Vintage Chevrolet Emblem 4 1/2" on 2040-parts.com

Mazda MX-5 Kuro Edition (2012) first official pictures

Mazda has unveiled another sporty special edition MX-5, hot on the heels of yesterday's track-focused MX-5 GT Concept. The new member of the family is the Kuro Edition, and is marked out by racy detailsing, bespoke graphics, and can be had with enticing finance options for a limited time. Mazda MX-5 Kuro: what's in a name?

Kia Picanto (2011): more pics and spec

Kia has published some engine details and new photos of its replacement 2011 Picanto, which goes on sale in late spring. The new Picanto will be unveiled at the 2011 Geneva motor show on 1 March. It's a bigger model than the outgoing city car - the longer wheelbase liberating a quarter more boot space to answer criticisms of a cramped luggage bay.

Battery breakthrough set to accelerate electric-car development

A team of scientists working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are claiming a significant breakthrough in recharging times for lithium-ion batteries. According to findings published in the scientific journal Nature, MIT researchers Byoungwoo Kang and Gerbrand Ceder have unlocked the potential of lithium-ion batteries by patenting a unique process which is claimed to allow a typical laptop power pack to be fully recharged in less than a minute--an improvement in recharging performance of roughly 90 percent over existing lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries generate electric current via the flow of lithium ions across an electrolyte, from an electrode to a cathode.