Multiplexing of electrical signals in automobiles is beginning to be used as vehicles are continually being designed with more electronics and options. Multiplexing is essentially putting a digitally encoded signal on a wire and decoding that signal at the other end. This allows merging multiple communication paths into a single serial signal path.

The advantages of multiplexing include reducing the number of wires needed in a vehicle, increased functionality, increased flexibility, integration of system functions and improved systems diagnostics.

Flat Flex

Coming hand-in-hand with multiplexing is the use of flex circuits and flat flexible cable (FFC) to replace wiring harnesses. Flat flexible cables are typically used in applications that require repeated flexing.

Examples of applications include:

-Office equipment
-Industrial controls
-Laptop computers
-Disk drives
-Printers
-Avionics
-Appliances
-Cellular phones

The drivers pushing auto manufacturers to use FFC are reduced weight, less connectors, package efficiency, improved EMI/RFI performance, the move towards multiplexing and the trend toward infotainment systems in automobiles.

Multiplexing and FFC/flex circuits will see their first use in instrument panels as the real estate in this area becomes more crowded and the demand for plug and play infotainment systems continues.

The instrument panel is being designed to integrate remote electronic devices into fewer, smaller, and faster packages. This includes the radio, driver information, climate control, wire harnesses, pigtails, and connectors ? all packaged into an integrated architecture.

Overall, the result of replacing wire harnesses with FFC and/or flat flex circuits throughout a vehicle (except for headlights and in the engine compartment) will result in a connector reduction of 75%; wire harness reduction of 50%; space reduction of 70% (about one cubic foot of space for the instrument panel); and simplified troubleshooting.

Major Players

The automotive OEM goals are to offer more options and reduce weight at lower cost. Conventional wire harnesses are bulky and offer less electrical integrity. The use of FFC and/or flex circuits allows auto manufacturers to achieve both goals.

The technology is currently being used or investigated for instrument panel, headliner, floor, door, and tailgate applications and it currently specifies in-body electrical applications for Ford, Chrysler, and GM vehicles.

All the major instrument panel producers such as Visteon and Delphi, are developing these multiplexed, integrated instrument panels. Hence, all of the wire harness producers are developing FFC and/or flex circuits for use in the instrument panel.

This has the potential for major growth as FFC and flex circuits replace wire harnesses in the instrument panel. Use of FFC in other areas will occur as its advantages are realized as they are now being realized for the instrument panel.

You know lately, the media has been focused on what is going to happen to some of America?s biggest business icons: GM and Chrysler

While there?s nothing wrong with that, my mind always has ?the wheels turning? and wondering how I can profit from what?s going on in the media. So many people watch the news for everything from ?entertainment to information?. However, I watch it to derive an investing idea out of it.

With the focal point being on a GM/Chrysler bankruptcy, their bleeding and ?wheel spinning?, it gives the CEO of Honda and other Asian automakers (and even Korean automakers like Hyundai) an edge at this time.

You see, as the auto industry got hit from the global slow down, GM (GM), Ford (F) and Chrysler took it on the chin the worst. However, Honda, Toyota and Mazda had something haunting them too?it was the strong yen. As the yen rose, it eroded their profits even more.

However, lately the Asian automaker stocks (symbols: HMC, TM) have stabilized.

With an increase of 2.9 percent from the first four months of 2006, the BMW Group in the U.S announced that the company has sold 104,125 vehicles from January to April of 2007. Last year?s first four months of sales totaled to 101,151 vehicles.

BMW US reported April 2007 is one of the strongest months of sales in the country. Twenty eight thousand six hundred ninety two (28,692) vehicles were sold in April 2007. It projects a 0.5 percent increase from April 2006 sales, which totaled to 28,563 vehicles.

Meanwhile, BMW brand this year still has strong sales with a 4.9 percent increase as compared to its sales last year. Ninety two thousand six hundred seventy (92,670) vehicles were sold from January to April this year, while 88,353 vehicles were sold last year.

