Petrol price relief? Stephen Voller, chief executive of Cella Energy said he is confident the new fuel will work in existing cars. Artificial petrol that costs 19p per litre could be on forecourts in as little as three years. British scientists are refining the recipe for a hydrogen-based fuel that will run in existing cars and engines at the fraction of the cost of conventional... 

The French government and the automaker Renault SA are trying to avert a standoff with Beijing over reports that a Chinese industrial espionage ring stole details of Renault’s electric vehicle technology. The carmaker suspended three executives Jan. 3 on suspicion of involvement in leaking information. It filed a criminal complaint on Thursday, alleging that it... 

The iconic American motorcycle brand, Harley-Davidson, has announced plans to build an assembly plant in India. Harley-Davidson, the iconic American motorcycle brand with a cult-like following, has announced it has chosen to build its second assembly plant ever outside the United States in India. The “complete knock down” plant or CKD is expected to be up... 

Panasonic Corporation and Tesla Motors today announced that Panasonic has invested $30 million in Tesla. The investment was made through the purchase of Tesla common stock in a private placement at a price of $21.15 per share. The investment builds upon a multi-year collaboration of the two companies to accelerate the market expansion of the electric vehicle. Panasonic... 

Mirko Hannemann, chief executive of DBM Energy, gets out of the "Lekker Mobil", an Audi A2 with an electric engine, in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate on Tuesday. The electric car drove 600km (372 Miles) from Munich in southern Germany to Berlin without recharging its battery, setting what organisers hailed as a new world distance record for an everyday... 

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport is among the most rare production cars in the world, with perhaps only 40 manufactured. Dan Neil, automotive critic of the Wall Street Journal, is the first journalist to test drive the powerful machine that recently set the speed record for a production car at 268 mph. Neil, who won the Pulitzer Price for criticism in 2004, concludes... 

The full size, full length Bloodhound SSC model car unveiled at the Farnborough International Air Show The British team hoping to drive a car faster than 1,000mph has unveiled a full-scale model of the vehicle. The 1:1 replica of the 12.8m-long (42ft) Bloodhound SuperSonic Car (SSC) is the result of three years of aerodynamic study. The model is a star turn at this year’s... 

Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday about 270,000 cars sold worldwide — including luxury Lexus sedans — have potentially faulty engines, the latest quality lapse to hit the automaker following massive global recalls of top-selling models. Japan’s top-selling daily Yomiuri said in its evening edition that Toyota will inform the transport ministry of a recall... 

“In recent years, China has become the world’s fastest growing automotive producer,” according to a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service. “[China's] annual vehicle output has increased from less than 2 million vehicles in the late 1990s to 9.5 million in 2008. In terms of production volume in 2008, China has surpassed Korea, France, Germany,... 

A Düsseldorf antique car dealer working on behalf of a Russian billionaire told The Local on Monday he has located a Mercedes limousine belonging to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler after a painstaking two-month search. The midnight blue 770K model vehicle was locked away in a Bielefeld collector’s garage with seven others also previously owned by Nazi party officials,... 

Volkswagen Group has displaced Toyota for the first time as the world’s largest car manufacturer in terms of production. The German carmaker produced 4.4 million vehicles in the first nine months of the year, overtaking its Japanese rival by 400,000 units, consulting firm IHS Global Insight said on Wednesday. Volkswagen Group owns a variety of models such as Skoda... 

A Ford Motor Co. employee has been charged with stealing its trade secrets for the Chinese, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Xiang Dong Yu, also known as Mike Yu, 47, of Beijing, China, was arrested on Wednesday at Chicago O’Hare International Airport when he tried to re-enter the country from China. He has been charged with... 

Volkswagen are planning a total takeover of Porsche, revising earlier reports that VW was only buying half of the sports car giant, news magazine Der Spiegel said Saturday. According the magazine, the sale will be completed in two stages – first 49.9 percent will be taken over, as had been reported this week, then VW will move to buy the rest of the company. Porsche... 

General Motors Corp. has pulled together many of the pieces needed to complete government-ordered restructuring, but its board still is likely to decide Saturday to head into bankruptcy protection because there’s too much left to do. Word of the board’s decision, which would be made during two days of meetings, may not be known until Monday, when GM is expected... 

There is no way Obama can spin or fast-talk his way out of this one. Nor can he blame it on Bush as this is happening months into Obama’s presidency. Chrysler has just gone bankrupt and GM is not far behind. An AFP article reports “Chrysler was forced into bankruptcy protection Thursday… Chrysler said most of its plants will be ‘temporarily’ idled until the...