Chrysler has taken full ownership of the Tritec joint-venture engine plant it operated in Brazil with BMW. The 1.4L and 1.6L engines were used in the first generation of the BMW-built MINI and overseas-market versions of the Dodge Neon and Chrysler…

French automaker Peugeot will be showing the latest iteration of their diesel-hybrid demonstration vehicles at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. Previously they had shown a 307 and also Citroen C4 with a diesel parallel hybrid powertrain. The new…

Last month at the LA Auto Show, Hyundai America CEO John Krafcik told us that the 2010 Hyundai Sonata will debut next November in LA with the hybrid version coming the following year. Weight reduction will be a major part of the new Sonata program. A…

Some of you may recall the AirCar that was created a couple of years ago by Milner Motors. Well, to date, the Milner AirCar has yet to reach lift-off velocity and has only managed to roll around on solid ground. Now the Milner team has sliced off…

Click the ML450 hybrid for a gallery
An alert reader spotted an unusual Mercedes ML SUV cruising down a suburban Detroit freeway the other day. The HEV stickers on the windows and lumps in the hood indicate this is a prototype of the upcoming…

At the SIA (French Automotive Engineers Society) Congress in Rouen, France this week, Delphi will be presenting information on its latest-generation direct fuel injection and control systems for diesel engines. Delphi produces both electromagnetic…

Chevrolet e-Spark – Click above for high-res image gallery
Now that General Motors has abandoned its plan to build a low-cost electric vehicle for the Indian market with Reva, it may move forward with an internally developed vehicle. Mahindra and…

Over on the official Tesla Motors blog, CEO Martin Eberhard has a new blog post where he summarizes his impressions of the Detroit Auto Show. Eberhard noticed that lithium ion batteries seemed to be everywhere this year, in spite of the fact that not…

2010 Chevrolet Spark – Click above for high-res image gallery
General Motors' Service and Parts Operations website has published a pair of new documents for decoding 2011 model year Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) which reveal several new…

Toyota Prius PHEV – Click above for high-res image gallery
Toyota's new-generation plug-in hybrid Prius will be shown for the first time at the Frankfurt Motor Show next week, and now we've got some new images and details. As expected, the PHEV Prius…