology.

"The industry appears to be on the cusp of revolutionary change ... engendered by the advent of autonomous or 'self-driving' vehicles. And the timing may be sooner than you think," KPMG and CAR said in their study.

GM, for instance, believes semi-autonomous cars will be available by mid-decade with more sophisticated self-driving systems by the end of the decade. Cadillac is testing a feature dubbed "Super Cruise" that is capable of fully automatic steering, braking and lane centering in certain highway driving that could be ready for production by mid-decade.

Meanwhile Bill Ford, the chairman of rival Ford Motor, sees semi-autonomous driving technology by 2025 like driver-initiated autopilot systems, as well as, the ability to reserve parking spots ahead of your destination in a linked network, with fully autonomous cars following after that.

"There's a lot of moving parts to all of this, but it's almost limitless in terms of what we can do," he said in June at an event in California's Silicon Valley. Ford's 2013 Fusion mid-sized car includes a lane-keeping aid system, an active park assist function, adaptive cruise control and collision warning.

Google launched its autonomous car program in 2010, viewing the problem as one of computer science. It has tested its modified Toyota Prius and Lexus RX 450h cars over more than 300,000 miles and is talking with almost every automaker about its technology.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the company has not figured out how it would bring its technology to market, but licensing it is an option. "Self-driving cars should in our lifetime become the predominant way," he told Reuters in July.

Last year, one of Google's self-driving cars was involved in a minor accident, but supporting the idea that robots would be better drivers it occurred when the car was under human control. The self-driving mode has yet to be in a fender bender.

Bob Casey, the curator of transportation at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, regarded the self-guiding driving system of GM's Firebird II concept car of more than 50 years ago "almost as a parlor trick," but he said the technology now brings such cars closer to reality. The question is whether the auto industry is ready for that.

"Part of the fundamental attraction of automobiles has been the actual driving of them," he said. "If you do away with that, then it really becomes an appliance ... a toaster, a washing machine."

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012.

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Cheap cars of the richest Americans drive

David Dewhurst / AP

The Prius is popular with the rich.

By Douglas A. McIntyre, 24/7 Wall Street.
The richest Americans are Misers, at least as far as their taste in cars. Maybe that's why some rich Americans Empire remain.

Car asked 24/7 Wall St. trends research and light, to find company Truecar to the top-selling cars that America richly with the truck. Revenue analyses industry sales data of the 10 richest US ZIP codes of median income, according to the internal service, including neighborhoods in the gated community of Fisher's Iceland, New York and Greenwich, Conn., Truecar, FLA due to the 20 best selling cars from the Truecar report, 24/7 Wall St. the richest Americans drive identifies eight reservation details.

Affordable cars drive the most wealthy Americans. The average price of eight cars in the top 10 was less than $40.000. 24/7 Wall St. closed out the two most expensive cars because they luxury models considered, but by the standard of the end cars, they very little cost.

A model, that out of the top 10 is the Mercedes E class, which had paid an average price of $48.362. As Mercedes makes a number of models, which sell for more than $100,000, the E-class hardly Center the car of company model line on the basis of price. The second luxury car in the top 10 is the BMW X 5 SUV, which has paid an average price of $56.050. The X 5 M, the high performance model, costs more than $102.000 fully loaded.

The taste of rich vary not much of the average car owner. Five cars, buying rich Americans be Honda or Toyota. These two brands consistently among American buyers well done have and have taken market share from US manufacturers over for years. They continue to offer high quality, relatively low prices and efficient engines, the good gas mileage get. Toyota and Honda are cars at the top of the quality surveys. Two cars on our list are the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. The remaining three on the list are from German automakers.

Not a single American car made the list. Also, 20 shows beyond the eight top seller among the top German and Japanese models dominate. The only two American models on the broader list are the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Jeep Wrangler. As further evidence of the economy of the wealthy owner of the Grand Cherokee has an average price of $26.158. The Wrangler is only $22.510.

For those who assume that Americans drive cars usually $80,000 middle income far into the double digits, is different. If anything, the rich drive the same cars that most people do.

These are the eight cheap cars of the richest Americans drive.

1. BMW 328

Average: $35.146 type: car sold 2012: 54.415 (No. 1-BMW-model)
The BMW 3 series is the German automaker best-selling car in the United States. 147.801, Which sells BMW in the United States in the first seven months, were 54.415 3 series. With the exception of the 1 series, which sold very few units, the 3 series is BMWS cheapest model. The 328 base comes with a four-240 hp-engine, which hazard 33 MPG for motorway - gets exceptionally good for a car with such high HP. This base model comes with rear-wheel drive. More are versions with all-wheel drive the 3 series line and greater Motoren.Die is top of the line race Division of BMW "M". The M3 Coupe has a 414-HP V8 engine and a low price of $60.100. This includes not the $1,300 gas guzzler tax. In the new Vernon, n.j., this car is the second most popular and it is one fourth in century city, California, and Ross and Manhattan.

