1.
Microcar
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A microcar is the smallest automobile classification, usually applied to very small cars. Such small cars were referred to as cyclecars until the 1940s. More recent models are called bubble cars due to their bubble-shaped appearance. The definition of a microcar has varied considerably in different countries, since there are usually tax and/or licensing advantages to the classification, multiple restrictions are often imposed, starting with engine size. The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum says Engine sizes of 700cc and less and 2 doors or less, may have all gears operable in reverse as well as in forward gear such as the Messerschmitt KR200. Fitted with lifting bodywork instead of doors, less than 85 cubic feet/2400 litres interior volume. There are also a variety of trucks, usually of the forward control or van style to provide more cargo room. These might be used for local deliveries on narrow streets where standard small pickup trucks would be inconvenient, a motorised quadricycle is a four-wheeled vehicle that can be registered as a motorcycle. They are analogous to mopeds or light motorcycles rather than cars, consequently, they can be driven by underage drivers or in some cases even without a license, and they are free of car taxes. Their speed is limited to ca.45 km/h either through a speed or power limit. The economy of operating such a car has also often been helped by three-wheeled microcars or cars with very small engines being treated as motorcycles for tax. In some countries, drivers of microcars are exempt from licensing conditions, the microcars may have a special category or may be considered motorcycles and therefore no car driving licence is needed. This assures a certain market among people who do not want to stand for, or who cannot pass an auto drivers licence test. More negatively, at least in Austria, Belgium and France, also, motorized quadricycles may be forbidden from motorways. In some European countries, taxes formerly depended on engine displacement and this has given rise to names of such cars as Citroën 2CV and Renault 4CV. Reduced global warming from carbon dioxide emission has now added to this list. In the UK before October 2000, a person who passed a motorcycle test was automatically granted a full sub-category B1 licence as an additional entitlement with the full Category A licence, since 2000 a provisional car licence has to be requested. Another advantage is the ease of parking, some microcars can be parked perpendicular, where other cars park parallel, or lifted by hand, like a motor scooter, to get into a tight spot
2.
Aix-les-Bains
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Aix-les-Bains, locally called Aix, is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It is the second largest Savoy town in terms of population, having 28,585 inhabitants at the last census and is part of its own urban area, The urban area of Aix-les-Bains. A leading town of the Belle Époque, of international renown, Aix-les-Bains was a place of vacation for princely families, although the thermal baths are no longer the main activity of Aix, the area continues to be important for water sports and activities. The town has partially compensated for the loss of visitors coming for spa treatments by developing tourism and it hosts up to 200,000 general visitors, people wanting thermal treatment or tourists per year. Aix-les-Bains shines on a national scale through a number of such as the national thermal baths, tourism. Also, with several labels including Touristic Resort, Flowery City with Four Flowers and a Golden Flower, City of Art and History, a 5@ Internet City, and Nautical Resort. However, Aix is also a town, with a few large companies such as Alstom, the headquarters of the Léon Grosse companies, ABB Cellier, Aixam. Aix-Les-Bains is located in the southeast of France,107 kilometres east of Lyon, thus, the city extends mostly on a north-south axis. Its extension is such that its agglomeration merges gradually with that of Chambéry, the area of the commune is 12.62 square kilometres, which is large for the Department. The town is divided into two, the lower town that occupies the banks of the lake to the west and the upper town. The average altitude of the city is about 320 metres while the part of it is only around 224 metres. 560 square kilometres of the Lac du Bourget watershed is occupied by the spa town of Aix, which borders on the shore. The lake is fed to the south by the waters of the Leysse, and to the east, by those of the Tillet. Native fish can be admired in the aquarium of Aix, the shore, which is occupied by Aix and Tresserve, is highly urbanized and developed along the northeastern part with the road and the railway track. Many restaurants and nightclubs are located there, a nautical complex was built on its shore, this includes a swimming pool and a beach which has an Art Deco-style main entrance dating from 1936. After which is a vast esplanade, allowing walkers to stroll and it offers, to everyone, a panoramic view of the lake and the Dent du Chat, where one can contemplate swans, ducks, herons, gulls and moorhens. The festival of yachting takes place each year and this event has old boats coming from all horizons, a professional market, demonstrations and shows. The slopes above the lake that culminate in the Tour de lAngle Est, the western shore of the lake is narrower as the mountains along its edge are closer to the lakeshore, although lower than those on the eastern side
3.
