Iconoclasts that we are, we love it when people experiment with automotive irony. Case in point: LHT Performance's K20a Insight. The Floridian tuners (tunas?) stripped a red Honda Insight of its earth-friendly gas – electric innards and dropped in a Civic Type-R K20A engine. We're talking over 200 horses mated to a six-speed tranny. (How kinky does that sound?) The resulting car "goes like a rocket" and still gets 48mpg. The K20a is no stripped-out street racer. You got your power steering, AC, ABS, and an uprated suspension and frame. While building what could be the ultimate sleeper, LHT has raised (however unwittingly) an important eco-point. While automakers spend billions in a technological arms race to develop ever more complex drivetrains, these guys have proven that simple, small, aerodynamically efficient cars can be fun, fast and frugal. Who knew?

Cerberus Capital Management has been building a name for itself by buying high-risk automotive assets like Chrysler and GMAC. Obviously Steve Feinberg's boys don't listen to analysts who say that Cerberus is already overexposed; the private equity fund is looking at sinking money into yet another troubled automotive enterprise. Forbe's reports that Dura Automotive, a supplier of door and seat systems and other automotive components is looking for loans to exit Chapter 11. A Dura spokesperson reveals that "Cerberus Capital Management's Ableco Finance LLC, [is] among the potential sources of Chapter 11 exit loans that are talking to the company." Dura needs a $150m first-lien term loan and an $80m second-lien loan to implement the Chapter 11 plan it filed Friday. This is Dura's second shot at exiting Chapter 11, having already failed to secure a larger loan package in December. Cerberus gave the company a $170m loan in January to defer foreclosure, meaning it may have no choice but to shell out the $230m Dura needs in order to protect its already considerable investment in the company. Preview of coming attractions?

In his seminal work "The Origin of Competitive Strength," former Toyota chief of Product Planning Akira Kawahara claimed that platform-sharing was a main source of early strength for Toyota. As proof that Kawahara-san's strategy of multiple brands on similar platforms still holds favor at ToMoCo, According to Automotive News [sub], the Japanese automaker is considering launching a new Prius brand. Executive VP for R&D Kazuo Okamoto confirms that Toyota is developing plans for an entire Prius range, as "Prius recognition levels [are] rising." Calling the development "a reasonable direction," Okamoto admitted that Toyota may use the Prius platform for coupes, wagons and sedans. Having already invested in a Scion dealership network which is seeing sagging sales, Toyota could leverage some considerable synergy (pun intended) with the introduction of a Prius brand alongside its ostensibly "youth-market" brand. Then again, if Toyota marketers are to be believed, criminals with hearts of gold just want a Prius with a bigger trunk.

Nobody can accuse Daimler of ignoring the green marketing craze that is sweeping the industry. They've shown high-tech lithium-ion-based diesel and mild hybrid concepts in near-production models (in contrast to other automakers' futuristic flights of fancy). A "BlueEfficiency" package will be available across its Mercedes-Benz model line by year's end, bringing lower weights, reduced rolling resistance and 10 percent better efficiency. None of these efforts will be particularly profitable, but unlike other companies, Daimler is willing to admit it. According to Automotive News [sub], Daimler research chief Thomas Weber says the company isn't expecting its green initiatives to make it any money. "We have to make sure that we keep an eye on the profit situation," said Weber. "Our strategic goal is not to make a lot of money with this, but also not to lose a lot of money with this." What, no mention of how eco-oriented vehicles help the German automaker bank the bucks by meeting new Euro and U.S. CO2/mpg regs, so they can sell high-profit gas guzzlers? Hey, glasnost only goes so far.

Chinese firm BYD (better known as an industry leader in NiCad and Lithium Ion batteries) unveiled its second plug-in hybrid at the Geneva Auto Show. Green Car Congress says its unique three-mode hybrid drivetrain starts in full-electric mode, switches to range-extending serial hybrid mode, and finally to Prius-style parallel hybrid setting (with gas and electric motor operating together). Scheduled for 2010 (isn't everything?), the new F3DM is aimed at the European market. BYD is not shy about its chances for success in the hybrid and electric car markets. "Battery technology is our core competency," Chairman Wang Chaunfu boasts. "And we think we are well-placed against GM and Toyota." No surprise then, that the company's 20kWh lithium-iron phosphate battery pack can go 70 miles on a single (long-ish) nine-hour 220 VAC charge… with a gas engine ready to kick in to extend range or increase power at any time. With a BYD test-fleet of taxis preparing to take to the streets of Shenzhen, the first automaker to sell an out-of-the-box, plug-in hybrid could well be Chinese. 