2. Mercedes c-class

Average: $34.064 type: medium-sized car sold 2012: 43.349 (1-Mercedes 1-Mercedes model)
Once again, has the rich go to offer a luxury brand for the cheapest car. The c-class is the best-selling Mercedes car. 164.918 Cars and light trucks that sold in the first seven months of the year 2012 Mercedes, were 43.349 c-class. The c-class has six versions. The cheapest is the 250 sport sedan. It has a small four-cylinder engine and four doors. The car can be purchased with all-wheel drive and a larger engine. The version of Mercedes AMG race Department has built a 451 HORSEPOWER-engine and retails for $59.800. This car as a third-party ranks the most popular in Palm Beach, Florida, and century city, California.

3. Lexus RX

Average: $38.561 type: SUV sold 2012: 45,1374 (Nr. 1-Lexus model)
The Lexus RX is the top-selling vehicle in the Lexus line, despite the fact that it is an SUV. It is also one of the least expensive models offered by Lexus. The car company, a division of Toyota sold two other SUVs--the $53,000 GX and $81,000 LX. The RX comes with rear or all-wheel drive and is powered by a 6-cylinder engine. Lexus has a high version of the name of F, the a 8-speed transmission and sold for $47,000 RX. The RX is the second most popular car in Greenwich, Conn., and the third most popular in Medina, Washington

4. Toyota Prius

Average: $29.762 type: car sold 2012: 143.297 (15)
The Toyota Prius was the 15th best-selling car in America through the first seven months of the year. The car is the best selling hybrid ever. It was introduced in 1997. Since then, more than 4 million units were sold. The Prius was also the third best-selling car of the world in the first quarter of 2012. The hybrid-electric vehicle is in four versions. One is a plug-in, which gets 95 MPG in highway driving, if only the electric motor is used. A 4-door sedan is the Prius. The Prius is the number one selling cars under the range from century city and Ross, California, a suburb north of San Francisco. The only other California city to the list of the richest zip codes in America, Atherton, crack buy Priuses only second in the Mercedes-Benz E-class.

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Mercedes' all-wheel drive an SUV competitor

A Mercedes CL550 equipped with 4Matic takes to the snow.

By Dan Carney, msnbc.com contributor

Americans flock to SUVs for their "just in case" four-wheel-drive capability.  Just in case it snows, or just in case you end up driving mud-slick backroads like the ads depict, an SUV can make it through.

Gas prices are pushing many drivers back to cars, but that doesn't mean they've shed their worry about "just in case."

The good news is that they are increasingly able to opt for all-wheel drive in buying a car. While brands such as Subaru and Audi have established their reputations with their all-wheel-drive models, Mercedes also has a history of all-wheel drive, which dates back to its Dernburg Wagen of 1907.

To demonstrate the snow driving capability of its popular 4Matic all-wheel-drive sedans and coupes, Mercedes recently presented an array of its cars in Jackson Hole, Wyo., for a snow-driving test. 

Because of increasing customer demand, Mercedes now offers all-wheel drive on 21 models in the U.S., effectively everything it sells that isn't a two-seat sports car. The company has sold a million 4Matic cars in the U.S. since introducing the technology in 1989 and now sees more than half of some models so equipped.

The popularity is, unsurprisingly, regional, with the 4Matic option on 80 percent of some models sold in the Northeast, said Christian Bokich, a company spokesman.

Snowstorms are always provide a good reason to hedge bets with all-wheel-drive traction.  This can be appealing if the cost and fuel economy penalties for the added hardware is minimal, as it is in Mercedes' case (aside from the brands' high-end prices).

The company says that its 4Matic system is the industry's lightest compared to its two-wheel-drive models.  The system adds about 132 pounds to its cars (it is a little less for some models) while Audi's trademark quattro system adds 176 pounds to that company's all-wheel-drive models.

Less hardware means less cost and less impact on fuel economy.  The 4Matic option adds between $2,000 and $3,000 to the car's price, depending on the model. And the fuel economy penalty, as measured by the EPA's test, is non-existent in Mercedes' popular V6 C-Class compact and E-Class mid-size models.

The big V8 S-Class sedans and CL-Class luxury coupes suffer the loss of just one mile per gallon in the EPA's combined city and highway fuel economy rating. So the system asks little of buyers in exchange for the cars' foul-weather security.

