Need a car for your upcoming visit to Vacation Hot Spot X, but saddled with paralyzing guilt over your massive carbon footprint? Love the Nissan Leaf you have on order so much that you can't bear the thought of parting with it when you fly off to a distant city? Worry not: Enterprise Rent-A-Car aims to fix your problem. The company recently announced plans to offer 600 electric vehicles for rent in various locations around the world.   

 

 

 

 

 

Bentley is considering equipping its future V8-powered Continental GT variant with a dual-clutch transmission that sister-company Audi badges as S-Tronic.

 

Bentley's engineers are doing engineering studies on the feasibility of packaging the S-Tronic into the Continental's transmission tunnel.

 

In an enormous building in Japan, Toyota has built what it says is the "world's most advanced" driving simulator. The Lexus-branded sim, which looks like a giant golf ball and rides on a series of tracks inside a massive hangar, can mimic every aspect of modern driving, from high speed to cockpit distractions. It was engineered to monitor driver behavior and reaction times, and to help develop active safety features that may appear on future models.  

 

 

 

 

 

It was only natural. With the SUV craze decidedly downsizing, BMW appears set to add an X4 -- with a range-topping M version -- as part of plans to expand its utility-vehicle lineup in 2014.

 

Conceived along the lines of the highly successful X6, the X4 is a smaller and more agile four-seater. Although it shares the same floorpan, drivelines, chassis and engineering hard points as the X3, the X4 is set to receive individual styling in a move to give it a more sporting image and enable BMW to position it higher than the SUV upon which it is based.

 

There’s no question that Americans are opening their minds and wallets to small cars. But how small are most people willing to go? That’s the question I have after testing the Ford Fiesta subcompact and its kissing cousin, the Mazda2.

 

The Ford and Mazda hatchbacks, like the Honda Fit before them, are cute and spunky, if underpowered. But I’m still not sure I’d buy one -- especially when I could have a slightly bigger, better compact like a Mazda3 or the new-generation Ford Focus for only a bit more money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We now have a better look at the 2011 Chrysler 200 sedan, courtesy of new photos from Chrysler.

 

The updates to the Chrysler Sebring to convert it to the 200 include new front and rear fascia. The Chrysler badge will adorn the front, while a new rear decklid, LED taillights and brake lights round out the rear.

 

Monday must have been a rough day for General Motors. After finally handing the Chevrolet Volt over to select members of the media, the company was bombarded with accusations that it had misled both the press and the public about the Volt's status as an electric vehicle. There was a great deal of contention over the semantics about the Volt's powertrain -- whether it should be classified as a hybrid and whether its turbocharged 1.4-liter 4-cylinder gasoline engine was capable of driving the car's front wheels. 

Current events aside, there's really only one thing that matters here: For John Q. Public, the bits and pieces under the Volt's hood don't matter. They don't matter for any hybrid or electric vehicle. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aston Martin said on Monday that the Cygnet -- a reworked version of the Toyota iQ city car -- will go into production in 2011.

 

The Cygnet, which was shown as a concept car at the Geneva motor show in March, is just less than 10 feet long.

 

"Our customers need a small car for urban and city use and they want the right tools for the right job, to downsize creatively without compromising intelligence, artistry and personality," said Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez.