Buick 1912 Logo, Metal, New (jus-qbu-gc) on 2040-parts.com

The Viper Lives!

The Dodge Viper has been saved by Fiat and will continue in production. The real problems for GM and Chrysler were their appalling high-volume cars, stuck at least a decade behind Europe in both styling and efficiency, they were an accident waiting to happen. And the meltdown in car sales worldwide, coupled with the jump in gas prices in the US (which has now gone), signalled the end of the old ways.

Concept Car of the Week: Chrysler Lamborghini Portofino (1987)

In 1987, Chrysler purchased the bankrupt Italian carmaker Lamborghini to add an exotic brand to its portfolio. In celebration of its acquisition, Chrysler announced it would unveil a futuristic concept car at the Frankfurt motor show bearing a unique logo with the Italian raging bull framed inside Chrysler's famous Pentastar. It was during an internal aerodynamic study that designer Kevin Verduyn drew the lines of a four-seater sedan concept called the Navajo.

BMW ActiveHybrid 3 (2012 / 2013): New 3 Series Hybrid details revealed

2012 BMW ActiveHybrid 3 - on sale late 2012 BMW hasn’t had the most astonishing success with its hybrid offerings to date, but despite that, and following the reveal of the 2012 3 Series last week, they have announced details of the 3 Series hybrid – the BMW ActiveHybrid 3. Just like the recently revealed ActiveHybrid 5, the BMW Active Hybrid 3 will get a 302bhp twin-turbo six-pot (the same engine as the 335i) together with an electric motor which throws an additional 53bhp in to the mix. That should mean a 0-60mph of around 5.5 seconds (although BMW has given us no performance figures) and it will give 44mpg, exactly the same as the bigger ActiveHybrid 5 – and not exactly spectacular.