When Porsche AG showed the 918 Spyder at the Geneva show in March, we said it was a car to “make anyone a believer in hybrid

supercar tech.”

Well, maybe not anyone, but Porsche now says it has almost 900 potential buyers for the two-seater hybrid prototype as the German automaker gets closer to approving production.

 

It’s official: Fisker Automotive has secured a $528.7 million loan from the federal government. That’s an impressive amount of cash, especially for a company that has yet to deliver a single model, but the government is hoping that a relatively small investment now will return big dividends for the future of the automotive industry. Fisker is primarily known for its work on the Karma -- a luxury plug-in hybrid vehicle that’s as attractive and powerful as it is efficient. While the company doesn’t expect everyone to be able to purchase an $87,900 sedan, the federal funds should go toward helping the company produce a more affordable model. 

A pre-production Chevy Volt was parked on College Walk at Columbia University in the City of New York (my alma mater), representing the "New York and the Electric Car" forum sponsored by the university and General Motors.

The forum, according to The New York Times Wheels blog, was more of "celebration" than anything else -- there was also a lot of cross-interest, with longtime former GM Vice President Lawrence Burns, also director of sustainable mobility for Columbia's Earth Institute. Jeffrey Sachs, who heads the institute, said that the world is on the cusp of a global electric revolution and that it will start in the world's biggest cities.

Arthur Kressner, director of power-supply research and development at Con Ed, said New York has a grid capable of handling the demand from electric vehicles, with the exception of rare peak demand times. The Wheels blog post doesn't say whether the grid can handle the demand because the demand, right now, is about zero. 

The war against distracted driving is really heating up.

First, the Governors Highway Safety Association and member state highway safety agencies are teaming up with Oprah Winfrey, the "Oprah Winfrey Show" and Harpo Productions for a No Phone Zone Day on April 30. This will be in conjunction with a very special episode (aren't they all?) of Oprah's show in which the media queen addresses the dangers of distracted driving. This will likely be followed up soon after by Oprah claiming to have eradicated the scourge once and for all, accompanied by some tears and harpsichord music in the background. If interested in the details, you can check out the press release here.

For those who prefer humor, rather than self-satisfied melodrama, as an antidote to the world's ills, check out Ken Jeong and Joel McHale, from NBC's show "Community," and the off-beat anti-texting-while-driving public-service announcement they've put out, after the jump. The humorous announcement was released via a partnership between dosomething.org and Sprint, and promotes the use of anti-texting "thumb socks" -- you'll understand when you see the video. It's a humorous attempt to solve a very serious problem, especially among teenagers, for whom car accidents are the country's No. 1 cause of death. 

Fans of the Audi R8 and Bugatti Veyron sports cars--a group that includes all of us here at AutoWeek--have the chance on Monday night to go behind the scenes and see how these road rockets are built.

The National Geographic Channel, available on cable and satellite TV systems, tells all about the Audi R8 on an episode of Ultimate Factories that airs at 10 p.m. Eastern. The show takes views into Audi's assembly plant in Neckarsulm, Germany, where workers build up the R8's aluminum space frame by hand.

 

Nope, this isn't another recall -- which, if you're a Tundra owner faced with fixes that could pull upwards of several thousands of dollars from your wallet, may actually sound like a bad thing.

Owners of 2007 and 2008 Tundra models are being asked to replace the air induction pump and/or the vehicle's air injection switching valves, which according to reports have been taking on water. Two points of bad news here: First, these systems seem to be failing right around the time Toyota's 3-year/36,000-mile warranty expires; second, the total cost for fixes can run up to four grand. 

For a glimpse at future styling trends from Nissan Motor Co., look to the headlamps on the Nissan Leaf electric car and the sculpted rear of the Infiniti M.

Front and rear lamps raised from the body surface and pronounced spoilers are two tricks Nissan will use more often to improve the aerodynamics and handling of vehicles--in addition to giving them a futuristic flair, global design chief Shiro Nakamura says.

The goal: Win young drivers and bring sales of models such as the Nissan Altima in line with Japanese rivals

"The important thing is the front end and the rear end," Nakamura said during an April 12 interview at the company's main design studio south of Tokyo. "Traditionally, the lamp surface has been flush with or a continuation of body surface. Now we are disconnecting that surface."

Improving aerodynamics is a key strategy for Nissan as automakers race to improve fuel efficiency and meet stricter global emissions standards. Nakamura says he aims for a drag coefficient below 0.3 for all his designs. The Toyota Prius, by comparison, has drag of 0.25.

 

Lots of alternative fuel technologies get an early jump integrated within fleet or public-transportation vehicles -- airport buses that run on condensed natural gas, for example, or gas-electric hybrids used for short-distance hauling.

Pure electrics, though, seem to have hit the natural consciousness as the next logical step in the clean, green and mainstream car movement. EVs such as the Nissan Leaf have been eagerly awaited by both the media and more than 100,000 potential buyers, while the Tesla Roadster has shown what electrics can do on the high end.

Volkswagen, the world's third-largest automaker, has its own EV slated for showrooms in 2013; however, its newest electric concept is more akin to those airport buses: a purpose-built, all-electric taxi, aimed at congested urban markets.