1968 Pontiac Firebird Steering Wheel Center/ Horn Buttons on 2040-parts.com

Carbon-fiber parts and a software fix help create a lighter, faster Fiat

Chrysler Group's Mopar parts brand and Italian supplier Magneti Marelli have teamed up on a design exercise based on the 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth that shaved weight and added horsepower. The vehicle, called the Venom, has a number of carbon fiber components -- hood and side mirrors, for example -- that makes it about 200 pounds lighter than the 2,512-pound Abarth. The Venom uses software updates and additional exhaust components to boost the Abarth's standard 160-hp 1.4-liter turbocharged engine's output by as much as 25 percent.

General Motors halts Hummer production until sale is completed

General Motors will stop production of Hummers at the end of this week as the automaker waits for Chinese regulators to approve the brand's sale to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. Output of Hummer H3 and H3T models at GM's Shreveport, La., plant will resume once the pending acquisition is completed, Hummer spokesman Nick Richards said. Richards declined to specify what issues remain to be approved by the Chinese government.

New Range Rover & 2014 Range Rover Sport diesel hybrid at Frankfurt 2013

But Land Rover did tell us the 4.4 litre TDV8 will be joining the range later in the year and that a diesel-electric hybrid would be on offer too. And now we know that the diesel hybrid Range Rover Sport – and a Range Rover Hybrid – will both debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Stuart Frith, LR’s head programme engineer for the new RRS, has confirmed to Car Sales in Australia that the hybrid Range Rover and Sport will arrive in September – as will the TDV8 RRS – but that the 2.0 litre EcoBoost petrol engine for the RRS is still a way off, even though Land Rover are already running it and believe it still offers all a real Range Rover Sport should.