Savoie
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Savoie is a French department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of the French Alps. For history before 1860, details of the annexation, and modern regionalism and it is widely accepted that Savoie takes its name from the Latin Sapaudia or Sabaudia, meaning land covered in fir trees. Savoie was long part of the states of Savoy, though beginning in the 16th century and it was integrated into the Mont-Blanc department from 1792 to 1815. The province was annexed by France in 1860, the former Duchy of Savoy became the two departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie. Moûtiers, capital of the province of Tarentaise Valley ceased to be the prefecture after a law passed on September 10,1926. Savoie, along with Albertville, hosted the 1992 Winter Olympics, with ski events at Tarentaise and Beaufortain. The other main alpine valley is the Maurienne, connected to the Tarentaise valley by two passes, the col de la Madeleine and the highest pass in Europe, the col de lIseran. The Maurienne valley was through the col du Mont Cenis, the commercial route between France and Italy. It is one of the longest intra-alpine valleys in the Alps, Savoie is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes région. It borders the departments of Haute-Savoie, Ain, Isère and Hautes-Alpes in addition to Italy and its two main lakes are Lac du Bourget and Lac dAiguebelette, one of the least polluted in France due to a 1976 law forbidding any use of motorboats on the lake. According to the Chambéry chamber of commerce, close to 50% of the departments wealth comes from tourism, each year, Savoie hosts over 30 million visitor-nights of tourists. Savoie also profits from its resources with particular strengths in ore processing. Savoie had an exceptionally high export/import ratio of 214% in 2005 and its exports rose to €1.768 billion and €825 million in imports. Its leading exports were steel, aluminum, and electric and electronic components, Savoie is famous for its cows, which produce numerous cheeses, some of them are, Beaufort Savoie Gruyère Reblochon Tamié Tome des Bauges Tomme de Savoie Numerous wine grapes are also grown in Savoie. The most famous wines are made of Gamay, Pinot noir, fruit production is the third largest component of agriculture in Savoie. Apples and pears are also produced in the region and are known for their qualities. Residents of Savoie are known as Savoyards, though they can also be called Savoisiens or Savoyens,8,507 The average population density is not a good indicator, the valleys tend to be much more densely populated, whereas the mountains tend to be near-completely uninhabited. The Catholic Church in Savoie is divided into three dioceses, Chambéry, Maurienne, and Tarentaise, together, they form an archdiocese, in which the bishop of Chambéry is the archbishop
4.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
5.
Car
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A car is a wheeled, self-powered motor vehicle used for transportation and a product of the automotive industry. The year 1886 is regarded as the year of the modern car. In that year, German inventor Karl Benz built the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, cars did not become widely available until the early 20th century. One of the first cars that was accessible to the masses was the 1908 Model T, an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted in the United States of America, where they replaced animal-drawn carriages and carts, cars are equipped with controls used for driving, parking, passenger comfort and safety, and controlling a variety of lights. Over the decades, additional features and controls have been added to vehicles, examples include rear reversing cameras, air conditioning, navigation systems, and in car entertainment. Most cars in use in the 2010s are propelled by a combustion engine. Both fuels cause air pollution and are blamed for contributing to climate change. Vehicles using alternative fuels such as ethanol flexible-fuel vehicles and natural gas vehicles are also gaining popularity in some countries, electric cars, which were invented early in the history of the car, began to become commercially available in 2008. There are costs and benefits to car use, the costs of car usage include the cost of, acquiring the vehicle, interest payments, repairs and auto maintenance, fuel, depreciation, driving time, parking fees, taxes, and insurance. The costs to society of car use include, maintaining roads, land use, road congestion, air pollution, public health, health care, road traffic accidents are the largest cause of injury-related deaths worldwide. The benefits may include transportation, mobility, independence. The ability for humans to move flexibly from place to place has far-reaching implications for the nature of societies and it was estimated in 2010 that the number of cars had risen to over 1 billion vehicles, up from the 500 million of 1986. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China, India, the word car is believed to originate from the Latin word carrus or carrum, or the Middle English word carre. In turn, these originated from the Gaulish word karros, the Gaulish language was a branch of the Brythoic language which also used the word Karr, the Brythonig language evolved into Welsh where Car llusg and car rhyfel still survive. It originally referred to any wheeled vehicle, such as a cart, carriage. Motor car is attested from 1895, and is the formal name for cars in British English. Autocar is a variant that is attested from 1895
6.