Twenty five thousand three hundred ten (25,310) BMW brand vehicles were sold in April 2007, making a 0.2 percent increase from last April 2006?s 25,250 vehicles.

Sales of BMW automobiles from January to April 2007 were pegged at 71,907 automobiles. This showed a 5.3 percent increase from last year?s same period sales of 68,311. In April 2007 alone, a significant 10.1 percent increase was got by BMW from its 18,427 sales in April 2006 to 20,290 sales in April this year.

However, the company experienced a 26.4 percent decrease in its sales of sports activity vehicles. Only 5,020 vehicles were sold this April compared to 6,823 sold vehicles in April last year. The X5 showed a 21.8 percent increase in sales in April 2007 as compared to its sales during the same period last year.

Meanwhile, January to April sales of BMW sports activity vehicles increased 3.6 percent; from 20,042 sold vehicles during the same period last year to 20,763 vehicles this year.

Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) sales in April 2007 decreased 12 percent, which totals to 7,368 CPO sales, versus April 2006 sales. From January to April 2007, CPO sales also went down; but this time only 7.9 percent. From 28,630 last year, sales reached only 26,376 this year.

Two point one (2.1) percent sales on BMW automobiles increase was reported by MINI USA. Three thousand three hundred eighty two (3,382) automobiles were sold this April and 3,313 automobiles were sold on the same period last year. From April to January 2007, MINI USA reported a 10.5 percent sales decrease from 12,798 cars sold last year to 11,455 cars sold this year.

BMW, maker of quality BMW catalytic converter, and MINI brands combined, BMW Group in America was established to include BMW brand, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars.

As what most do not know, BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke, in German or Bavarian Motor Works, in English.

Hoods provide a great deal of protection for the very life of the car, the engine. The hood is the sheet metal panel which sits at the front part of a vehicle, serving as an entryway into the engine. It is designed to be sturdy and durable to safeguard the engine and its components from elements that may be damaging like extreme heat, pouring rain, foreign particles, and road debris.

From the moment that cars are born, hoods are one of the very first features that are installed in them. With the evolution of the vehicles, these most basic yet very useful auto parts have also gone through massive development. A lot of automakers make sure that every new model they come up with has hoods that are made of the finest materials with the latest technology. Chrysler is one of them.

It has always been known that Chrysler stands for a car brand that means luxury in every part of the car. It boasts not only a good-looking physique, but also a powerful performance befitting its aesthetic value. Among its many parts that perfectly define the Chrysler?s elegant style is the Chrysler hood. Made from quality materials, it has undergone extensive tests, guaranteeing that it is worthy enough to be a protector of important vehicle parts. Some hoods are made with polyurethane, usually black in color, which is very durable and highly heat-resistant. The Chrysler hood also offers an option of customization deemed essential by the modern market to reflect a car owner?s individuality. There are customized hoods, coming in a variety of designs and contours, to enhance the already sleek body of Chrysler vehicles.

Improvements, however, are focused not only on the Chrysler hood?s look. There are also high-performance hoods that have openings in them to enable the engine to breathe easily. There are accessories available just for the hood as well. One example is the hood scoop. It is placed on the hoods to direct the outside air directly into the air filter, thus providing more efficiency in performance. The nose protector is another accessory that protects the hood from road debris and grime. There is also the hood spoiler which improves the aerodynamics aspect of the car to diminish the air drag. More accessories like these can be found on the internet, as they are sold by a number of auto parts online retailers.

Monday morning upon arriving at my workplace I greeted my coworkers with “TGIM (Thank God It’s Monday).”

After the laughter died down one of my old buddies said “You’ve got it all screwed up Frankie, it’s TGIF, (Thank Goodness it’s Friday)”

“Aue contraire,” I retorted. “When you have experienced ‘the Weekend from Hell’, Monday (not Friday) is the day all the pain and suffering has ended, the catastrophes have vanished, and my life has returned to some semblance of normalcy.”

