AUTOS

Compaq Boss Eyes Autos: Rosen Motors, a Woodland Hills-based firm founded three years ago by venture capitalist and Compaq Computer Corp. Chairman Ben Rosen, promises to unveil a new automotive powertrain in September based on a flywheel-turbine system. Rosen and his brother, Harold, a former Hughes Aircraft executive who is president of the company, describe it as a hybrid electric powertrain for gasoline-fueled cars. Few details were available, but the firm claims “nearly zero” emissions, high gasoline mileage and “unusually high acceleration.” Flywheel-turbine combinations for autos have been developed by others but have generally proven too costly.