St. Niklausen, Switzerland - The Swiss car company, Mindset, has revealed a prototype of its E-Motion electric-drive vehicle 18 months after project started.

Designed by former Volkswagen styling chief and Mindset company founder Murat Guenak, the E-Motion sports car will undergo testing on public roads during the next few weeks, according to an announcement.

The prototype, built in France by the car parts supplier Heuliez, features round retro headlamps and 22-inch wheels with ultra-low profile tyres and a coupe-station wagon design.

Tokyo - The Toyota iQ is heading for European showrooms in January 2009, challenging the Smart Fortwo and Fiat 500 in the microcar segment with an entry level price of 12,700 euros (16,338 dollars).

Measuring just under three metres in length, the iQ is 29 cm longer than the Smart but seats four people.

Average fuel consumption is listed at 4.3 litres per 100 kilometres with carbon dioxide emissions under 100 grams per kilometre. The three-cylinder engine has an output of 68 hp with a top speed of 150 km/h.

Hamburg - For decades cars have become bigger and heavier with more luxurious and safety gadgets, but several car makers are bucking the trend with new lightweight materials and design principles that save both fuel and resources.

Heavier cars mean more fuel consumption and more wear-and-tear of components such as suspension and tyres.

Audi pioneered weight-saving technology 10 years ago with aluminium bodies which are two-thirds lighter than conventional steel. It is alloyed with magnesium and silicon for additional strength.

Munich - Many car seats including headrests do not offer maximum protection against whiplash in the event of an accident, a test conducted by Germany's automobile association ADAC found.

In a rear collision test conducted on 25 car models, only five seats were described as "good" while eight were given a poor rating by the testers.

Hanover, Germany - Popular rally car drivers in the 1970s and 1980s fitted an array of huge headlights to their front grilles.

But nowadays, additional front-grille lighting tends to be subtler and can also be used for older cars.

"Headlights on older cars are not as efficient as those on the new models," says Helmut Klein from the technical centre of Germany's automobile association (ADAC).

Additional lighting can be especially useful in complementing the range and circumference of standard headlights in these cars, according to Klein.

Delbrueck, Germany - The Artega GT sports car that celebrated its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in 2006 will be delivered to the first customers in early 2009, the sports car manufacturer has announced.

Powered by a 3.6-litre V6 VW engine, the Artega GT has an output of 220 kW/300 hp with acceleration from zero to 100 km/h in five seconds.

With a length of 4.01 metres, the car is slightly shorter than a VW Golf but has almost the width of a Mercedes S-Class at 1.88 metres. It weighs only 1,100 kilogrammes.