I can’t say all the omens and warning signs weren’t there. They were, but my usually cheerful, almost euphoric mood that comes with the weekend, clouded my vision, and left all the signs invisible.

Using 20/20 hindsight, the first of several dark and forbodeing clouds to roll over the horizon was my wife’s departure by air for Los Angeles to v9isit her mother and sick stepfather. That was strike one in my weekend ballgame with fate.

The second strike whizzed by when my daughter announced that she and her hubby were leaving for Florida to attend a wedding, and that I had been chosen to baby-sit my grandson and granddaughter (7 and 8 years old respectively) for the entire weekend. Face it, who else could she choose with my wife gone and her regular babysitter on vacation.

The third strike occurred when I arrived home from work on Friday night at about 4 PM and found my cat (actually only a kitten), sitting transfigured, like a miniature version of the Great Sphinx

at El Giza, Egypt. He sat silently (stone cold dead) in the middle of the living room floor with a pained and mournful look on his face.

Later that evening I drove my 94 Citation to my daughter’s house to pick up my grandchildren, who at the time were at the time engaged in a scaled down version of WWWIII. They quickly agreed to a ceasefire when I promised to take them to McDonald’s some time over the weekend.

I drove straight to an empty apartment we own that I had an appointment to show to several prospective tenants. Of the several couples scheduled to see the apartment, some didn’t show up and the ones who did looked like people from another planet, if you get my drift.

After the last couple, it was now 5:30 PM, the rush hour in the downtown, and traffic was bumper-to-bumper. I was in a long line on a steep upgrade waiting for a red light to change when I heard a slight, almost inaudible click from somewhere deep in the guts of my car. When the light changed, I stepped on the gas pedal and the car would not move. Changing gears was to no avail. The car would not go forward, or backward. The man behind me was in a pickup truck with a long tandem trailer behind it, and when he saw we were disabled, he backed dup and this gave us just enough room to drift diagonally backwards into a designated customer parking space for a large paint, glass, and supplies store. I hailed one of the store clerks and told him we would move it as soon as we could.

The temperature was in the 90’s and the humidity was high. As we started the 10 block walk back to our apartment, my young grandson started picking up little items from the gutter, like a rusty Copenhagen snuff tin, which he wanted to use as a drinking cup. After I put the stoppers on that little project he started finding sticks to poke his sister with. Then he intoned the question “When are we going to McDonald’s?”

I said “Hold it, you forgot we don’t have a car and the nearest McDonald’s is out by the mall (roughly 2-3 miles away). His reply “But Granddad, we could walk.”. That did it! I took them upstairs to the apartment and made them cheese sandwiches.

The next morning, after discussing my car problems with a friend, I decided my transmission must have merely run out of fluid. Luckily (I thought) I have a ROV (Ratty Old Van) that I can use to go get transmission fluid and a funnel. My optimistic side kept telling me it couldn’t be a busted transmission, just one low on fluid.

I went downstairs, climbed into the ROV, put the key in the ignition and turned it. Nothing happened, not even a click. I learned later that my wife had forgotten to switch off the dome light when she left 5 days ago. I then called my son to ask him if he had a car I could borrow in case I needed it to go to work on Monday morning. He said “Sure, I have an old car that belonged to a friend of mine who left it with me to sell, after he had bought a new car. He said apologetically that the body was all smashed up but it was drivable. After talking with him I went down and attached my very slow trickle charger on the van battery.

At this point I decided to walk down to the auto parts store to get transmission fluid. After walking the 10 blocks (with grandkids in tow of course) I bought 4 quarts of transmission fluid and a long funnel. Arriving back at the car I followed the instructions on the bottle and determined from the transmission dipstick that the fluid level was fine so the only conclusion was that the transmission was probably kaput!

