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Chuck Jordan, the legendary designer who helped usher in the modern era of car styling at General Motors, died on Thursday evening, Dec. 9. He was 83.

According to Automotive News Lamborghini will put the Sesto Elemento concept into limited production. There will be 5 to 10 units built, and like usual the exclusivity has a big price: 2,5 million Euro (almost $3,500,000 at the current exchange rates). Now that the Murcielago is out of production, Lamborghini’s sales will have to suffer, and this decision was made in an attempt to improve the company’s profit that has been hit hard by the global economic crisis.

ZERO-OFFSET STEERING Designed to minimize torque-steer on front-wheel drive cars during acceleration or braking with each wheel on a different surface, the zero-offset steering has a scrub radius of zero. In other words, the lateral forces that act upon the wheels during aforementioned situations are kept to a minimum and the vehicle's stability is improved.    

YAW Yaw is the measurement of a vehicle's rotation around its central axis (its center of gravity.)

X-Drive all-wheel drive system X-Drive X-Drive is BMW's trademarked name for the all-wheel drive system used on the X5, X6, X3, 3, 5 Series and other future series. Its latest generation employs a multi-plate clutch transfer box situated between the axes to direct the power split between front and rear wheels. Not depending on the ABS sensors alone, like the previous generation, the X-Drive is now controlled by a central ECU which transformed the system from a reactive to an active one. In other words, if just one of the wheels starts slipping the ABS sensors detect it and send the gathered data to the ECU which in turn commands the wet multi-plate clutch trough a high speed electric servo-motor which turns an actuator shaped like a disc. In normal driving mode, the system splits the torque with a 38% - 62% distribution ration between the front and rear axles, but depending on driving conditions it can send up to 100% to a single axle.

WEIGHT-TO-HORSEPOWER RATIO The weight to power ratio is the result of a vehicle's weight divided by the power its engine develops, thus enabling a measurement of performance. WHEELBASE Wheelbase is the distance between the front axle and the rear axle of a vehicle. Cars with a longer wheelbase are more stable at high speeds and provide better interior room, while cars with a shorter wheelbase have better city handling and are generally shorter. WINCH A winch is an externally mounted mechanical device consisting of a cable spooled onto a drum. It is used to pull heavy or bulky objects or to retrieve a vehicle that is stuck in mud. The drum can be driven in a rotating motion by the engine itself, by hydraulic power or even electrically. WINDOWBAGS Like any other airbag, windowbags are designed to protect a vehicle's occupants in case of an accident. They are called windowbags because in the event of a side collision ...

VALVES A valve is a device that regulates the flow of gases in and out of the cylinders of an internal combustion engine. Intake valves allow the air and fuel to enter the combustion chamber, while exhaust valves allow the burned gases to exit after combustion. Viscous Coupling VCU Viscous Coupling (VCU) can act either as limited slip differential (LSD) or as a central differential in some all-wheel drive vehicles. The device itself consists of two sets of alternating and perforated metal plates mounted in a sealed drum, which are engulfed into a silicone or similar liquid. Each set of plates is connected to a propshaft, and can transmit or limit the power between the two shafts depending on the speed of the plates, which heat up the aforementioned liquid, thus modifying its viscosity. In turn, more or less torque can be transmitted between two axles or two wheels according to the individual speed of the axles (or wheels.) Vehicle Dy...