As presenting sponsor of the Rose Parade — and for the 12th time in 2022 — Honda also creates a float for the January 1 trip along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California. This year the float is designed to “inspire young people to follow their dreams“ with the “Believe and Achieve” theme.
Honda says it wants to encourage STEAM education and career readiness, and thus the “aspiring engineer depicted on the float.”
The float also celebrates women in such careers and will be ridden by four Honda engineers: Sue Bal, chief engineer at the Honda Research Institute; Nicole Harvel, lead material engineer at Honda’s manufacturing plant in South Carolina; Melanie Morimoto, senior fabricator at American Honda in California; and Yolanda Pate, quality division lead at Honda’s Alabama auto plant.
The theme for the 133rd Road Parade, scheduled for the morning of January 1, is “Dream. Believe. Achieve.”
Vintage vehicles are part of Rose Parade
While the flower-covered floats draw most of the attention,
sbsun.com reports that a number of vintage motor vehicles will take part in the Tournament of Roses parade through Pasadena.
Those vehicles include a 1967 Crown Firecoach, 1923 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost (carrying grand marshal LeVar Burton), 1915 Pierce-arrow Model 48, 1920 Pierce-Arrow Model 38, 1940 Lincoln Mark 1 Continental, and a 1924 Ford Model TT truck.
Ford friends can share miles, and smiles
We’ve all seen it, and likely have done it, pulled over to give someone’s battery a jump start so they can get on down the road, or benefited from someone else’s assistance when our battery was incapacitated.
Ford says that its new electric and hybrid F-150 pickup trucks equipped with Pro Power Onboard technology have the ability to let their owners share some range with other EV drivers, and adds they not only can top off the batteries on other Ford EVs, but on those from other automakers as well.
For example, Ford says, the system can add 20 miles of range in an hour for a Mustang Mach-E.
1972 El Camino electrified
General Motors has announced its “Everybody In” electrification strategy which includes offering plug-in electric powertrains to replace internal combustion engines in vintage and collector vehicles.
Chevrolet has shown several examples at recent SEMA Shows, but the GM news release includes a photo of a 1973 El Camino that was done by Lingenfelter Performance Engineering and represents the first installation of GM’s eCrate powertrain outside GM’s own workshops.
The installation, GM adds, “boldly ushers in the next generation of EV components from Chevrolet Performance as the program prepares to launch in 2022.”
GM says its “Everybody In” program will include various custom powered solutions, electric ground support equipment for airports (in a joint-program with Textron) and electric-powered boats through an investment in Seattle-based Pure Watercraft.
New set of Countach posters ready
Remember how you had a poster of the Lamborghini Countach hanging on your bedroom wall? Lamborghini hopes a new generation does the same thing and has launched a new poster collection featuring the Countach LPI 800-4, the 50th anniversary tribute car unveiled at the most recent Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
By the way, Lamborghini reports it already has sold 112 of the new versions of the classic supercar.
“The love for the Countach’s timeless lines reinterpreted in this poster collection emphasizes how image alone can stimulate creativity,” Automobili Lamborghini reports, adding that the posters each bear the signature of artists and illustrators specializing in 3D and digital works.
An era ends at Lotus
After producing 51,738 cars in 28 years for itself, and 9,715 for customers included General Motors and Tesla, Lotus has ended production of the Elise, Exige and Evora sports cars and is redoing its assembly line for the new Emira, which Lotus says will be its final petroleum-powered vehicle, and for the Evija hypercar and the all-electric Type 132, Lotus’ first SUV. The Type 132 is scheduled for a spring 2022 debut.
The final examples of the Elise, Exige and Evora went from the assembly line to a photo shoot on their way to the company’s heritage car collection.
