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Why we love Maximum Bob: A column by Dutch Mandel

In announcing that he will leave General Motors at the end of this year, product czar Bob Lutz bows out gracefully and elegantly and does it in the style that forged his legend. It's also a move made none too soon and if not hastened by Beltway functionaries, then punctuated by it. But make no mistake: Bob Lutz is not running from the fight engulfing Detroit and the rest of the automaking world.

Saab files for bankruptcy: the end of the Swedish saga

Saab has reached the end of the road - for the second time in two years, just before Christmas. Parent company Swedish Automobile today announced that Saab had filed for bankruptcy. Owner and acting CEO Victor Muller had been trying to sell Saab as a going concern and had come close to signing a deal with Chinese car makers Pang Da and Youngman, but the deal was blocked by former owner General Motors which feared its technology - powering the new 9-5, plenty of the 9-3 range and the 9-4X - would fall into opposition hands in China.

China to boost electric cars with 30% Government EV fleet

The BYD E6 EV (pictured) will benefit from China’s push on EVs The UK government has just announced its commitment to use electric cars for its own vehicles in an effort to boost the take-up of EVs, but China is going even further. China has ordered government officials to start buying electric cars (that means BEVs, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell cars) in a big way, with instructions that 30 per cent of government cars must fall in to the ‘New Energy’ category by 2017, and an even higher percentage going forward. The aim is to cut pollution, and China expects to have 5 million New Energy cars on the road by 2020 and it is urging it government agencies and some city governments to start buying New Energy vehicles from Chinese makers like BYD and SDAIC, but also instructing them to build more charging stations and supporting infrastructure.