Most of the new Ford cars and trucks have the SYNC system built-in that allows the use of a phone without having to hold the device. The SYNC system makes the car into a big hands free device.

Ford has announced that owners of SYNC equipped vehicles can now get a free app called SYNCMyPhone that will allow them to sync their contacts book with the car. The app installs on a computer and lets the user move up to 1200 contacts to a flash drive.

In the midst of a market that involves a lot of serious business Scion has done pretty good job of branding themselves as being “fun” and “hip”, and they’ve done the same at this years LA Auto Show. On their website visitors can have their car custom built to a point, but I don’t know if this claw crane game is really an optional package or not.

This game was built into the back of what looked like Scion xD and came complete with the joystick built onto the outside and television monitors mounted into the top spoiler which could be raised so the surrounding crowds can get a clear view of both the face of whoever is running the crane and the claw itself. We have to admit that it was pretty close to the real thing too, because grabbing one of those small stuffed Scions was next to impossible.

At a press conference this morning here at the LA Auto Show the 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid was named as the Green Car Journal’s 2008 Green Car of the Year. The 2008 Tahoe is the first vehicle from General Motors that uses the new (and expensive) two-mode transmission hybrid system.

The Tahoe receiving this award may come as a surprise to many since most would not picture a full-size SUV when someone talks about hybrid vehicles or fuel-savings. But in reality, many people still buy large sport utility vehicles in order to pull boats and campers, haul around a large family or take trips and a vehicle like this gives them the opportunity to make a smaller environmental impact with their SUV.

Last night we heard rumors that there were going to be more than the announced 100 Chevy Equinox Fuel Cells available for drivers as part of Project Driveway. We didn’t get an exact number but were told there would be more than 110 vehicles for sure, and yesterday Bob Lutz announced that Disney would be getting 10 of those vehicles in a partnership with Chevy to test out the new fuel cell vehicles.

Disney will be getting 10 of the zero-emission hydrogen-powered vehicles and will use them internally to shuttle employees and talent around the Disneyland campus in California. Unfortunately it doesn’t sound like the will be transporting visitors so visiting Disneyland won’t get you a ride in one.

Yesterday at the LA Auto Show Bob Lutz, GM Vice Chairman, announced November of 2010 as the target date for the production release of the Chevy Volt Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV). This is the most specific time frame heard from GM yet on the concept vehicle originally announced at the Detroit Auto Show in January, and Lutz himself admits that the time frame is aggressive.

To us this seems very aggressive since just the day before we actually drove a Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell which is already going in the hands of real drivers in Project Driveway starting in January, and according to Fuel Cell Commercialization Manager Britta Gross the Equinox Fuel Cell won’t be ready for production before 2010, either. This announcement will however keep Toyota on their toes, as they are also trying to get a battery-powered vehicle off the ground in the near future.

The segway is just a scooter compared to this. Toyota has a new concept car called the I-Real. Aside from “Minority Report” futuristic good looks, it’s made of lightweight carbon fiber reinforced plastic and even sports operating controls in the side arm rests, rather then using an outdated device known as the steering wheel.

Apparently it can reach speeds up to 18.6 miles per hour. And just like any futuristic vehicle should, it goes from an upright position to a reclined position when it hits High-Speed Mode. At the moment it remains just a concept, so for now the Segway is safe. But it’s days may just be numbered.

I’m sure a lot of luxury RV owners have thought to themselves that they would love to bring their expensive sports car along with them on a trip but they just can’t leave it out exposed to the elements all the time. Well, we have one more major dilemma solved. This high-end motorhome made by German RV manufacturer Volkner Mobil has the perfect solution for all these folks by having a bay underneath the coach that can store a car. Vehicles under 16 feet in length can drive onto the platform which will then slide the car into the mobile garage underneath the RV and close the bay doors, keeping it safe and sound. This RV from Volkner was on display recently at the International Caravan Fair in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Here we are seven years into the new millennium and there isn’t a flying automobile in sight. Wasn’t the future supposed to look a lot more cool by now? If a European company is correct with their prediction we may have the means to turn your vehicle into a flying craft and in only four short years.

