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Designer Tom Matano part of start-up car company in Louisiana

A new auto company backed by Texas billionaire investor T. Boone Pickens and staffed by former Mazda design chief Tom Matano plans to build "environmentally friendly" vehicles in Louisiana. V-Vehicle Co., of San Diego, will bring about 1,400 workers to a Monroe plant that once belonged to General Motors, according to a statement Wednesday from the Louisiana Economic Development Web site.

Lamborghini Gallardo: Chinese owner takes umbrage

Lamborghini Gallardo destroyed in China by disgruntled owner Maybe China doesn’t have any effective consumer rights laws to protect disgruntled consumers. Or maybe the owner of the Lamborghini Gallardo in China, who organised its destruction on China’s ‘National Consumer Day’ to make a point about Lamborghini’s failure to address his problems, had just reached the end of his tether. But whatever the reason, the sight of an almost new Gallardo being destroyed by a team of boiler-suited, sledgehammer-wielding chaps certainly garnered a crowd.

Volt jolt: Great range, small supply

Chevrolet is taking the Volt plug-in hybrid to the masses with a big marketing campaign that includes World Series commercials this month. Trouble is, the supply of the cars will be anything but big in the first year of production. General Motors Co.