Attention car companies who desperately want to beat Toyota at the green car game: start building diesel hybrids now. Accordingt to Automotive News [sub], Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe says his company has no plans to build a hybrid diesel car. Toyota leads worldwide sales of gas – electric hybrids, plans to offer diesels on the Tundra/Sequoia platform and sells a truck in Japan with a hybrid diesel powertrain. So what's the issue? Unlike other companies we could mention (cough, GM, cough), Toyota doesn't see the value in rushing prohibitively expensive green technology to market. "A diesel hybrid car would cost more than a gasoline hybrid," explains Watanabe, reminding the greenrush crowd that the car business is still a business. So what of diesel hybrid concepts from Mercedes and Volkswagen? We can only assume that consumers have long become accustomed to overpaying for German offerings. 

In spite of the fact that BMW's eliminating jobs around the world, the German automaker is expanding their Spartanburg, South Carolina plant. The Spartanburg Herald-Journal reports the transplant aims to churn-out 240k vehicles per year by 2012. That's well up from the approximate 160k Bimmer's NA plant currently produces. At the moment, Bimmer builds the Z4 roadster and X5 sports utility activity vehicle in the Palmetto State. Later this year, they'll add the X6 sports whatever-it-is. In 2009, Spartenburg will produce a diesel version of the X5 and a hybrid version X6 for the U.S. market. The following year, BMW plans to emigrate Z4 production to Germany and immigrate the next-gen X3 from Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria. What if the weak dollar strengthens? As they say in S.C., dum spiro spero.

Yesterday GM CEO Rick Wagoner announced his employer's plans to offer at least 16 hybrid models by 2012. Speaking at the Geneva auto show, Wagoner said The General will introduce one hybrid model every four months until 2012. Automotive News [sub] reports the hybrids will use updated versions of the two hybrid systems GM currently offers: the two-mode hybrid for trucks and SUVs and the hybrid-lite belt-alternator system for passenger cars (no mention of a full hybrid high-mileage passenger car to compete directly with Prius and the other hybrid offerings from across the Pacific). You can bet GM'll game the numbers to achieve their goal, as spokesman Brian Corbett said the 16 hybrids would be launched in North America, Asia and possibly Europe. That means they can drop the drivetrain from the Saturn Vue Greenline into its Theta platform-mates around the world and instantly claim five new hybrids. Not bad for a company whose Vice Chairman of Global Product Development thinks hybrids "make no economic sense." Anyway, when it comes to greenwashing, GM is clearly set on becoming the industry leader.

Showcased in the Saab 9-X concept at Geneva, GM's unveiled their fifth hybrid powerplant: an evolution of their first-gen Belt-Alternator-Starter system (a.k.a. BAS or "mild hybrid"). The Detroit News says upgrades include a new, Hitachi-sourced lithium-ion battery, a new electric motor, the addition of "brief electric-only propulsion" and improved regenerative braking. At Geneva, GM hybrid guru Steve Poulos said these upgrades do not an American Revolution make. "We took the same [first-gen BAS] system and put it on steroids." GM's next gen system is three times more powerful than the existing BAS unit. That said, Poulos admitted that the new system will improve a BAS-equipped vehicle's fuel efficiency by one to two miles per gallon. CEO Rick Wagoner says this new drivetrain is "important step to make hybrid technology more affordable to a wide variety of consumers." Baby steps indeed. If GM wants to catch-up with Toyota's Synergy drive, they'll have to do better than this.

Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Center is proud to present (in that deep voice radio promo ad sort of way) Crusher. As you can see (especially if you're a professional weight guesser), it's a 6.5-ton, six-wheeled, armor-clad robot designed to eliminate 1998 American cars to protect Mexican car dealers. Crusher has no human operator (always a mistake in sci-fi flicks). Instead, it uses a program called UPI to defeat obstacles, advance through enemy defenses, wield weapons and (if UPI includes a couple of Asimov's three laws of robotics) protect human troops. As reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Crusher is a turbo-diesel/electric hybrid whose batteries power motors in each wheel. Individual wheel suspension allows Crusher to roll up to 26 mph over rough terrain, successfully traversing large ditches, man-made barriers or crappy used cars. In a recent demonstration at Fort Bliss, DARPA's Stephen Welby raved about the future Army recruiting star for career-challenged fans of monster truck jams. "To understand how fast it operated in this environment, you have to understand that we were bouncing around [in a vehicle following Crusher], and I could barely walk afterwards with pain in my kidneys." (One surmounts stones, the other causes them.) CMU's NREC director of acronyms Steve Di Antonio thinks the vehicle and software have potential applications in construction, farming and mining. We're waiting for its first rap video appearance and the inevitable stretch Crusher limo.

