1978 Ford Tail Light Lens W/housing . on 2040-parts.com

MIT researchers rethink electric-car batteries

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say a new battery design for electric vehicles could be a lightweight and inexpensive alternative. The goal for the team's three-year project, launched in September 2010, is to have a functioning prototype ready to be engineered as a replacement for existing electric-car batteries. At this point in the project, the prototype uses a “semi-solid flow” to separate the two functions of a battery--storing energy and discharging it when needed--into separate physical structures.

News watch April 2012: today's auto industry news

Welcome to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hourMonday 30 April 2012• Kia posted global first quarter 2012 profits up 26%, with sales up 12% worldwide. 635000 new Kias found homes, 79000 in Europe (up 24.6% on 2011 in a total market which contracted 7.1%), with the USA now Kia's largest market ahead of Korea.

VW Tiguan Match returns – costs from £23,245

The VW Tiguan Match (pictured) returns for 2013 Back in 2010, Volkswagen had a play with the Tiguan model lineup and replaced the Tiguan SE with a better equipped Tiguan Match. And history is now repeating itself. VW has decided, once again, to drop the Tiguan SE from the model lineup and replace it with the Tiguan Match which, this time, actually costs slightly less than the SE and yet boasts more equipment.