The design sketch is for the PAL-V, or Personal Air and Land Vehicle. Designed by Dutch-based inventor John Bakker the vehicle uses a Dynamic Vehicle Control system so that when it’s rolling on the ground using its three wheels it won’t go flipping off the road and when it’s flying in the air the gyroscope keeps the unit level.

This funky 21st century vehicle is the Aptera, a three-wheeled energy efficient car that will come in either an all-electric version or a hybrid model. You get a top speed of 95 MPH, zero to 60 MPH in 10 seconds it seats 2 comfortably (or 3 squished together). A solar panel on the roof is used to help power the climate control system inside. It uses RFID to power on, has GPS navigation and a CD/MP3/DVD sound system with XM radio too. Safety is covered by the Aptera’s twin airbags and a rear view camera.

If you throw down a fully refundable $500 now you can secure an Aptera when the vehicles begin to roll off the assembly line in a year. The hybrid model will get you about 230 miles per gallon and costs $29,900 while the fully electric model only gets you 120 miles before your charge is depleted (but you save on the sticker price which is $26,900).

We’ve seen some pretty cool limousines in our time (driving by of course, not the inside) but never one quite like this. Usually the folks stretching out a vehicle will do it with something that has a little more girth, giving its passengers a little party room.

In the case with this stretched Ferrari 360 Modena, it appears that the goal might be to ride in more of a sporty (cramped), luxurious style. This limousine has been dubbed the fastest limo in the world and still has those awesome gull-wing style doors, only bigger (9 feet).

Mitsubishi took the wraps off of a new zero-emission, all-electric concept car called the e MIEV Sport. Aside from having a pretty cool look to it, the i MIEV Sport features a couple less-common additions to add juice back to the battery while driving.

As with many other electric and hybrid cars, this one uses a regenerative braking system, but also adds a solar roof and small wind turbines built into the front grill. Additions like these aren’t going to make a drastic difference in the range, but adding a convex solar roof was found to bring as much as an additional 20 mile range to a Prius. The turbines would likely be less, but certainly can’t hurt.

Pioneer Electronics is now making available a mother of all in-car navigation systems which could easily make you crash as you fiddle with features. The Pioneer AVIC-N4 is priced at around $1,600.

The Pioneer AVIC-N4 is an in-dash DVD based navigation system which offers detailed mapping and guidance for the entire United States, Canada, Alaska and Hawaii utilizing two regional DVD ROM discs. Pioneer outlined features in this unit as including “nearly 12 million points of interest, XM NavTraffic integration, voice prompting, telephone number search, CD, DVD and compressed audio playback, iPod audio and video integration and expanded Bluetooth capabilities including wireless audio streaming.”

According to Tesla Motors CEO and co-founder Martin Eberhard, the new all-electric Tesla Roadster will be hitting the streets late this year, likely in October or November. The initial plan for a summer release had to be moved back a bit due to a change in suppliers for the transmission.

The Roadster runs completely on electricity and can go from 0 to 60 mph in 4 seconds. It can also go as far as 200 miles on a single charge from a standard household outlet, likely depending on how you drive it. The electric two-seater is being built by Lotus Engineering and will initially be sold in the US which seems to be turning out alright for the company. So far 570 cars have been pre-sold without ever even trying them out. …

This amazing set of wheels is the Locus Plethore, a.k.a. the “Quebec Bomb” because it was made up in Canada by a fellow named Luc Chartrand. It will come in two models, one 750-hp and the other 1300-hp, when Locus begins to make them for customers starting shortly.

The guts of the vehicle are made up of a 8.2-liter Chevrolet V8 engine and Tremec six-speed manual transmission while its exterior is composed of carbon fiber. The driver’s wheel sits in the center (just like an F1 racing car) and there is room for two passengers on either side and slightly recessed behind the operator meaning everyone gets a first-class view of the world rushing by.

Chartrand says that the Plethore can accommodate people up to 6’6″ in height. That’s a good thing because only NBA superstars may be able to …