National Motorists Association says get out of the way

This is a no-brainer to AutoWeek readers, but the National Motorists Association has launched a publicity campaign urging drivers to not block the left lane and cause traffic problems. The group has named June "Lane Courtesy Month," which coincides with higher traffic volumes for the summer. The group says a driver is lane-courteous when he or she is keeping clear of the left lane unless passing slower-moving vehicles, then moving back into the right lane as soon as possible.

BMW ‘i' subbrand aims for 2013 launch

BMW has confirmed that the new subbrand through which it intends to market a range of advanced stand-alone hybrid, range-extended and plug-in electric models will be called BMW “i.” Created to develop, produce and market what BMW's head of marketing, Ian Robertson, describes as “innovative solutions to premium mobility,” the brand will be supported by a company established by BMW called i Ventures, through which the German carmaker plans to grow its range of mobility services. The i3 and the i8 will be the initial models and are planned for introduction in 2013. “These cars have been designed specifically for their respective alternative drive systems,” said Klaus Draeger, head of BMW's R&D operations.

Tesla-Toyota RAV4 EV: LA Catchup +video

The Tesla Toyota RAV4 EV A couple of weeks ago we ran a story on the Tesla Toyota RAV4 EV, an electric Toyota RAV4 endowed with electric car gubbins by Tesla. That’s the same Tesla in whom Toyota recently acquired a stake and provided with a factory with a capacity at least twenty times that which Tesla will ever need. We speculated when the tease came in for the electric RAV4 that maybe Toyota had plans to get Tesla to run out electric versions of all its cars at the new Tesla plant to take up the enormous slack in production numbers.