Auto Industry, Hybrids | featured news

This week in Geneva while Ferrari joined the hybrid race with McLaren and Porsche, Lamborghini unveiled its latest prototype, the $3.9 million Veneno. The 750-horsepower car is a one-off model made to coincide with the company’s 50th anniversary. Its multi-million-dollar price tag makes it one of the most expensive cars ever made, putting it in the same echelon as the $2.4 million Bugatti Veyron and the $1 million McLaren F1.

General Motors' Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid car topped Consumer Reports' annual owner-satisfaction survey for the second straight year. Ninety-two percent of Volt owners surveyed said they would definitely buy the Volt again.

It’s been a tough year for the Volt, General Motors’ plug-in hybrid.  But perhaps it’s about to see its fortunes turn as a jury of continental journalists declare Volt the European Car of the Year.

Toyota over the weekend broke ground for a technical center near Shanghai that will prepare for shifting production to China of tightly guarded technology used in its hybrids and other alternative-energy vehicles—but not its latest technology.

Toyota Motor Corp. got 180,000 orders for the new Prius hybrid in Japan in just a month, far surpassing its target of 10,000 vehicles in monthly sales, the automaker said Friday.

The third-generation Prius, which rolled out a month ago, has been a big hit here, partly because of tax-breaks and other new government incentives that are meant to perk growth during the nation's downturn.

Piaggio plans to sell a plug-in hybrid scooter to the United States in 2010.