After the long trek back to the apartment, I finally was able to reach the transmission shop by phone. They promised free towing but didn’t know how soon they could do it, but they thought it would probably be some time Monday morning.

T went down to the van to see if the battery charger had done its job and once again I inserted the key and got no response, not even a click. I thought to myself that later in the afternoon, I would call my son and have him deliver the ROC (ratty old car), so I would have a way to work on Monday morning.

When I called, he reported that he had sold the car he was going to lend me and hour before I called and the buyer had driven ff in it.

At this point the horror story was far from over and believe me, I am not making any of this up. My son promised me he would come over and jump start my ROV so I would have transportation to work. He did, and after he left, late Sunday afternoon, I decided I would drive over to a neighboring town about 3 miles away to make sure the battery was well charged. I loaded up the 2 grandkids and set out. Everything was going fine until the muffler on the ROV fell off and was dragging on the pavement. I stopped, pulled what was left of it off and went on, the van sounding like a hot rod with dual Smitty’s for mufflers.

Next morning the transmission shop sent a driver to my workplace to get the keys to my disabled car. When I got off work that evening I drove the ROV complete with double Smitty sound over to the transmission shop. They informed me that the transmission was completely shot and since this model had a torque converter, there would be an extra $250 charge on top of the $550 for the transmission job.

By this time I was so beaten down by the whole affair that I just handed over my credit card and told them to go ahead and do the rebuild. The straw that broke the camel’s back came when I finally got the car back on Thursday. and found a $15 parking ticket issued by the local police at 7:50 AM, about 15 minutes before the tow truck from the transmission shop had arrived. I just shook my head and started mumbling something about this affair being enough to enrage the “Good Humor man”.

We at Newberg Dodge Chrysler Jeep take immense pride in introducing ourselves as leading dealers for this wonderful combination of vehicles. We are located in Newberg, OR.

You could start by taking a look at our introductory offer ?a fabulous iPod Nano 4 GB Silver from us on the purchase or lease of any new or used model at our dealership! Isn?t that a sweet way of keeping you company on your long rides on these tough vehicles?

There is an entire section devoted to giving you used vehicles at dirt-cheap prices. You could visit our ?pre owned vehicles under 10K? section, where you could get wonderful deals on vehicles that are in top condition.

While at our online dealership, why not also take a look at our Lifetime Power train Warranty section? This is a dream offer, by which you can go on and on, on your rugged vehicles in peace of mind.

Then, there are wonderful regular offers on our Online Specials, New Vehicles Specials, Pre Owned Specials and such other features.

In other words, ours is a dealership that means offers, offers and more offers!

We are happy to be of service in places in and around our dealership, such as Vancouver, Gresham, Portland, Newberg, Beaverton, Sherwood, and Hillsboro.

We are dealers who deal with all the models of these three makes. We have a great inventory of these models. You can be sure of getting any model of your choice from these makes at any point of time at our dealership.

You may well have thought that the Mercury Cougar auto that the origins of the Mercury Cougar auto were nothing more than a whale sized version of simple Ford Thunderbird car. Yet many are surprised that the history and development of this classic American sportscar rather was that of the NASCAR legendary Mercury “Pony Car” , which kicked nothing but but “Butt” on the Trans-Am Automobile racing circuit.

Originally Lincoln- Mercury (considered at the time to be the luxury end of Ford Motor Corporation), had devised the idea of developing, designing and marketing a small sized sports car. The germ of this idea had started as early as February 1963 with the idea in the works of this smaller sports type vehicle to be sold within the North American automobile market.

But it was the success of the Ford Mustang product that finally put the pedal to the metal (or the design and marketing staff’s ok and budgeting of departmental project funding). It is said that nothing drives a project the automobile industry than the potential of excellent sales figures and profitability’s. Even the name of the vehicle product “Cougar” is not totally unique. Cougar is in the same vein as “Mustang” – both being sleek fast racing animals.

