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Toyota smashes electric car lap record at Nurburgring

Toyota has set a new electric car record at the Nurburgring – with a silent but speedy 7min 47.794sec lap of the Nordschleife. You can watch the record lap in our video above. Ring specialist Jochen Krumbach was at the wheel of the Toyota Motorsport EV P001 racer, obliterating Peugeot's previous 9min 1.338sec record in the EX1 concept car.

Mercedes-Benz courts Renault for new Smart model based on Twingo

Mercedes-Benz is set to join forces with Renault in a deal aimed at providing its underdeveloped Smart division with a contemporary-engineered front-engine/front-wheel-drive platform as the basis for a frugal new Forfour model. The new Smart, due out in 2013, is planned to sit on a lightly modified version of the Renault Twingo’s underpinnings, complete with a 93.3-inch wheelbase. Speaking about the new car over the weekend, a highly placed Mercedes-Benz official told AutoWeek: “It’s a key component in plans to grow the Smart brand.

Bertone BAT 11

By Guy Bird Motor Shows 10 March 2008 11:43 What’s new on Bertone’s Geneva Motor Show stand? Italian coachbuilder Bertone might be in deep financial trouble – it didn’t have a stand at the Geneva show – but its styling division, Stile Bertone, revealed an incredible one-off car on the night of the first press day instead at Auto Design Night, a special event for car designers held at city centre night club La SIP. The stunningly streamlined BAT 11 doesn’t take its odd name from the bat-like rear wings, but because BAT stands for ‘Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica’ in Italian, the ‘11’ indicating that it is the fourth in a series of one-off Bertone designs for Alfa Romeo following on from the BAT 5, 7 and 9 from the mid-1950s.