Toyota
Toyota injects a sports car into lineup
Toyota recently announced it will introduce an affordable sports car in the U.S. Toyota executives say the vehicle will be built in a joint venture with Subaru. They declined to say when the vehicle would be sold in the U.S., but media reports have suggested the vehicle could be available as soon as 2010. The British car magazine Autocar said in April that the model would be a coupe that might be equipped with a choice of a 2-liter or a 2.4-liter engine. It called the car "compact, lightweight, rear-drive and fast."
--New York Times News Service
General Motors
GM gets boost from electric car grants
Seeking to put the nation back in the lead on an important technology, the Obama administration awarded more than $2 billion in grants this month for manufacturing advanced batteries and other components for electric cars. GM received $241 million for the production of Volt cars (right) and battery packs, as well as the construction of factories to produce a second generation of electric vehicle. A Seattle company, EnerG2, got $21 million, which it says will be used to build the world's first commercial-scale plant for nano-structured battery materials, which reduce battery weight.
--New York Times News Service
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