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Tesla trademark suit in China ends with settlement

After years of fighting, Tesla has finally put its trademark dispute in China with businessman Zhan Baosheng behind it, thanks to an undisclosed settlement. The news comes at a perfect time for the automaker, which is still setting up its dealers there.
According to an email from Tesla cited by Bloomberg, the two sides came to an agreement "completely and amicably," but the business isn't revealing what it cost to resolve the conflict. As part of the settlement, Zhan is also transferring his ownership of the tesla.cn and teslamotors.cn over to the company. "Mr. Zhan has agreed to have the Chinese authorities complete the process of canceling the Tesla trademarks that he had registered or applied for, at no cost to Tesla," said the statement, according to Bloomberg. "Collectively, these actions remove any doubt with respect to Tesla's undisputed rights to its trademarks in China."
Zhan had claimed to hold the trademark on the Tesla name in China since 2009, but he was appealing a ruling by the country's courts invalidating those rights. The situation heated up even further in July when Zhan sued the automaker for trademark infringement and asked for 23.9 million yuan ($3.9 million) in damages, plus for the company shut down all of its operations there. Tesla had reportedly already attempted to settle with him years ago for 2 million yuan ($325,000 at current rates), but Zhan countered with a figure of the equivalent of over $32 million.

Recharge Wrap-up: 61 miles on Autopilot; Mazda CX-9's 32% mpg improvement

A technology analyst at The Motley Fool used Tesla's Autopilot uninterrupted for 61 miles. In order to see how far the Tesla Model S could drive itself without driver intervention, Daniel Sparks set off on the highway from Monument, Colorado, through Colorado Springs and onward toward Pueblo. Only when a truck encroached on his lane did the driver take command of the wheel, rather than waiting to see what the car would do. "With [the] Model S nearly out of Pueblo and onto a long, boring stretch of highway by the time I had to grab the wheel, chances are I could have made it all the way to Colorado City if it wasn't for this interruption," says Sparks. Read the full account at The Motley Fool. The 2016 Mazda CX-9 offers 32 percent better fuel economy than the outgoing model. The front-wheel-drive CX-9, equipped with Mazda's Skyactiv-G 2.5T engine, gets an EPA-estimated 22 mpg city/28 mpg highway/25 mpg combined. The 2016 CX-9 has shed significant weight compared to its predecessor. Its turbocharged engine uses a Dynamic Pressure Turbo system, which improves performance at lower rpm by controlling the degree of exhaust pulsation according to engine speed. The new CX-9 goes on sale this spring. Read more at Green Car Congress. A group of eight US cities have formed the Energy Secure Cities Coalition (ESCC), pledging to switch their fleets over to alternative fuels. Atlanta, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Orlando, Rochester, Sacramento, San Diego and West Palm Beach will retire their petroleum-powered vehicles in favor of EVs and cars using cleaner fuels like natural gas. The cities expect the change to help improve air quality and save taxpayer money on fuel and maintenance costs. The ESCC hopes to grow to include 25 major cities, removing some 50,000 petroleum-fueled vehicles from service and saving 500,000 barrels of oil per year. Read more in the press release below. Eight Major Cities Unite to form Energy Secure Cities Coalition—Fleets Embracing Alternative Fuels to Improve America's National and Economic Security Coalition's goal is to retire 50,000 petroleum-powered vehicles, saving tens of millions in taxpayer dollars and improving U.S. national and economic security. Washington, D.C.

Icon Helios streamliner with Tesla bones is a dream from which we don't want to wake

When it comes to truly, genuinely interesting automotive design and craftsmanship, Icon is one of the finest outfits in the game. We've covered the company and its founder, Jonathan Ward, in the past, and have remarked on just how fully and intricately done the automotive art it turns out is. The company's next big thing, though, is a far cry from the modified Land Rovers and Chevy Thriftmaster pickups.
The sketches you see above are of the Helios, Icon's latest mad creation. While still remarkably early in the planning phases, it's safe to say that the streamlined, Art Deco-inspired, boat-tailed (every vehicle should be boat-tailed) coupe is the company's single most ambitious vehicle yet.
"Although almost all of our projects thus far have been recreations inspired by vintage vehicles, I am fascinated about the concept of revisiting history in our own way," Ward told Jalopnik staffer and former Autoblog editor Damon Lavrinc. "The most interesting way to do this is by celebrating a particular era of design, or design language."