Fisker Karma drives Laguna Seca

The Fisker Karma out testing at Laguna Seca But unhappy as we are at Cars UK with the world’s obsession with all things green – and hybrid / electric cars in general – even we have to admit that some of the work that’s going on does impress us. The Tesla Roadster is a great achievement – if madly expensive for what it is (an electric Lotus) – and the work Koenigsegg are doing with the Quant is very exciting. But one company that is efficiently going about putting together a workable, high performance car is Fisker, who have been working on their electric saloon car – The Fisker Karma – for less than two years.

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.

Kimi may quit again

KIMI RAIKKONEN has revealed he will likely quit Formula One again once his current deal with Ferrari expires at the end of 2015. Raikkonen dropped the bombshell at Silverstone ahead of the British Grand Prix this weekend, and just eight races into his second coming at Ferrari which has so far been a bitter disappointment. Struggling with a car not to his liking, the hotly-anticipated scrap with team-mate Fernando Alonso has failed to materialise as the Spaniard has comfortably out-qualified and out-raced the Finn.