Geneva  - The Swiss tuning firm Sportec is offering a Porsche 911 with compressed natural gas (CNG) drive that it claims offers both more power and reduces carbon dioxide emissions in comparison with the conventional model.

Fitted with two additional turbo loaders, the Porsche SP 550 mean & clean boosts the power unit from 480 to 550 hp. A special air filter system provides additional cooling. The six-cylinder engine electronics have been reprogrammed improving acceleration from zero

to 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds with a top speed of 331 km/h.

Geneva  - Volkswagen highlighted the new, fuel-efficient Polo BlueMotion with fuel consumption of 3.3 litres at the Geneva Motor Show. Production will probably be scheduled for 2010.

A team led by Development Chief Ulrich Hackenberg said development of the new 1.2 litre TDI engine had to be completed first, but that: "I anticipate that we will be able to go into production in February 2010."

Geneva  - Swedish sports car maker Koenigsegg has joined forces with the Swiss NLV to build an all-electric, high performance super car with an output of 512 hp and a top speed of 275 kilometres an hour.

At the heart of the power package is the FAES battery system that can be charged from any electric plug in just 20 minutes with a range of 500 kilometres. The battery pack is positioned in the centre of the carbon-fibre monotube chassis.

Geneva  - Niche car producers stole the limelight at the Geneva Motor Show with such high-end sports car makers as Maserati, Lamborghini and Aston Martin apparently unaffected by the global financial crisis.

"There is a small section of customers who neither look at money nor carbon dioxide emissions," says market analyst Nick Margetts of Jato Dynamics.

If sales show a downward trend, these manufacturers use another trick.

For Tata's small car Nano, loan can be availed at an interest rate of 14 to 14.75 per cent from the State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest bank, as per some unofficial reports.

The bank would cover 70 per cent of the price of the car for five year tenure. Recently, general managers of all branches of SBI discussed the finance matters with company's officials in a bid to provide car finance in easy and hassle free manner, targeting common man in the rural segment of country.

Washington - The auto industry and US government are working to avoid bankruptcy for General Motors (GM) and keep the US auto industry afloat, officials said Tuesday.

Steven Rattner, chief adviser to the Department of the Treasury's auto industry task force, said the Obama administration was "open minded" about giving more aid to GM and Chrysler, and planned to use "all the resources" of the US government to avoid bankruptcy.