Although the Cougar was also built on a 111 inch

wheelbase similar to the mustang auto sports car, the Cougar was rather three inches and half inches shorter than its cousin – the Thunderbird. Underneath the elegant sheet metal of the Cougar was a Mustang, so to speak. In actuality the Cougar shared with its cousins – the sporty Mustang, and the dourer family vehicle – the Ford Falcon (which was also known in the Canadian market as the Ford Frontenac product. The Ford Mustang had the greatest fortune of being born from the Ford Falcon product line. Mustang enthusiasts owe a great debt of gratitude to a so called compact “Family” car. The Ford Falcon allowed both the Mustang car project as well as the Cougar car product a quick to develop, cheap to produce as well as a proven and durable base platform. Even the dash of the early Mustangs was a direct copy of the Falcons.

Underneath all of the glitter of its elegant sheet metal the Cougar car was all Mustang, using the exact same Falcon front suspension and a solid rear axle with four-leaf springs. A base 289 cubic inch V-8 made 200 bhp (gross), but the real action came in the guise of a 390 cubic inch V-8 that made 320 bhp. A GT option included a performance handling package and power disc brakes that replaced more standard front brake drums. Finally special GT wheels rounded out the package.

It has been said that Lincoln Mercury’s chief designer had envisioned the Cougar as an elegant European sports car, along the lines of the Jaguar Mark 2. How was it that the Cougar went racing?

In 1967 Lincoln Mercury turned to Bud Moore to be the point man for a shot at the SCCA Trans-Am Championship. Team Cougar made up of drivers, Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Formula 1 driver Peter Revson and NASCAR driver Dave Pearson came in second in Ford Mustang’s team. In 1968 then under the aegis of Moore, driver DeWayne “Tiny” Lund went on to capture the NASCAR Grand Touring Championship.

So where and how did the Cougar go wrong and in the end become a rather non defined wishy washy bloated luxo sort of sports car by the end of its automobile production lifetime? What proved to be this product and projects undoing was the lack of true comprehension from the direct Mercury as well as Ford staff and executives as to what this car’s clear and distinct market was. It may be said that at the best they were disinterested and at the worst clueless and greedy. This lack of market focus, as well as not knowing and perceiving the needs and desires of the potential Cougar customer market proved to be the Cougar’s undoing.

By the 1969 product introduction the Cougar was a little longer and a little wider. From then on it was only a short decent into landau roofs as well as the opera window type styling and options of the day. Once started this downward trend and spiral of the Cougar was inevitable. The halcyon years of the early Cougar – specifically the early Cougar model years of 1967 – 70 remain a time when the Cougar’s roar boomed out of dual exhausts and the sign of a car that had some bite to it.

Being a mom is a full time job in itself. There are a host of daily tasks that need to be done in addition to taking care of kids. For moms who are looking for a way to earn income from home the opportunities are endless with the growth of the Internet.

The next question is “What work from home business opportunity is best for me“?

One home based Internet business is creating income for moms and other entrpreneurs working from home using some of the most cutting edge Internet marketing tools, websites and online marketing techniques.

The “Carbon Copy” system allows anyone with little or no Internet marketing experience the ability to use the power of the Internet to grow and run a work from home business.

Developed by home based business entrepreneur Jay Kubassek the system uses cutting edge websites and marketing techniques he learned to make oer $500,000 dollars in his first year.

Jay Kubassek was a high school drop-out who was working at Midas Mufflers when he stumbled across an ad in the paper which offered a work from home opportunity that coiuld provide a $50,000 plus per month income.

Kubassek was extremely skeptical but decided to give it a try anyway and within 6 months had “fired his boss” at Midas Mufflers and eventually earned over $500,000 dollars in his first year.

He had to borrow the money to get started from a friend since he had lost thousands of dollars on MLM’s, affiliate programs, pramid schemes and other networking marketing businesses that made more for the ownership than for the actual members.

Jay took all of his knowldge and determination and funneled that into making this business work and took all the techniques and marketing tools and set those up so that others could follow his systema nd become successful.

