Former General Motors CEO Robert Stempel dies

Former General Motors CEO Robert Stempel, who led the automaker during a turbulent period of recession and restructuring in the early 1990s, has died at the age of 77. "Bob was a very popular chairman with employees, and his many accomplishments as a visionary engineer included leading the development of the catalytic converter, one of the great environmental advancements in auto history," GM said in a statement. "His knowledge of battery development led to the push for the EV1 electric car, and Bob continued to build his expertise in the electrification of the automobile after he left GM in 1992." Stempel died Saturday in Florida, the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press reported Monday night.

Saab 9-3 EV prototype revealed by NEVS

Saab 9-3 EV prototype revealed by NEVS When National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) bought what was left after the debacle of bankruptcy, the plan was to create a range of electric cars using the Saab brand. But that hasn’t gone to plan, even though the first electric Saab 9-3 Prototype has now been revealed. In fact, Saab under NEVS has also come close to bankruptcy recently as an unpaid supplier took court action (although NEVS say that little local difficulty has been solved) and NEVS had to resort to building ICE engined Saabs to keep a few bob coming in.

Thomas Ingenlath: Volvo Concept C to end 'vanilla' design era [w/Video]

Volvo has promised a radical change in its future design language that will be embodied in its Concept C coupé, the first concept to be developed since head of design Thomas Ingenlath's appointment in July 2012. Our first look at the concept, which debuts at this month's Frankfurt motor show, comes from a video starring Ingenlath (see left). At first it seems to just show him sketching while he explains how some people see Volvo design as "vanilla" – nice, but not iconic or cutting-edge – but if we slow it down at around the 11-second mark, we get a preview of what we can expect.