Fisker lays off majority of staff

This story originally appeared on Automotive News Fisker Automotive, the plug-in hybrid sports-car maker that has been grappling with financial troubles, laid off about 160 of its more than 200 employees Friday morning. A Fisker source who was among the employees affected said the layoff took place at about 8 a.m. Pacific.

Williams & Renault back together in F1

Williams Renault F1 - Sir Frank Williams and Renaultsport's Bernard Rey For those of us who enjoy F1 (on the whole – although races like Canada rather than Valencia, it as to be said) but are very slightly past the first flush of youth, it’s rather sad to see Williams languishing in the ranks of also-rans on this year’s grid. With one of the greatest race-brains in Sir Frank Williams, and still one of the best F1 drivers in Rubens Barrichello, it would be great to see Williams at least running with the second tier of cars. But this season so far they have amassed just 4 points.

BMW's new 5-series next for hybrid power

The new BMW 5-series being launched this winter is likely to be the next BMW to receive the ActiveHybrid system pioneered on the petrol-electric 7-series and X6 models. BMW engineers admit they can't rely on sales of the pricey hybrid 7-series and X6 to justify the development costs, even though these range-topping halo hybrids were jointly developed with Daimler and GM. Senior sources have indicated that the new 2010 5-series will be the next BMW to get an ActiveHybrid model.