Alfa Romeo, a look at the company's 100 years

Alfa Romeo celebrated its centenary on June 24 as one of the most storied marques in automotive history, but its future remains uncertain. A.L.F.A was founded in 1910 in Milan as Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica. A.L.F.A.'s first automobile was the 24 HP designed by Giuseppe Merosi.

Audi RS5 TDI Concept gets electric turbo and 380bhp

The Audi RS5 TDI Concept (pictured) gets an electric turbo It’s two years since Audi revealed it was working on an electric turbo to be used in a twin-turbo setup, with the electric turbo able to offer boost pressure from much lower down the rev range than a normal turbo. That has turned in to the Audi RS5 TDI Concept, where Audi has replaced the normal RS5‘s V8 with a 3.0 litre TDI engine with a small electric turbo for low rev work and a bigger turbo to do the higher rev stuff. The electric turbo works from the off to provide maximum torque of 553lb/ft from just 1250rpm, before the bigger normal turbo takes over at 3,000rpm to continue the boost.

Toyota Prius: Battery bottleneck limits Prius Output

Battery bottlenecks are hurting efforts to boost output of the Toyota Prius to meet booming demand, and the problem will likely persist into next year, a Toyota official says. "The new Prius model has been excessively popular, inconveniencing some of our customers, and the factories are working overtime at full capacity," Takahiko Ijichi, Toyota senior managing director, said Tuesday at the company's quarterly earnings announcement. "Unfortunately, the batteries are not catching up with demand.