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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.

Project Car Hell, Genuine Muscle Cars Edition: AMC Rebel Machine or Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II?

Once again, the hinges of the Hell Garage gates -- lubricated with the purest Unobtainium-239 -- creak open and bring us to another installment of Project Car Hell. Last week, we offered two options for your eternal torment, a straight-8 Packard and a straight-8 Buick, and we just love those classic Detroit cars! So much so, in fact, that we're going to stick with Detroit (well, Detroit and Kenosha, if you want to split hairs) and fast-forward the calendar a couple of decades to the Golden Age of Muscle Cars.

SAE approves new fast-charging standard for EVs, plug-ins

SAE International said it has approved a new technical standard that will dramatically reduce charging times for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles. The global engineering group said the new charging standard, developed with the cooperation of more than 190 automakers, utilities and equipment builders, will allow charging times to be reduced from as long as eight hours to as short as 20 minutes. Automakers want DC direct charging to take less than 10 minutes, or roughly the time it takes to fill a tank with gasoline.The goal is to accommodate currents as high as 500 volts distributed from public charging stations.