Detroit - General Motors will unveil its new Chevrolet Cruze family saloon at the Paris Motor Show in October in the run-up to the European sales start in early 2009, the car maker announced recently.

The Cruze, which will also be sold on the North American market, is powered by a 1.4-litre engine with an output of 88 kW/120 hp and 103 kW/140 hp engine.

The saloon measuring 4.6 metres in length is part of GM's new strategy in building smaller more economical cars as petrol prices surge worldwide.

Stuttgart - Daimler will fit the petrol-engined Smart fortwo with a micro-hybrid start-stop system beginning in October this year, the car maker announced.

The system would reduce fuel consumption by an average 8 per cent with up to 20 per cent savings possible in city driving conditions, the company said.

In addition the Smart fortwo cdi will be equipped with a closed diesel particulate filter that almost completely eradicates particulate emissions.

Daimler lists average consumption of both the 52 kW/71 hp and the 45 kW/61 hp engines with a micro-hybrid at 4.3 litres per 100 kilometres with a carbon dioxide emission figures reduced to 103 grammes per kilometre.

Munich - BMW is planning to test a fleet of several hundred Mini cars with zero-emission electric drive in the coming months, the car maker has announced.

BMW's CEO Norbert Reithofer said in Munich this would help gather more know-how on how "mobility can be efficiently ensured with vehicles running only on electric-drive."

The Minis, built in Oxford, England, would be shipped to the BMW plant in Munich where they would be modified for electric drive.

Ingolstadt, Germany - Audi is working on a "green" traffic management system of the future that will make it possible to drive in a city without having to stop at traffic lights.

After two years of research, the car maker announced the pilot project in cooperation with the city of Ingolstadt and the department of traffic engineering at the Technical University of Munich.

The system has already been implemented at 46 traffic lights in Ingolstadt. Software optimizes the entire network of traffic lights, significantly reducing the duration of stopping times for cars.

Bangkok  - Thailand's automobile exports during the first half of 2008 increased 26 per cent, earning the kingdom 174.8 billion baht (5.2 billion dollars), industry sources disclosed on Tuesday.

During the January to June period, Thailand exported 385,870 pickup trucks and passenger cars, a 26 per cent increase over the same period last year, said Surapong Paisithpatanapong, spokesman for the Auto Club of the Thai Federation of Industries.

Thailand's main export markets for vehicles include Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Middle East and Europe.

Tokyo - Japan's automakers posted declines in domestic sales and increases in exports in the first six months of 2008, attributing the falls to surging oil prices and stronger exports to rising demand in other Asian nations, mainly China.

Toyota Motor Corp and its subsidiaries, Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors Ltd, saw a 1.7-per-cent drop in sales in Japan in the January-June period to 1.18 million units, compared with the same period last year.

The company's exports, however, grew 3.6 per cent to 1.47 million units.

Its global production rose 5.8 per cent to 4.98 million units.