With factories cutting back on emissions and municipalities stepping up recycling efforts, environmentalists have cast automobiles as the primary pollution culprit. A concept car called the XCAR, which incorporates a fuel-efficient, low-pollution engine from Australia, may one day rehabilitate automobiles' bad environmental reputation. The XCAR is being designed by XCORP in Malibu, Calif. The company was founded in 1991 to transfer cutting-edge aerospace and defense technologies to business and manufacturing applications. "Our goals," said XCORP president Chris Catlin, "are to design a next-generation automobile that will use less energy; provide a higher degree of safety by being more impact-resistant; reduce stress on roads, highways, and bridges by its lighter weight, thus extending the life of infrastructure; and be easily recycled and repaired." The company is developing a roadster, a subcompact coupe, and a sports/utility version of the XCAR for American civilian use, as well as a general-purpose version for the U.S. military and a multipurpose car for developing nations.
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