Audi plans to use the e-tron designation for its electric vehicles.

Audi cars will carry the e-tron logo on their rear, similar to the way models now bear the "quattro" designation.

Audi plans to produce an initial run of 100 units of its e-tron electric sports car at its factory in Ingolstadt, Germany, in 2012. The car was unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show.

An expansion of this small production volume to 1,000 units is planned. No decision has yet been made on where the vehicle will be built long term.

 

Toyota's been so battered over the past several weeks that, in an attempt to repair its napalmed image, the company will make public car problems not affected by its current recalls -- in other words, problems that it is not under any obligation to disclose.

That decision was made even as pressure mounts for company President Akio Toyoda to appear before Congress later this month at a hearing scheduled to investigate the myriad automotive safety lapses. While Japanese media are speculating that Toyoda will, in fact, attend, there has been no official word from the Toyota camp. Toyoda has a trip to the U.S. scheduled for early March, but that would come after the Feb. 24 hearings. 

Mazda Motor Corp. said Thursday that it is installing upgraded features for the North American launch of the 2011 Mazda2 this fall. The automaker unveiled the interior of the five-door hatchback at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto.

 

I am so pissed off right now.

When we reported that the Audi A1 would, in fact, become reality, it was still up in the air whether or not the compact luxury hatch would head stateside, but I figured "a sleek, gorgeous, luxury hatch with an Audi badge and starting at $22,000 in a U.S. market suddenly interested again in quality small cars is a no-brainer."

Well, apparently it is a brainer: The New York Times Wheels blog is reporting that the A1 will not be coming to the U.S. Audi says the demand would be "too weak."

What. The. Hell.

Could it be? Could Audi be totally missing the mark on this, or -- dare I say it? -- behind the times? 

Filling in for Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, who was called away to ink a deal creating a joint venture to produce vehicles in Russia, chief design officer and Dodge brand CEO Ralph Gilles gave a speech in Chicago today in which he said that the Chrysler brand should strive to emulate that bastion of slick and innovative design, Apple. He also noted that his hero is Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Gilles said that while Chrysler has a storied history of innovation -- the badge pretty much invented both the minivan and the modern SUV -- many of its recent offerings have been either "me too" vehicles, which look like everything else, or models that received a lot of design attention but became one-hit wonders due to lack of follow-through.

Now, designwise, Gilles is the man. He created the Chrysler 300, which, while it's starting to show its years, was a pretty badass, head-turning car when it debuted. The man knows of what he speaks. The one thing I will question, though, is the following quote from the Automotive News source article: 

Volkswagen is banking on the fuel-saving properties of a new gasoline-electric hybrid drivetrain and what it describes as a wholesale improvement in quality levels to bolster North American sales of its second-generation Touareg.

This new Touareg represents VW's first foray into the premium-hybrid-SUV market, which includes gasoline-electric entries from BMW, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Cadillac, among others. Further competition will come from a similarly powered version of the new Porsche Cayenne, alongside which the new Touareg was developed.

Despite the late entry of its hybrid, VW says it is confident the heavily reworked SUV will emulate the sales success of its seven-year-old predecessor--which recently raked up half a million sales worldwide--and register gains in many markets where it is sold.

As an alternative to the gasoline-electric hybrid drivetrain, the new Touareg will also be offered with the choice of three new or upgraded gasoline or diesel engines during the initial sales period, although not all are expected to find their way to North America.

 

Whether or not the mechanical solution Toyota has proposed to fix unintended-acceleration issues in its vehicles works in all cases -- and it seems increasingly likely it won't -- no one can dispute that the company dropped the ball during the whole ordeal, whether through incompetence or obfuscation.

Consumer Reports has stepped up to list five steps that Toyota, or any automaker, can take to fix the problem -- and, no, "throw out your floor mats" isn't one of them. (Not coincidentally, the magazine also dropped the "recommended" label on the models affected by the unintended-acceleration recall.) Let's take a look.

1. "Engineer cars so a sustained braking force can stop a car in a reasonable distance even with the accelerator pedal fully depressed." Many cars can do this even with the throttle wide open, as CR points out, but of what use is that if it takes 800 feet to do so? Their suggestion: a smart throttle control that lets the brake override the accelerator when both are engaged (something Toyota has pledged to install in the future). 

Porsche will bring its latest hybrid know-how to the racetrack in the form of the new 911 GT3 R Hybrid, revealed for the first time prior to a planned public premiere at the Geneva Motor Show in early March.

Developed by a team of engineers at Porsche's Weissach R&D center, Porsche plans for the stripped-out race car to act as a rolling laboratory. The German carmaker wants to explore the potential of hybrid drivetrains in a racing environment before an expected announcement that it will return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a factory capacity, perhaps in 2012, with a race car boasting technology based on that used in the 911 GT3 R Hybrid.

Based on Porsche's recently revealed 911 GT3 RSR, the R Hybrid eschews conventional hybrid technology for an advanced new electro-mechanical flywheel system. Porsche sources said that the company is considering the system as a means of boosting the performance of its future race cars, and that the technology could end up on selected road cars, including a planned hybrid version of the 911. The new hybrid technology forms part of a broader program that goes under the name Porsche Intelligent Performance.