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VW Group planning 10-speed DSG, new powerful diesel engine & more plug-in hybrids

The end of the internal combustion engine is nigh, they say, as the world tries to clean up its environmental act and works towards a goal of electric motors to power our personal transport. But car makers are fighting that belief by extracting more power for less fuel from ICE engines, and there’s still a very long way to go before the ICE engine is consigned to the history books. Volkswagen has already reduced the fuel consumption of both their diesel and petrol engines by 30 per cent since 2000 and plan a further reduction of 15 per cent by 2020.

General Motors combines smartphone functions with the Chevrolet Volt

General Motors is bringing together two of the hottest areas of technology--smartphones and plug-in electric cars. GM's OnStar telematics unit has developed a downloadable application that will let Chevrolet Volt drivers use a Blackberry Storm, Apple iPhone or Motorola Droid to remotely control and monitor some vehicle functions, such as charging. The Volt is slated to go into production late this year and arrive in California utility company fleets by early 2011.

Bentley future design competition held at Hongik University, South Korea

Bentley has held its first design competition in collaboration with a university outside the UK. Director of design, Luc Donckerwolke, and head of exterior and advanced design, Sangyup Lee, tasked students at Hongik University in Seoul with designing a Bentley that would be released in 2040. In addition to looking to the future, students were asked to take the Bentley 'Blue Train' as inspiration: the car driven by three-time Le Mans-winner, Woolf Barnato, who, in March 1930, bet £100 that he could drive his Bentley from Cannes in the south of France to The Conservative Club in London in the time it took the luxurious Blue Train to travel from Cannes to Calais on the English Channel.