The work from home business that Jay started has since helped thousands of people earn a full time income from home including many earners making over $100,000 per month.

This business opportunity is being used by stay at home moms who are looking for a way to cash in some of their free time and convert that to income.

The beauty of this work from home business opportunity is that it provides great training and support along with some of the best Internet marketing materials on the Internet that anyone with little or no experience can plug in and put to use.

For stay at home moms that need a flexible schedule and working hours this program provides the freedom for them create their own schedule and cash in on the over 1.5 billion Internet users world wide. With Forbes Magazine predicting over 70 million people to launch a home based business in the next 5 years there has never been a better time to get started.

Internet marketing pro Sean Callahan is working with Kubbasek and others helping to train moms and other work from home entrepreneurs to start earning a part time or full time income using their proven marketing strategies.

If you are a mom looking for a work from home business opportunity then visit the followingf websites for more information

If you have grass as a part of your landscape, the most important tool you?ll need other than a lawnmower is a string trimmer. This is the piece of equipment that applies the real finishing touch to your lawn care work.

Let?s look first at what you should get. As with any type of tool or equipment, a wide range of choices exists in terms of size, style, brand name, weight, and of course cost. While the generalization ?bigger is better? is certainly not always true, in the case of string trimmers, I think it?s a pretty good rule of thumb. If you can afford it, get a professional model trimmer with at least a 20 cc displacement 2-cycle engine. This is a good heavy-duty trimmer that will easily handle any basic homeowner grass trimming you?ll encounter, and will still serve you well if you move to a home with more extensive grounds or if you decide to contract some weekend grass cutting and trimming jobs to make extra cash.

What other features, besides an engine big enough to do the job without bogging down, should you look for in a string trimmer? Two things I would avoid are the curved shaft trimmers and the electric-powered trimmers that, of course, require you to be attached to an extension cord you?ll have to drag around. Unless you have a very small budget and an even smaller grassy area to maintain, don?t frustrate yourself with these lightweights.

As far as brand name goes, two reliable brands of string trimmers that have been on the market for quite a few years and that I have had very satisfactory results with are the ones made by Stihl and Shindaiwa, although I?m sure other makers are producing and marketing good equipment. Visit the dealers and let them demo their products for you; also, ask your friends what kind of trimmers they?ve experienced good results with before you make your investment.

Now that you have a well-made, heavy duty, reliable string trimmer in hand, let?s look at a few things you can do to maximize its usefulness and its longevity. First of all, read the manual that comes with your equipment to be sure you fully understand its operation, and keep the manual in a handy place so you can refer to it as questions arise about parts replacement (such as spark plugs or air filter), the proper gas/oil ratio to use in the 2-cycle engine, and lubrication and maintenance over the life of your trimmer.

And speaking of spark plugs, one of the easiest things to do in order to keep your string trimmer running efficiently is to remove and clean the spark plug periodically. This keeps sooty black carbon deposits from building up on the plug, which causes poor ignition and loss of power. Also, be sure you purchase the proper spark plug for your trimmer when it?s time to change out the plug (remember that advice about consulting your owner?s manual?).

Another place carbon deposits can build up and rob you of power is in the exhaust and muffler system. Periodically remove the muffler (be sure it?s cool!) and use a screwdriver to loosen and scrape out any sooty residue building up inside the muffler and exhaust port. Most mufflers have a spark arrester (a piece of screen mesh) inside, which can also clog with residue; be sure you clean this thoroughly before putting the muffler back in place.

Pay close attention to the air filter, too. This is usually just a small piece of spongy material in the air intake/choke mechanism that becomes easily dirtied from all the dust and fine grass particles flying around in the air. Remove this sponge occasionally, clean and oil it as per the manual instructions, and re-insert it properly.

