Hamburg - Car factories from Detroit, to Tokyo and Munich are grinding to a halt as the car industry faces its biggest shake-up in decades with millions of unsold, new cars standing idle in the parking lots of dealerships and storage depots.
But while analysts are asking themselves whether big names such as General Motors, Chrysler and Ford will survive the winter, engineers are looking at nothing less than re-inventing the car for a new era of sustainability.
Paradoxically, the crisis in the industry comes at a time when car makers are announcing almost weekly, new innovations in clean-drive technology and dealerships are offering special discounts. Cars have never been safer, more efficient and versatile.
Stockholm/Detroit - Ailing US carmaker General Motors (GM) could be planning to sell off its Swedish subsidiary Saab, Saab's deputy director Frederick Henderson told Stockholm's SR radio station Wednesday.
Norwich, England - The British sports car manufacturer, Lotus, has pepped-up the predecessor S with the new Lotus Europa SE model and improved performance, modified the chassis and the AP four-piston, racing-brake system.
Stuttgart, Germany - Mercedes is mulling plans to sell its small A and B Class models in the United States, the Vice President of Marketing at Mercedes-Benz in the US, Stephen Cannon, told Germany's auto-motor-sport magazine.
Tokyo - To help drivers improve fuel efficiency, Honda is offering a new Ecological Drive Assist System in the new Insight family hybrid car which goes on sale in early 2009.
Los Angeles - Hyundai is developing a new hybrid technology using lithium polymer batteries which the car maker claims are lighter, require less space and are 10 per cent more efficient than current hybrids which use either lithium-ion or nickel-metal hybride.