Groupe PSA
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PSA is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange and is again a constituent of the CAC40 index after having been removed in 2012. Beginning in 2016, PSA began to outline a strategy which entailed the expansion of the company. PSA has announced plans to enter the Indian, American, Canadian, ASEAN, headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, PSA was in 2016 the third-largest Europe-based automaker. Following the completion of the acquisition of the GM Opel and Vauxhall Motors brands. In December 1974 Peugeot S. A. acquired a 38. 2% share of Citroën, on 9 April 1976 they increased their stake of the then bankrupt company to 89. 95%, thus creating the PSA Group, becoming PSA Peugeot Citroën. Since Citroën had two new designs in the market at this time and Peugeot was typically prudent in its own finances. Further investment was required because PSA decided to create a new brand for the entity for the disparate French and British models, based on the Talbot sports car last seen in the 1950s. From then on, the whole Chrysler/Simca range was sold under the Talbot badge until production of Talbot-branded passenger cars was shelved in 1987, all of this investment caused serious financial problems for the entire PSA group, PSA lost money from 1980 to 1985. In 1987, the dropped the Talbot brand for passenger cars when it ceased production of the Simca-developed Horizon. What was to have been the Talbot Arizona became the Peugeot 309, with the former Rootes plant in Ryton, producing Peugeots in Ryton was significant, as it signalled the first time that PSA would build cars in the UK. The Talbot name survived for a longer on commercial vehicles until 1992 before being shelved completely. From 1987 to 1995, the plant also produced the Peugeot 405 saloon, on 29 February 2012, PSA announced the creation of a major alliance with General Motors, as part of which GM became PSAs second-largest shareholder, after the Peugeot family, with a holding of 7%. The alliance was intended to enable $2 billion per year of cost savings through platform sharing, common purchasing and other economies of scale. In July 2012, an official said that PSA Peugeot Citroën would cut as much as 10 percent of its French workforce of 100,356 employees on permanent. The jobs cut was more than previously announced, on 24 October, PSA said it was close to an agreement with creditor banks on €11.5 billion of refinancing and had won state guarantees on €7 billion in further borrowing by its Banque PSA Finance. And in doing so, PSA ended up losing revenue rapidly, CEO Philippe Varin says that Citroën and Peugeot are too close, so he plans on positioning Citroën C-line models lower than Peugeot with DS models above Peugeot. On 12 December 2013, General Motors announced it was selling its 7% stake in PSA Peugeot Citroën, in early 2016, PSA unveiled a roadmap detailing its plan to re-enter the North American car market for the first time in almost forty years. Although many only expected the DS to enter the North American market, on 10 February 2017, PSA announced the purchase of Hindustan Motors and the Hindustan Ambassador brand, which will be used to sell Peugeot and Citröen vehicles in India beginning in 2018
7.