But are all-wheel-drive cars really suitable replacements for the SUVs to which American drivers have become accustomed?  If they are driving on snow-covered roads that have been plowed, yes.  On packed snow or ice, a 4Matic Mercedes fitted with snow tires -- a necessity, of course -- drives with confidence-inspiring grip.  In deeper, unplowed snow, a car's lower ground clearance is going to cause problems, but then, not many would chose to drive in such conditions.

Better to stay where you are in such conditions or to rely on something like a Jeep (or a Mercedes-Benz G550) for extreme conditions.  But driving on the kind of packed snow that can be a part of everyday life in higher latitudes and altitudes during the winter, the Mercedes 4Matic shows that an SUV is overkill.

The Mercedes hardware that puts the power to the road, or to the snow, is complemented by software that helps keep the car pointed the right direction.  On dry roads the electronic stability control system helps prevent crashes by using brake and throttle control to correct for skids. 

Such systems can overreact when faced with slippery conditions such as snow, making it difficult to drive, but the Mercedes system lets the car do a bit of the kind of incidental slipping and sliding that is part of driving on snow without clamping down and bringing the car to a near-halt.  When the Mercedes stability control system does act, it is barely perceptible unless you've gotten yourself into a mess that requires overt correction.

However, even with all the electronic gadgets, all-wheel drive and snow tires, the cars don't stop particularly well.  Their ability to accelerate and turn can convey a deceptive confidence that driving conditions are nearer to normal than the really are.  An attempt at a hard stop quickly reveals the limitations of driving on snow even with various traction aids.

So when navigating slick highways, keep your speed down and your eyes ahead to reduce the odds of having to make an emergency maneuver. And driving an all-wheel-drive car such as a Mercedes 4Matic-equipped model can carry you safely through. 

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Teens drive apps let parents monitor

Mobile app developers are not wait teen on Oprah or the Federal Government to resolve driver safety issues. A variety of driver tracking functions of the vulnerability by hackers, price, privacy, and adaptation in the competition offer a series of parent-oriented Smartphone applications. For those without smartphones a whole has emerged in response to the sudden accessibility of tracking technology craft of agnostic mobile phone devices. Lisa Peterson Bender endured after mom's cancer, baby born healthy pregnant women with cancer, surgery, chemotherapy, and seven months fear, questions, whether against her unborn daughter disease would endanger. Healthy, Alice Virginia was born on 13 March. Elusive Bronx Zoo Cobra has a name: MIA Trump: I doubt 'real' Obama in US Cosby on Trump was born: Prince low hanging "It is full": world's eligible Royals

Taser, which non-lethal weapons manufacturer, busted in the software space at CES is earlier this year with protector, a car tracking device that from a paired phone once automatically locks the engine switched on. Once activated the phone only, shows a simplified logo, ornaments, blue screen, with the hood shield and prevents calls and texts, except on 911 and allows select numbers by parents.

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The brute-force-security from an external hardware trigger is an attempt, the hacker preempt tactics of tech-savvy teens. Clever kids have a history of outwit adults, as the young participants an obesity study, to think about researchers the a pedometer that more had they their pets to fool actually were attached as they. An external device might just make the software more difficult hacking, or at least more trouble as proven. Taser's device sold for $249 on their website, plus a monthly subscription.

What is when teens are Joyriding with their friends? Android-enabled speedbump warns parents when the Smartphone faster than a predetermined speed detects movement. Speedbump itself more as a kid friendly, triggering calls himself only his big brother tracking, when a violation is detected; In addition, parents can their own standards on speeds for residential, secondary or highway roads (probably as part of part of some negotiations with their child) set.

Speedbump's automatic speed recognition is $12.99 per month, and offers a pricing plan that required for $3 of less a month check manual speed. Thrifty parents who could choose the manual data entry feel safe that the effect of "Watch Tower" never know, when you monitor teens will scare in behave at all times. This effect can work only for people, the aversion and it is unlikely that very type teen the scare, which engaged in reckless driving in the first place. So, if security really is relevant, it, might be wise for parents $3 per month pony up the extra.

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And finally, what concerned parents, the hundreds for imagination of smartphones peeled still does not? The Internet is full commercial fleet and vehicle-tracking technologies, to keep the nervous parents tabs can be used to their teenager. In fact, the demand seems so high, that this low production sites such as generic GPS parents secured sites on Google keywords in search capture technology for alternative solutions to be tooled seem.

To Google's winter tourists car the human error component of drive can take, may distractions limiting and reducing the number of reckless drivers save few lives.

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A $380, 000 car you can drive every day

Pumps 700 HP of a formula one style, the new Lamborghini Aventador transmission is not only the Italian carmaker most powerful model, it is also the fastest. It can be from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.9 seconds, "what you just, go bungee jumping or parachuting according to the company" CEO Stephan Winkelmann started.

