Saab pulls out of Frankfurt motor show

It's become a cliché in the automotive press to proceed Saab with the word 'troubled' recently. Yet the company's latest announcement does little to dispel the notion that all is not well in Trollhatten, as it has announced that it will not be featuring at September's Frankfurt auto show. The Swedish car manufacturer has had trouble paying suppliers in recent months, and it is thought that Saab will instead use the money allotted to Frankfurt in order to pay them.

California leads the way with Hydrogen cars

The Governator in his hydrogen-powered Hummer [ad#ad-1] Now this is something I really approve of. As many of you will have seen on last week’s Top Gear, May was out playing with the Honda’s FCX Clarity in California, and commented, just as we have, that this is the real way forward for electric cars. The Honda FCX Clarity is the first proper road-going Hydrogen powered vehicle to hit the roads.

Mercedes B55 (2011) - a ballistic V8 B-class

Mercedes' tuning arm AMG has not yet ventured into sensible B-class territory, but a bunch of Merc trainees in Germany has come up with this: the B55. It's a V8-powered B-class, complete with AMG-spec 383bhp 5.5-litre V8 mounted up front and driving an old W210 E-class rear axle. Sounds like a promising skunkworks special, derived from an old B200 CDI hack that was kicking about the training centre.