We've already written about premium and female-friendly auto shops and dealers, and now a San Francisco-based company has created an upscale, hybrid-focused garage with a thoroughly green approach.

Founded last year, Luscious Garage is situated in a historic warehouse on San Francisco's Clementina Street, complete with original brick frontage, a cozy mezzanine with arched windows, and a clean workshop filled with natural light. Specializing in hybrid vehicle technology, the woman-owned garage features an open workshop where customers are encouraged to look around while their cars undergo maintenance or repairs; there are books to read, art on the walls and a developmentally appropriate children's play area mingled into the space, which also features plants and carefully purified air. Luscious Garage uses no service advisors; rather, customers communicate directly with the technicians who work on their cars. Pricing is clearly spelled out on the garage's website, and just as hybrid vehicles are designed to be green, so the shop itself strives to be sustainable. Using San Francisco's Clean and Green Certification as a baseline, Luscious Garage aims to follow a strict sustainability plan based on The Natural Step. All administration is done online to eliminate paper and toner, while other office products come from a green supplier. Shop tools are electric, appliances are energy-efficient and furniture is second hand. Recycling is continuous, and zero waste is the shop's goal. A variety of green-focused community events are also hosted at the garage.

Luscious Garage is only open four days a week—a testament to the rewards and flexibility that follow when you are green with an appreciative clientèle. A model to follow in wealthy urban settings around the globe!

Website: www.lusciousgarage.com
Contact: www.lusciousgarage.com/index.php/home/contact

Spotted by: Frank Marquardt

The Retriever is a two-wheeled towing vehicle based on a Honda Goldwing motorcycle that can worm its way through city gridlock and congested highways like no four-wheeled towing vehicle could ever dream of. The Retriever is the ingenious invention of the aptly named Swedish firm Coming Through. According to the company, it takes a little over a minute to convert from a nimble motorcycle to a towing device powerful enough to haul most passenger cars. The Retriever’s driver simply extracts a folded bracket stored behind the motorcycle’s high back seat and then hitches the car’s front end to the bracket.

As a business venture, a towing service based on the Retriever could take a little more time to set up, however. Throughout the world, towing firms compete under various schemes for the right to rescue cars stalled on public roads. Police are often the authorities who order a tow truck on the scene, and they would need to be sold on the Retriever’s ability to handle the job. And some accident-damaged cars might require a heftier vehicle to haul them away. That said, the Retriever’s ability to rescue a vehicle and quickly unsnarl traffic could make it a hit. So the real opportunity might be for distributors who could sell Retrievers either to private companies or public road authorities. (Related: Motorcycle taxis rescue stranded business travellers.)

Website: www.comingthrough.se
Contact: info@comingthrough.se

Spotted by: Lilia Parra Ledesma

It's estimated that one in every three traffic fatalities in Europe involve alcohol-impaired drivers. In the US, alcohol-related car crashes kill someone every 31 minutes, according to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the problem extends around the world. Blow Me is a UK-based company that hopes to reduce such statistics by bringing its mobile alcohol breath-testing service to private and corporate events.

Event organizers can hire Blow Me to attend any party or other happening where alcohol will be served. With the same equipment used by police forces throughout the UK, Blow Me's trained team conducts unlimited alcohol breath tests for event guests in a non-threatening and professional manner. Both branded and unbranded packages are available, and Blow Me's staff will follow any dress code to suit the occasion—tux and ties if needed. They can offer custom promotional materials, if requested, as well as information for guests about local transport options. The result, Blow Me hopes, is that more people will think twice before getting behind the wheel. Package prices start at GBP 695.

Launched in 2006, London-based Blow Me serves clients all over Europe; by January of this year it had stopped more than 1,000 people from unknowingly driving drunk, founder Sam Rose says. Undoubtedly it has also enhanced many a company's corporate image. Blow Me is currently considering franchising the brand—one to bring to an area near you?

Website: www.alcoholbreathtesting.com
Contact: info@alcoholbreathtesting.com

Companies with innovative approaches to staid industries need to move quickly in order to maintain their lead, even after they’ve become firmly established. A good example is Zipcar. The US-based car sharing venture with operations in North America and the UK first appeared on our radar in 2003. Back then, we applauded the company’s disruptive, car-on-demand service that appealed to consumers more interested in using a vehicle than owning it.

A little over four years later, as we detailed last April, a partnership with another industry disruptor—ParkAtMyHouse—made it easier for Zipcar’s customers to find a place to park. (ParkatMyHouse lets homeowners rent their coveted urban parking spaces by the hour or the day.) A few months later we wrote that a new Zipcar service enabled renters with GPS phones to access directions to the nearest car, wherever they happened to be.

And the latest Zipcar news? The company is further broadening its customer base by partnering with AKA, a provider of luxury furnished suites that currently operates nine locations in the US, with one to follow in the UK later this year. Customers of the high-end “pied-à-terre on demand” chain are given a free one-year Zipcar membership (the company’s hourly rates still apply). After applying online, guests can pick up the digital key-card to their Zipcar at the front desk of any AKA property. A smart move, since extended stay guests in big cities are a logical fit for the car sharing service. If there’s a lesson here, it’s that getting out in front of the other guys early is only half the battle—the pressure is always on to improve and innovate.

Website: www.zipcar.com — www.hotelaka.com
Contact: info@zipcar.com — www.hotelaka.com/contact.aspx

Spotted by: RK

Visits to auto garages are rarely a pleasant experience, fraught as they are with jargon-filled descriptions, unclear pricing and less-than-pristine surroundings. Not so at the UK's HiQ chain, which is rebranding itself as the transparent, no-stress fast-fit tire company.

As part of its rebranding (and premiumizing) effort, which launched last year, HiQ promises never to use hidden costs or perform any work without the customer's permission. It also pledges to use only plain, jargon-free English in its communications with customers, and to undergo routine audits to maintain national standards. An online tire finder, meanwhile, lets customers find the tires they want online—without any sales pressure—and book a fitting at their convenience. HiQ's site also offers educational information on buying tires, as well as a do-it-yourself guide. Perhaps most tangible, however, is the new design at the chain's first post-rebranding store in Nottingham, which virtually screams transparency with a clean, black-and-white colour scheme, clearly worded signs and even glass walls that let customers see onto the shop floor themselves.

“The redevelopment of our Nottingham centre reflects extensive research that highlighted what we suspected—that customers are negative about visits to fast-fit centres because premises are dirty, staff are either unhelpful or speak in technical jargon and prices are unclear,” managing director Neil Burrows told Motor Trader.

There's no denying that the auto industry as a whole has been sorely in need of some transparency. Add to that a premiumized experience amid a sea of cost-cutting competitors, and there's no telling how far this competitive advantage might go. One to make universal! (Related: Car dealership catches female fever.)

Website: www.hiqonline.co.uk
Contact: www.hiqonline.co.uk/contact

Spotted by: thecoolhunter.net