But you are not, stop you think about this new supercar for your daily commute, assuming that you can handle the expected price $380,000.

In contrast to the brand traditional extreme machines, the Aventador - like so many Lamborghinis, named after a legendary fighting bulls - is "for everyday use", Winkelmann is.

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It is a common refrain nowadays of the most exotic of luxury carmaker, Ferrari, Maserati and Aston Martin, among others including. Porsche launches a new campaign designed to convince potential buyers of a line of high-performance to can products be everyday driven, rather than reserved for special occasions.

Despite one automotive arms race that 400-HP exotic animals almost wimpy and almost seem top speeds of 200 mph has made see the standard, developer, that "buyers want to know they take cars to work every day, and not only drag it out of the garage every other weekend" Rob Allen said, U.S., product Planner for Fiat Maserati brand.

Indeed were former Lamborghini models, such as the legendary Countach, finicky beasts clock, in most, generally only a few thousand miles drive every year, and even require extensive expected to - read costly - maintenance.

But automakers are steps to improve the reliability and ease of use of vehicles such as the Aventador, which provides among other things a lifting hydraulic system that can add two additional inches of ground clearance for the front end, a significant relief owners of older Lambos, their front spoilers going on speed brake and parking scraped have ramps.

With the introduction of the Roadster California 2009, Ferrari treated one of the frustrating issues for owners of high-line luxury makers - maintenance. The Italian automaker the required maintenance being slashed to about 11 hours of work during the first 50,000 miles. Is, the still not cheap, of course taking into account labor prices for mechanics specialized exotics, but it's not all, the much more time in the shop as you for a Ford expect Mustang GT may, whose maximum speed a good 50 mph is slower.

"Ferrari, the CEO Luca di Montezemolo shocked purists in the meantime this month by lifting the covers on the brand new FF, as a" "price describes despite his estimated $359,000."

This is not the most sacrilegious part, however. What really Ferrari shocked traditionalists is the idea of a tailgate of brand familiar "Prancing Pony" logo wear. The design which is automotive manufacturers, "is not so much a development as a revolution."

To its credit Ferrari on his long-standing promise never builds a 4-door back go, but the "bubble butt" is not design definitely what it expected of the Modena-based manufacturer. It offers plenty of room for two rear passengers – in contrast to the cramped California - and is spacious enough to keep luggage transport travel for a long weekend.

Of course, Ferrari insists that the car without victims comes - 651-PS-FF racing 208 mph if you can late to work.

Adding more space is something have most exotic luxury car manufacturers addressing. And no wonder. Purists complained about the introduction of the Porsche Cayenne, the carmaker first sport utility vehicle, but it is now the dominant model in the German car manufacturer lineup. The Panamera, Porsche produced first 4 door which sold also handy traditional sports car models such as the flagship of 911.

Aston Martin has also the smooth Rapide five-door (about US$ 200,000) - a stun weighed a shift in strategy as of Porsche Panamera ($ 74,000 and up) or the Ferrari-FF. But Aston went even further and will soon start production of the CygNET, a luxury Microcar, which decidedly it within the framework of a joint venture with the mainstream Toyota developed. The tiny CygNET is expected for the equivalent of 35,000 to sell US dollars to $40,000 in Europe.

Even the most elite brands need to recognize the forces and transformation of the global automotive industry, including the requirements for better fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions, it seems trends. The recent Geneva Motor Show unveiled Rolls-Royce a battery-powered concept version of its large phantom limousine.

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While there are no plans, the car in production in fact, observers say the automaker industry have no choice as to embrace "Electrification" if it hopes to keep marketing his massive models.

Mercedes-Benz is a battery electric version 2013 launch his Gull-winged SLS supercar in the year, and Audi to a similar concept that eTron works.

Porsche set before recently a price of $845,000 for his upcoming 918 Spyder, a 2-seater, which can generate 718 HP from its V8, which is paired with two electric motors. Supercar plug-in hybrid be able, as much as 16 miles per charge in pure electric mode, and it is estimated, to around 78 mpg to get in hybrid mode - approximately the same as $42,000 Chevrolet Volt.

The typical 15,000 miles per year for someone, could, perhaps save 800 litres per year compared to a sports car of similar performance - thats about $ 3,000 per year as gas prices nudge $4. Of course would "payback period" for this plug in system to be measured in the centuries.

But the 918 Spyder, such as the Aventador Lambo, Ferrari FF and Aston Rapide pointed out, the most exotic of today's cars even are corresponding now expected some more mundane tasks as mainstream vehicles.

© 2011 msnbc.com.  Reprints

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