Pininfarina Shows All-Electric Nido Mini

Marking the celebrations of the its 80th anniversary, Pininfarina unveiled a new all-electric mini-car prototype called the Nido EV. It is an evolution of the original Nido concept that Pininfarina showed in 2004.

According to the Italian design house, the Nido EV is a "veritable laboratory designed both to explore the electrification of a small city car and to develop a modular floorpan."

The 2,905mm-long two seater prototype uses a tubular steel frame, but the final version will have a lighter aluminium space frame. Pininfarina claims that the structure was designed to be able spawn up to four different, completely electric or hybrid vehicles including two-seater, 2+2, pickup and van models.

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Audi A9 Hybrid Sports Sedan Concept by Daniel Garcia

This is the A9 sports sedan study, a look at BMW's Vision concept through Audi's eyes (unofficially of course) that was created by independent designer Daniel Garcia from Spain.

Just as BMW tried to invent a new market with its 5-Series GT, the Audi A9 would aim to be in a league of its own: over-styled (in a good way) �ber-luxury hybrid sports saloons. A technologically-advanced Panamera killer.

Garcia says some of the lines were inspired by architect Santiago Calatrava's buildings in Valencia. As for that opaque front wind-ceiling, it's made of "as-yet undiscovered nanotechnology material" that can fix itself and be color/tint adjusted.

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Tesla Partners Up with Toyota to Develop EVs, Acquires NUMMI Plant

Tesla recently finalized its purchase of the advanced (and apparently extremely clean) NUMMI production facility in order to build its upcoming Model S sedan. Tesla hopes to build as many as 20,000 units per year in the southern California facility that's capable of building one million units annually.

Other than some potential spin-offs using the Model S platform (like an electric GT), there's a lot of capacity. That's where Toyota steps in. Toyota and Tesla will be working together to develop electric vehicles. their parts, and the engineering behind them.

The new facility will hire up to 1,000 new employees initially from one of the brightest pools around: Silicon Valley.

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Is this the Start of Google Motors? Google Tech to Connect Chevy Volt Customers

General Motors has announced that OnStar will be working with Google in order to help connect the Chevrolet Volt even more.

Google has some add-ons in development for version 2.0 of the upcoming Volt app. There will be a navigation tab that uses Google Maps with a lojack-type setup, showing owners' proximity to the car (and possibly solving the Seinfeldian parking problem for good).

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Toyota to Recall 11,500 Lexus LS Models Worldwide

In the latest episode of a series of massive recalls, Toyota Motor Corp. said today that it plans to recall four Lexus LS models due to problems related to the steering wheel system of the car.

The models in question are the LS460 and LS460L as well as the LS600h and LS600hL hybrids equipped with the Variable Gear Ratio Steering (VGRS), with the recall covering around 11,500 vehicles worldwide including 3,800 units sold in the U.S., 4,500 in Japan and about 40 cars in the UK.

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Toyota UK Prices Auris Hybrid, Only Slightly Cheaper than Prius, Far More Expensive than Insight

The all-new, British-built Auris Hybrid will arrive at Toyota's UK dealerships in the beginning of July with prices starting from �18,950 on-the-road for the basic T4 and from �20,700 for the better equipped T Spirit model.

The pricing for the hybrid variant of the Auris hatchback is surprisingly close to Toyota's dedicated Prius Hybrid which ranges from �19,505 to �22,610 and far more expensive than the Honda Insight that starts from �16,235.

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BMW's M3 GT2 Snatches Victory from Porsche's 911 Hybrid at N�rburgring 24 Hours Race

The N�rburgring had a eventful weekend hosting its eponymous race, giving two of Germany's biggest names the chance to go at it for a day. BMW and Porsche both showed up looking to be strong contenders again this year (Porsche has won for the past four years).

Stuttgart-based Porsche finally debuted its much-hyped GT3 R Hybrid (more details here) on the track, but the car gave out 22 hours and 15 minutes into the race. Just because the end result was a DNF does not mean that it didn't put up one hell of a show, holding the lead for eight hours.

Porsche factory driver Joerg Bergmeister says he "heard a loud noise at the rear of the car and suddenly the power went."

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Land Rover Reveals Range_e, the Hybrid Electric Range Rover Sport

Land Rover will be putting its first dedicated hybrid model into production in 2013. The Range Rover Sport hybrid prototype shown here is named Range_e (the cutest-sounding name in just forever), and previews the diesel-electric hybrid power/drive train the rest of the world should be expecting.

If successful, expect a plug-in circa 2015 that would return 20 miles or about 32 kilometers of city driving under electric power.

Right now Land Rover is working on Rang_e's diesel-electric setup, but engineers say that a gasoline hybrid is also under developed. After all, we here in the States don't get diesel Rovers (for the life of me I don't know why).

