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Lexus at Geneva: Lexus CT 200h – U.S. bound

The Lexus CT 200h at Geneva - Lexus tell us it will be sold in the USA Despite moaning about the less than drop-dead-gorgeous looks when Lexus first showed us the CT 200h as the LF-Ch Concept – with a pretty awful gold paint job – the production ready CT 200h does look a bit more appealing. Still definitely not drop-dead-gorgeous - far from it – but credible enough, in a Lexus sort of way. There’s really nothing new to report on the CT 200h itself from Geneva, except that Lexus has announced that the CT200h will be sold in the US.

Mercedes SLS AMG Electric Drive sets Nurburgring production EV record

The Mercedes SLS AMG ED (pictured) set a new EV lap record at the Nurburgring Just as Audi decides that the R8 e-Tron isn’t a production viable option, Mercedes decides to prove there is potential for electric cars at the very high end. The Mercedes SLS AMG Electric Drive has been to the Nurburgring and set a new lap record for a production electric car of just 7 minutes 55 seconds. The SLS AMG ED, which goes on sale very soon at more than £300k, may weigh a chunk more than a regular SLS (550kg more), but it gets plenty of help from its four electric motors – one at each corner – to overcome the weight of its batteries with 751bhp and 737lb/ft of torque on hand.

Toyota ends powertrain deal with Tesla

To the surprise of no one, Toyota has announced the end of a partnership with Tesla that gave rise to the slow-selling RAV4 EV, which will be replaced by a fuel cell car next year. Toyota has said that it can't meet California's zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate profitably with electric cars, but it thinks it can make money, or at least not lose so much of it, with fuel cells. Toyota signed a $100 million joint development deal in 2011 with Tesla, to build powertrains for its RAV4 EV.