GM's top battery executive for the Volt to join California startup

General Motors's top executive in charge of developing batteries for the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid is leaving to take a position with an unnamed startup battery company in California. Denise Gray, 46, global director of rechargeable energy storage systems, will step down March 5 after more than three years in the post. This was “an opportunity that I could just not resist,” Gray said in a phone interview.

Skoda Octavia Scout (2007): first official pictures

By Jack Carfrae First Official Pictures 23 January 2007 12:27 The new Skoda Octavia Scout… yet another soft-roader? Sort of. Skoda isn’t kidding itself into claiming that the Scout would win if it took on a Defender; think of it as a slightly chunkier alternative to the current 4wd Octavia estate, or a cut-price rival to the Audi Allroad and Volvo XC70.

U.S. offers advance peek at 'cash for guzzlers' rules

Dealers participating in the "cash for guzzlers" program must visit www.cars.gov to find a list of facilities that may qualify for scrapping vehicles and then make sure the company can crush or shred trade-ins, according to preliminary rules on the Web site. The government posted the rules today for the program, designed to lift U.S. light-vehicle sales from 27-year lows.