Electric vehicle
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An electric vehicle, also referred to as an electric drive vehicle, uses one or more electric motors or traction motors for propulsion. EVs include road and rail vehicles, surface and underwater vessels, electric aircraft, in the 21st century, EVs saw a resurgence due to technological developments and an increased focus on renewable energy. Government incentives to increase adoptions were introduced, including in the United States, around the same period, early experimental electrical cars were moving on rails, too. American blacksmith and inventor Thomas Davenport built a toy electric locomotive, powered by an electric motor. In 1838, a Scotsman named Robert Davidson built a locomotive that attained a speed of four miles per hour. In England a patent was granted in 1840 for the use of rails as conductors of electric current, between 1832 and 1839, Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage, powered by non-rechargeable primary cells. By the 20th century, electric cars and rail transport were commonplace, electrified trains were used for coal transport, as the motors did not use precious oxygen in the mines. Switzerlands lack of fossil resources forced the rapid electrification of their rail network. One of the earliest rechargeable batteries - the nickel-iron battery - was favored by Edison for use in electric cars and they were produced by Baker Electric, Columbia Electric, Detroit Electric, and others, and at one point in history out-sold gasoline-powered vehicles. In fact, in 1900,28 percent of the cars on the road in the USA were electric, EVs were so popular that even President Woodrow Wilson and his secret service agents toured Washington DC in their Milburn Electrics, which covered 60–70 mi per charge. A number of developments contributed to decline of electric cars, as roads were improved outside urban areas electric vehicle range could not compete with the ICE. Finally, the initiation of production of gasoline-powered vehicles by Henry Ford in 1913 reduced significantly the cost of gasoline cars as compared to electric cars. In January 1990, General Motors President introduced its EV concept two-seater and that September, the California Air Resources Board mandated major-automaker sales of EVs, in phases starting in 1998. From 1996 to 1998 GM produced 1117 EV1s,800 of which were available through three-year leases. Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Nissan and Toyota also produced limited numbers of EVs for California drivers, in 2003, upon the expiration of GMs EV1 leases, GM crushed them. A movie made on the subject in 2005-2006 was titled Who Killed the Electric Car. Ford released a number of their Ford Ecostar delivery vans into the market. Honda, Nissan and Toyota also repossessed and crushed most of their EVs, after public protests, Toyota sold 200 of its RAV EVs to eager buyers, they later sold at over their original forty-thousand-dollar price. This lesson did not go unlearned, BMW of Canada sold off a number of Mini EVs when their Canadian testing ended, the production of the Citroën Berlingo Electrique stopped in September 2005
8.
Microvan
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For smallest minivans, see Mini MPV. A microvan is a van that fits into Japanese kei car classification or similar, tax and insurance benefits in some places make these models particularly inexpensive. For example, in rural Japan kei car vehicles are exempted from a certification that there is parking available for the vehicle. They are therefore used for small business in these places. The first vehicle to adopt the style of a van, with the engine installed in front of the driver was the 1970s Honda Life StepVan, cab over variants usually share their chassis with kei truck derivatives from the same manufacturer. Most microvans have two swinging front doors, two sliding doors and a large tailgate. Seating can vary from two to nine, these seats are very thin and vertical to optimise room. The side windows in commercial-only versions of microvans are replaced by metallic panels, some models also feature pickup truck variants with one or two seat rows. Engines usually have displacements under 1.0 litre, for example, on the Japanese market, there are microvans available with 850 cc to 1.6 litre engines. The kei car regulation is used only in Japan, though other Asian automakers also design microvans with similar characteristics, the microvans are commonly known as kei one box in Japan alongside their pick-up version twins known as kei truck. The IIHS in the USA recommends these vehicles are driven on private land. Compact van Kei truck Panel van Micro Van Owners Web Site/Forum
9.
