Vintage Yamaha Ad on 2040-parts.com

Bosch, Aston Martin team up on DB9 hybrid

German engineering firm Bosch has teamed with Aston Martin on a plug-in hybrid version of the venerable DB9. It keeps the 6.0-liter V12, thankfully, and is boosted by electric motors, for a total of more than 740 hp, according to Auto Express. Two motors sit at the front wheels, providing power, making this technically the first all-wheel drive Aston.

Toyota FT-EV II – it’s the Jetsons!

The Toyota FT-EV II Electric city car concept As we reported earlier, Toyota believe electric cars have no future, apart from as short-range, low power city runarounds or as commercial vehicles. So the Toyota FT-EV II is exactly what Toyota believes the EV future is – a small, slow city car. Toyota say of the FT-EV – “… (its) design and technology look to a future society where EVs will be in common use, among a range of different means of transport that will reflect user requirements, the type of energy used and the local energy supply infrastructure”.

U.S. sales rise 9 percent in July

U.S. demand for light vehicles continued to defy mostly weak economic indicators by rising 9 percent in July. Big sales gains at Japan's and Europe's top automakers--Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Volkswagen--offset declines at Ford Motor Co.