If the spark plug and air filter are clean and your trimmer is still bogging down at high speeds or wants to shut itself off at low speeds, you may need to adjust the carburetor high speed and low speed idle adjustment screws. These can vibrate out of adjustment as your trimmer runs, and will need to be re-set periodically to maintain maximum running efficiency. Guess where you look to find out where those screws are located on your trimmer and which one is the high speed or low speed adjustment screw? (Have you gotten tired of me mentioning that owner?s manual, yet?!)

Here?s one final tip you might want to try, something I?ve discovered and used over the years. Try using the next smaller diameter of cutting line on your trimmer than the maker suggests (for example, try .080 instead of .095). This way, you can wind more string onto the spool, resulting in more time trimming grass and less time stopping to re-wind string. Also, the smaller diameter (which is naturally lighter in weight) allows the trimmer to run faster and thus cleaner, resulting in less of that undesirable carbon build-up we?ve been talking about.

Follow these basic maintenance suggestions, and your string trimmer should give you many years of top-notch performance instead of many hours of frustration.

Not a lot of teenagers care that much about the waste that comes out of their parent?s GMC muffler or what happens to the trash after they take it out of the house. But there are some who do care about making this world a better place.

Two years ago the World Health Organization gave Indonesia the title of the dirtiest country in the world ? a title that certainly would not be the envy of other countries. Just recently however, two 15-year-old students from Surabaya in Indonesia have helped turn the tables by winning the prestigious Volvo Adventure World Final in Gothenburg.

Useful Waste for a Better Future is a project that not only removes rubbish but also recycles it into sustainable souvenirs and gifts with the additional advantage of adding value and helping overcome poverty.

Edging out of 365 projects across 47 different countries worldwide, two 15-year-old Indonesian schoolgirls, Wening Pranayadipta and Vania Santoso, alias Bright Youngsters took the US$10,000 first prize for their project Useful Waste for a Better Future ? beating out New Zealand (second place) who won US$6,000 and South Africa (third place) winning US$4,000.

Theodore Oben of the official Volvo Adventure partner, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said, “The standard goes up and up each and every year and this year, and Useful Waste for a Better Future is a project that works on many environmental levels, waste reduction, recycling and revenue-earning and as such, it was the outstanding project amongst 15 excellent finalists.”

New Zealand?s Plastic Not So Fantastic project, represented by the Green Teens won the US$6,000 while South Africa’s Facing Up team took the US$4,000 third prize for their EnergyWise campaign.

Vania Santoso joyfully received the most prestigious young environmentalists’ accolade in the world saying, “Whilst it was a stain on Indonesia’s reputation being branded the dirtiest nation in the world by WHO, it was also a wake-up call that something had to be done and in our small way, we may have helped both change perceptions and improve our local environment and economy.”

Her colleague Wening Pranayadipta added, “It has been an amazing experience coming to Gothenburg and being encouraged by how many other students are as passionate about the environment as we are and it is a great honour to win, especially against so many other powerful projects.”

Olle Axelson, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs, Volvo Cars presenting the prizes at the Volvo Adventure Awards ceremony, said, “The pride and the passion all these students have for their own local environment and the wider global picture is highly encouraging and in fact they are all winners.”

“But the big winner here is the environment itself, and facing so many challenges on so many fronts, the creativity and dedication of these young people convinces me that the environment is being passed into safe and responsible hands,” added Mr Axelson.

“The Volvo Adventure is immensely inspiring and within the automotive industry in general and Volvo in particular, we can draw great strength and motivation to redouble our environmental efforts.”

Projects are already underway all round the world for the seventh annual Volvo Adventure and the closing date for entries is 31st January 2008.

Kikki Hugestrand, Volvo Adventure Project Manager said, “The Volvo Adventure has become a fixture in the environmental calendar and a key component in expressing Volvo’s passion for and commitment to the environment, whilst for the students, it is an educational, environmental and cultural experience that will stand them in good stead for the rest of their lives.”

For more information about Volvo Adventure visit www.volvoadventure.org.