By the year 2000, there were about 217 million vehicles on the road in the U.S., traveling 2.5 trillion miles, and consuming 160 billion gallons of gasoline. In light of these figures from the Center for Automotive Research, how could you not consider a career in the ever-expanding automotive industry?Need more convincing? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, automotive service technicians held about 803,000 jobs in 2004, and demand for technicians will only increase as the number of multi-car families continues its upward trend.And, median hourly earnings of automotive service technicians, including commission, are $15.60 (the highest 10 percent earn more than $26.22 per hour). In addition, many experienced technicians receive a commission related to the labor cost, and employers often guarantee commissioned technicians a minimum weekly salary.So the growth of the automotive service profession is not surprising — today’s technicians are high-tech professionals, working on complex vehicles with global positioning systems, Internet access, and alternate-fuel systems. Their work goes beyond traditional repairs and involves inspecting, maintaining, and repairing automobiles with electronic as well as traditional hand tools. Since cars are more computer-controlled than ever before

An automotive engineer helps design, adapt and develop vehicles either for retail or for motorsport. He or she may specialise in a particular area e.g. in the development of parts such as the chassis, or may be an expert on electrical technology or aerodynamics or fuel consumption or thermodynamics. They usually work as part of a multidisciplinary team with members both in the UK and abroad.Tasks undertaken by an automotive engineer includeo Using technical skills and computer design technology to find ways of building new systems and parts for vehicles, whilst being aware of environmental issues affecting the new designso Creating prototypes and find ways of testing new products both using computer software and physically testing themo Managing and leading projects, including the work of other staff, and overseeing the budget during the production process, and being responsible for all quality control issueso Attending meetings in order to discuss new technology and take into account others’ concerns or suggestionso Keeping up to date with new processes and technology, and developing new ways of designing and creating changeo Solving engineering problems in all areas of vehicle construction including

The constant media squabble over C-NCAP (China New Car Assessment Program) doesn’t annoy Mr Zhao Hang at all. As the Chief Director of China Automotive Technology Research Centre (CATARC), Zhao has paid a great deal of efforts to develop this program, a vehicle crash test known as “Chinese new car safety evaluation standard”. “Safety, environmental friendliness and energy saving, we need to have them all,” he said.Big Brother of the automotive industryCATARC was originally a research institute directly belonged to government departments, but now it has become a state-owned enterprise to make its own decisions. Apart from assisting in setting automotive industry policies, CATARC also conducts research in a few core automotive technologies, such as partnering with Tianjin FAW Xiali Motor, Hafei Automobile Group and Yunnan Hongta Group to develop alternative energy cars.”For every aspect of China’s automotive industry, we all have a corresponding service institution. This includes pre-production tasks such as project establishment, factory site selection and factory construction planning, and production related processes such as auto products, standards, information, testing, certification, quality system establishment and staff training. We also get involved in market establishment, second-hand

Motor shows have always been one of the foremost gatherings that auto makers take advantage of so as to showcase the advances they have made in the design and performance of their vehicles. More often than not, a motor show is characterized by an influx of concept vehicles.This type of vehicles is designed using cutting edge design concepts, advanced engine technology and would also come loaded with futuristic features. These vehicles are only used to showcase the technologies developed by car manufacturers.The features shown on these vehicles will only be used on production vehicles after some time. The reason for this is that the features on concept vehicles are significantly expensive to produce. This means that further development is needed to bring down the cost of production of features used on concept vehicles for them to be made available for mass produced vehicles.The upcoming New York International Auto Show (NYIAS), dubbed as the biggest event of its kind, will be hosting concept vehicles from United States’ second largest car manufacturer, Ford. This year, the Ford Motor Company will be showcasing three concept vehicles – two from Ford