Diesel engine
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Diesel engines work by compressing only the air. This increases the air temperature inside the cylinder to such a degree that it ignites atomised diesel fuel that is injected into the combustion chamber. This contrasts with spark-ignition engines such as an engine or gas engine. In diesel engines, glow plugs may be used to aid starting in cold weather, or when the engine uses a lower compression-ratio, the original diesel engine operates on the constant pressure cycle of gradual combustion and produces no audible knock. Low-speed diesel engines can have an efficiency that exceeds 50%. Diesel engines may be designed as either two-stroke or four-stroke cycles and they were originally used as a more efficient replacement for stationary steam engines. Since the 1910s they have used in submarines and ships. Use in locomotives, trucks, heavy equipment and electricity generation plants followed later, in the 1930s, they slowly began to be used in a few automobiles. Since the 1970s, the use of engines in larger on-road and off-road vehicles in the US increased. According to the British Society of Motor Manufacturing and Traders, the EU average for diesel cars accounts for 50% of the total sold, including 70% in France and 38% in the UK. The worlds largest diesel engine is currently a Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C Common Rail marine diesel, the definition of a Diesel engine to many has become an engine that uses compression ignition. To some it may be an engine that uses heavy fuel oil, to others an engine that does not use spark ignition. However the original cycle proposed by Rudolf Diesel in 1892 was a constant temperature cycle which would require higher compression than what is needed for compression ignition. Diesels idea was to compress the air so tightly that the temperature of the air would exceed that of combustion, to make this more clear, let it be assumed that the subsequent combustion shall take place at a temperature of 700°. Then in that case the pressure must be sixty-four atmospheres, or for 800° centigrade the pressure must be ninety atmospheres. In later years Diesel realized his original cycle would not work, Diesel describes the cycle in his 1895 patent application. Notice that there is no longer a mention of compression temperatures exceeding the temperature of combustion, now all that is mentioned is the compression must be high enough for ignition. In 1806 Claude and Nicéphore Niépce developed the first known internal combustion engine, the Pyréolophore fuel system used a blast of air provided by a bellows to atomize Lycopodium
10.
Smart (marque)
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Smart Automobile is a German automotive company and division of Daimler AG, based in Böblingen, Germany. It ranges in microcars and subcompacts, primarily the Fortwo and Forfour with its assembly plants located in Hambach, France and Novo Mesto. Marketed in 46 countries in Asia, North and South America, Africa, Australia and Europe, the design concept for the companys automobiles began at Mercedes-Benz in the early-70s and late-80s. After brief backing by Volkswagen, the first model was released by Daimler-Benz in October 1998, several variants on the original design have been introduced, with the original being the Fortwo. Smart derives from cooperation with Swatch and Mercedes, Swatch Mercedes ART, in its branding, the company lowercases its logotype and the logo incorporating a c and an arrow for compact and forward thinking respectively. In late 1982, SMH CEO Nicolas Hayek began developing an idea for a new car using the type of manufacturing strategies. He believed that the industry had ignored a sector of potential customers who wanted a small. This idea soon became known as the Swatchmobile, Hayeks private company Hayek Engineering AG began designing the new car for SMH, with seating for two and a hybrid drivetrain. While design of the car was proceeding, Hayek feared existing manufacturers would feel threatened by the Swatchmobile, thus, rather than directly competing, he preferred to cooperate with another company in the automotive industry. This would also relieve SMH of the cost burden in setting up a distribution network, Hayek approached several automotive manufacturers and on July 3,1991, he reached an agreement with Volkswagen to share development of the new project. By 1993, Ferdinand Piëch had become CEO of Volkswagen and he sought to terminate the project with SMH. Volkswagen had already been working on their own car, a car which would consume three litres of fuel per 100 km of driving. Volkswagens own concept was believed to be a business proposition, featuring four seats. Rebuffed by BMW, Fiat, General Motors and Renault, he reached an informal agreement with Daimler-Benz AG. A deal was announced on March 4,1994, at a conference at Mercedes-Benz headquarters in Stuttgart that the companies would join forces in founding Micro Compact Car AG. 49% of the capital of 50 million Swiss francs were provided by SMH. The company consisted of two subsidiaries, MCC GmbH based in Renningen which would design the car, and the manufacturing plant. SMH Auto SA, owned by Hayek, would design a hybrid drive system for the car, while Hayek Engineering would audit the design
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