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Opel Flexstreme concept

By Tim Pollard Motor Shows 11 September 2007 03:13 Opel Flextreme: the lowdown Vauxhall’s European sister brand Opel showed off its surprise at Frankfurt today – the new Flextreme concept car. Under that voluminous monocab body lies GM’s E-Flex plug-in hybrid system. It’s the latest trend in hybrids, allowing up to 30 miles of zero-emissions electric operation, after which the diesel engine kicks in to recharge the battery.

Volkswagen Taigun poised for production

Update: We've added a video of the VW Taigun in action. Check it out below. Volkswagen has moved a step closer to joining the small-SUV ranks -- it will produce its compact Taigun, VW sources told Autoweek.

Crunch watch Dec 08: the auto industry in crisis

By Tim Pollard and Simon Stiel Motor Industry 31 December 2008 14:05 Wednesday 31 December 2008• GMAC, GM's finance arm, said it would immediately revise its criteria for providing loans, after the US government bail-out of the General's credit arm. It will now supply credit for anyone with a score of 621 or more on the Fico scale, the scale used to assess Amercian customers' creditworthiness (Financial Times)• The news means that 80% of US consumers would now qualify for a loan from GMAC – which should improve sales in the depressed US market (Detroit News)• Chrysler is being lambasted for taking out full-page adverts in the American national press thanking the nation for supporting its auto industry. But critics point out this is a fresh waste of bail-out resources, as pages in the Wall Street Journal – one of the titles in which the ad ran – reportedly cost up to $264,000.