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17,000 solar panels to power Toyota’s Derbyshire plant

Toyota’s manufacturing plant at Burnaston in Derbyshire, where the Auris and Avensis are built, will install the biggest solar panel system yet seen in a UK car plant.  British Gas, which will stump up the £10 million cost of installing the solar panels, and Toyota are working together to save 2000 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year. Once the solar panels are installed, they claim it will save enough energy to build approximately 7000 cars a year.

2012 BMW M5 revealed in production trim

The wraps have been torn off the fire-breathing 2012 BMW M5. And, as expected, the Bavarian luxury maker is going in a different direction under the hood. BMW is eschewing a naturally aspirated powerplant in the new M5, whose high-revving roots date to the 1980s, in favor of a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 pushing out about 552 hp.

GM confirms Chevrolet Spark minicar is headed to the U.S.

The Chevrolet Spark minicar will hit U.S. shores, General Motors said on Thursday from an auto-industry conference in Traverse City, Mich. The Spark will be built in the first half of next year as a 2013 model.