As part of GM's ongoing greenwashing campaign efforts to save the environment, The General has formed a partnership with one of the few companies in the world with an even greater responsibility for production of greenhouse gases: Virgin Atlantic Airways. In a splashy New York press conference [publicized via PRNewsWire], Virgin Atlantic and GM executives touted their agreement to provide fuel cell-powered Chevy Equinox limos as part of their Upper Class Limo Service. Initially, the vehicles will only be available only at LAX. If all goes well, the program will expand to The Big Apple, where Virgin customers will "experience the next generation of cars but also reduce their carbon footprint." Well, as long as they can afford the Virgin "Upper Class Experience" and ignore the energy-intensive hydrogen production techniques. In fact, the whole project serves only serves to reinforce the worst aspects of the so-called "green consumption" movement: offering immature technologies to alleviate the guilt of those who can afford to pay huge price premiums. How about focusing on reducing carbon intensive air travel or delivering cost-effective, fuel efficient vehicles across a model range?

Morgan has long been known as the maker of quirky British cars with technology, materials and looks straight from the early 20th century. With the de rigeur pre-Geneva release of its jointly developed prototype Lifecar, it seems that Morgan has decided to skip a hundred years or so of automotive development and go straight to fuel cells. Based on the Morgan Aero 8, co-developed by a consortium of British Universities and defense companies, the Lifecar concept features a relatively small 22kw fuel cell. With supercapacitors replacing batteries and regenerative braking, the Lifecar is pegged to scoot to 60mph in seven seconds and have a 250 mile range (now why does that sound so familiar?). The key to Lifecar's performance: a lean 1,500lb curb weight. Morgan's woodworking prowess helped give the Aero 8's crash diet a little class, fitting the concept with a super-lightweight wooden interior and seats. Morgan is not ruling out possible Lifecar production if there's an "enormous response." And if the idea of a totally silent lightweight Coupe based on an unavailable fuel source doesn't tickle your "enormous response," Morgan might just throw in a pair of headphones which will playback the sound of their five-liter V8 in time with the movements of your right foot. Now where's that checkbook?

Looks like Honda, Nissan, GM and Ford need to slap their advertising agencies around. It appears some greenies don't know they make hybrids! From Ourgreenbabysteps blog comes this tidbit: "I ran into someone at work today who owns a Honda Civic Hybrid.  I didn’t even realize there was another family hybrid car other than the Toyota Prius." Toyota probably also needs to increase the advertising budget for the hybrid Camry and Highlander, since they seem to be semi-unknown as well. I wonder what will happen when the blogger finds out he/she can even get a humongous SUV or all-American pick-'em-up truck with a hybrid powertrain. I'm thinking spontaneous cranial combustion.

Mercedes has announced another new vehicle for the Geneva auto show. Since they're too cool for the word "concept," it's called the "Vision GLK BLUETEC HYBRID." In caps lock. So remember it. It's a diesel electric hybrid, pairing Benz's well-reviewed 2.2-liter straight four oil burner with an electric motor. The numbers we care about: 224, 400, 40 and 7.3. That's horses, ft.-lbs. of torque, miles per gallon and 0 – 60. All in all, them's some impressive stats– especially when you consider that this is a big, heavy, boxy SUV (it's also noxiously fugly). The powertrain might yield truly earth shattering data in the C-Class sedan, but hey, this hybrid SUV doubles the mileage of the equivalent gas-fed V6, without any impact on performance. Diesel electric is also a nice idea because it minimizes particulate emissions when you start the car and while driving at slow speeds around town. The GLK goes on sale here in 2008. As for the powertrain, Benz specifically mentions that it meets America's "stringent" BIN5 standard. But not, perhaps, our aesthetic sensibilities…

[View the GLK BLUETEC HYBRID Pixamo Gallery here.] 

According to The New York Times, Big Apple mayor Michael Bloomberg is about mandate that the City's 10k car service limos must average 25 mpg by 2009 and 30 mpg by 2010. As the vehicles in question currently average between 12 and 15 mpg, they'd almost certainly require hybrid drivetrains to achieve Bloomberg's lofty goals. The plan requires approval by New York's Taxi and Limousine Commission. Passage seems likely. Commissioner Mathew W. Daus' says "it is to the great credit of black-car industry leaders that they have collectively embraced Mayor Bloomberg's efforts to reduce harmful emissions." Daus' willingness to green-up may something to do with the fact that Hizzoner isn't going force limo companies to comply with the new standards through punitive fines. Instead, Bloomberg is proposing a state sales tax waiver on purchases of more efficient limos and low-interest financing, through corporate partnerships with Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers, and Hudson Toyota/Penske Auto Group.