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Kia goes (dark) green

By Jesse Crosse Motor Industry 23 September 2008 11:00 Kia has unveiled a portfolio of new environmental technologies, including a 1.4-litre Ceed with stop-start (due in the UK in 2009), a Ceed hybrid and the latest version of its fuel cell-powered Sportage. The Korean manufacturer is investing heavily in research and development and will increase its spend on R&D from £2.2 billion this year to £2.6 billion by 2010, combined with a 40 percent increase in manpower at its research centres around the globe. The money is being spent on developing downsized, turbocharged engines, efficiency improvements to conventional engines such as friction reduction and the separation of accessories like water pumps from the engine.

BMW Roadster Concept: BMW Vision ConnectedDrive Geneva debut

BMW Vision ConnectedDrive We reported the other day that BMW were taking a roadster concept to the Geneva Motor Show, a car we expected to point the way to a new, smaller roadster – the BMW Z2. But it seems to be much more than just that. The BMW Vision ConnectedDrive – for that is the catchy little moniker BMW has attached to this concept – is a showcase for BMW technology and the layered styling language we’ve already seen in the Vision EfficientDynamics concept (can’t we have some snappy little monikers instead of Anglicising the German practice of just joining words together in a line to make a new word?).

Lotus Elise Club Racer released for U.K.

Lotus will release a stripped-down version of the Elise, called the 1.6 Lotus Elise Club Racer. However, it will be available only in the United Kingdom. The already scant two-seater loses another 54 pounds with measures such as the use of a lightweight battery, the deletion of sound-deadening material and the removal of the radio speakers.