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Last year, Mercedes-Benz announced that in addition to working with GM and BMW on the Two-Mode hybrid system, they would also collaborate with BMW on a less complex mild hybrid that could be adapted to most of their vehicles. The…

After reaching an agreement with the California Air Resources Board recently that would essentially see the Chevy Volt classed as an electric car, it appears GM has now also worked things out with the EPA . The automaker and the environmental…

It seems every time GM Vice-Chairman Bob Lutz opens his mouth to speak, a news story is spawned. Sometimes however, there is less to the story than there appears to be. Case in point is the latest update on the Chevy Volt. Speaking in California,…

Click the Quattroporte for a high-res gallery
Since Maserati North America will be handling distribution when Alfa Romeo comes back to the US market next year with the 8C Competizione, they naturally brought along a couple of their own vehicles to…

2011 Kia Optima – Click above for high-res image gallery
At the New York Auto Show today Kia officially introduced the new 2011 Optima mid-sized sedan and, as we expected, it shares much with the recently launched Hyundai Sonata. In spite of the same…

Earlier Jeremy wrote a post referencing a Detroit News article about a panel discussion on Policies and Issues Affecting Consumer Choices of Vehicles and Fuels at the SAE World Congress in Detroit. I attended that discussion along with several others…

Click the Aspen Hybrid for a high-res gallery
This week Chrysler launched full scale production of the new Aspen and Dodge Durango hybrids at the Newark, DE assembly plant. The SUVs are Chrysler's first production hybrid vehicles and they use the…

Over the last several months, as Mitsubishi and other automakers have made their electric vehicles ( EVs) available to more drivers for extended evaluations, some of that EV shine has been coming off. Last winter, a Consumer Reports editor…

The New York sanitation department has just started a year-long evaluation of a hydrostatic regenerative braking (HRB) system on garbage trucks. The system provided by Bosch Rexroth is a hydraulic launch assist system. This is basically a hydraulic…

Our completed LS9 V8 – Click above for high-res image gallery
When you think of brands like Aston Martin, Ferrari and AMG, the idea of their engines being built by the hands of skilled craftsmen is no great surprise. However, most people would be…