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Ford to Launch C-MAX Full-Hybrid and Plug-in Electric in Europe in 2013

Ford said today that it plans to launch full-hybrid and a plug-in electric derivatives of its new C-MAX five-seat minivan in Europe in 2013. The Detroit automaker said that both hybrid variants of the C-MAX will be built at the company's Valencia plant in Spain when the company plans to invest close to $410 million (over �300 million) over the next three years.

The Valencia Plant also will produce the seven-seat version of the minivan called the Grand C-MAX for export to North America beginning in late 2011.

"The Hybrid Electric and Plug-In Hybrid Electric derivatives of the all-new Ford C-MAX are great news for the Valencia plant and region, for Spain, and for Ford customers across Europe, said John Fleming, CEO of Ford of Europe

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Geiger Goes Tri-Mode on Chevy's Tahoe Hybrid with LPG Conversion

Geiger, German tuner of all things 'Murrican (and usually high-performance), has decided to try...wait for the pun...its hand at hybrid tuning with the Chevy Tahoe Tri-Mode (there it is!).

Instead of shooting for the moon with 1,000 horsepower or some such nonsense, Geiger has put its powers through a different filter to "get even more economic and environmentally compatible".

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VW Planning Plug-in Jetta as well as Passat, Golf and Jetta Hybrid Models

Together with the unveiling of the fully-electric Golf Blue-e-Motion prototype at a special event in Berlin today, Volkswagen also outlined its future product plans for sustainable mobility.

According to Volkswagen, in 2013, the production Golf Blue-e-Motion that's powered by a 115HP electric motor will be joined by the new Up blue-e-motion city car (previewed by the Up! concept series) and the technically closely-related Jetta blue-e-motion.

In the same timeframe, the Lavida blue-e-motion sedan, which was shown in concept form at last week's Beijing Motor Show, will also launch in China.

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Ford to Provide NYPD with Fusion / Escape Hybrid Patrol Cars

Not to be left behind in the quest to clean up our planet, the NYPD announced that it will be adding 200 hybrid vehicles to its fleet in the form of Ford Fusion and Escape Hybrids.

The announcement comes after officers across the five boroughs began testing copped-out Nissan Altima hybrids this time last year.

NYPD spokesman John McCarthy explains, "These [Altimas] were the first hybrids outfitted with a police package being used for patrol. We wanted to see how they held up after being subjected to use on patrol. After a year of use, the feedback has been positive."

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VIDEO: Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid hits the Nurburgring

Remember the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid that was revealed at the Geneva Motor Show this past March? Well, Porsche has released a new video of its hybrid racer with which it will compete at the N�rburgring 24 hour race on 15/16 May.

Williams Formula 1 pilot Nico H�lkenberg tested the orange and white liveried 911 GT3 R Hybrid on the Nordschleife in the lead up to the third round of the VLN Long Distance Championship. Check out the video after the jump.

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First Pre-Production 2012 Opel Ampera EV Rolls off the Line

The first pre-production 2012 Opel Ampera, or the European market version of the Chevrolet Volt, rolled off the line at GM's assembly plant in Warren, Michigan, on Friday, April 23, marking an important milestone in the project.

General Motors said that the it build more pre-production Amperas in the coming months. The pre-production vehicles will not be sold at dealerships, but used for testing and validating the production intent design as well as developing the final vehicle software and control.

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Official: BMW to Launch All-Electric Megacity Vehicle in 2013

The BMW Group will be bringing its first series-production electric-drive model (codenamed Megacity Vehicle) to the market in 2013, the company announced on Thursday.

"With this innovative vehicle, designed from the ground up, we will be creating new benchmarks for electric mobility from 2013 on, said BMW Chairman Norbert Reithofer. "Our Megacity Vehicle will be significantly lighter than conventional cars and, in terms of sustainability, will set a new standard across the entire value-added chain."

The car is currently being developed as part of BMW Group's "project i" programme and will be available under a sub-brand of BMW, comparable to the firm's "M" badge. In other words, expect to see something in the likes of 'E' or 'EV' series.

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2010 Beijing Auto Show: Chevrolet Volt MPV5

After we showed you some of the designs a few days ago, the plainly-named Chevrolet Volt MPV5 crossover concept has rolled silently out of the gates.

Big things first: power comes from GM's lithium ion T-battery and a 1.4 liter engine generator, as one would expect. The battery will provide 51.5 km / 32 miles per charge, while the gasoline generator contributes an extra 482 km / 299.5 miles.

So, what is it other than a smaller Orlando with a Volt nose-job and power train? An expander, that's what. This model is GM's next step in creating a new sub-brand within GM, much like Audi's upcoming e-tron line.

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