How green can a car really get? What about one which features a lot of recycled materials as part of the design? That's the idea behind the Th!nk Ox concept car, unveiled earlier this year at the Geneva International Motor Show.

What makes the Th!nk Ox interesting as a concept is that 95% of the interior is made of recyclable materials. Those materials aren't specifically spelled out, but I have to imagine you won't grow a third eye while you are driving this car.

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Earlier today, when Ford announced plans to counter its largest ever quarterly loss, we also learned the 2010 Ford Mustang would be revealed to pumping bass and epileptic-unfriendly lights at the 2008 LA Auto Show in November. We know the car arrives in showrooms early next year, and what's a new car without the lasers and dry ice of an auto show unveiling? But why LA and not Detroit?

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 Volvo AB's second-quarter net profit rose 28% as the Sweden-based truck maker's sales growth in Eastern Europe, South America and Asia offset a slowdown in Western Europe and the U.S.Volvo said net profit rose to 5.13 billion Swedish kronor ($855.7 million), compared with four billion kronor a year earlier. Revenue increased 13% to 80.43 billion kronor from 71.45 billion kronor.

However, Volvo, the world's second-largest truck maker by sales after Daimler AG, warned that truck demand is weakening in Europe, its biggest market, even though demand in Eastern Europe remains strong.

"In Europe, the trend that we noticed in the first quarter, toward increased caution among our customers and in certain markets, strengthened -- which was reflected in order bookings in the truck operations," Chief Executive Leif Johansson said. "However, demand for long-distance transport remains high, but there is a weakening in construction transport and construction equipment."

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The 2008 British Auto Show begins in London on Tuesday, July 22. Edmunds Inside Line says it's "gearing up for some notable world premieres." These include the V6-powered Lotus Project Eagle, a 2+2 sports car that is the automaker's first introduction since the Lotus Elise. Motor Trend says Lotus will produce "2000 Project Eagles per year with deliveries beginning in Spring 2009."

There's also the Honda OSM, a low-emissions two-seat roadster concept. A press release on The Auto Channel says "there are no plans for this design study model to enter production, although Honda will gather feedback from customers at the show to guide any future developments."

Another notable introduction is the supercharged Mastretta MXT, the Mexican automaker's first high-end sports car. Edmunds Inside Line says, "At just 1,985 pounds, the Mastretta MXT could be considered a direct rival to the peppy and light Lotus Elise." The car will go on sale for the U.K. market only in May 2009.Stay tuned this week for more British Auto Show coverage.

Audi is renowned for its automobiles and quattro AWD system. In 2005, the company jumped on the SUV bandwagon by introducing the Q7, a boldly styled and massively sized vehicle that immediately turned a lot of heads.

A couple of weeks ago, I was handed the keys to a V6-powered 3.6 S Line model. Let me tell you right off the bat that the Q7 is comprehensively equipped and very sophisticated as far as premium SUVs go. Pretty much everything is included, though navigation is optional.Massive
The front grille of the Audi Q7 must be quite intimidating for other drivers; they get out of the way as soon as you approach behind them, even if passing is not what you intend to do. Is it really what Audi designers were looking to create? One thing's for sure: the Q7 rises above the crowd with its massive, commanding presence.

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With an aim to increase its presence in the fast-growing Indian automobile market, Toyota Motor Corporation (TKC) plans to launch an array of new vehicles, and will roll out its next-generation Corolla sedan and new compact offroader Fortuner this year.

“We aim to become a full-range car company in the next few years, and, realistically, it’s a big task. We are finalising plans to introduce several new vehicles from the our stable, aiming a much higher market share in India than the current 3%,” said

Toyota’s newly appointed India head Hiroshi Nakagawa. “The new vehicles will be both imported and locally manufactured at our Bangalore facility,” he added.

The company is looking at products across the segments, including the luxury marquee Lexus and compact car Diahatsu, that could hit the market in the next few years. “We are in the final lap of bringing in new vehicles in the premium segment, the volume generating small-car segment will be rolled out sometime in 2010,” Mr Nakagawa said.

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Enthused by the response from Indian luxury car buyers, Germany's BMW has upped its sales target in the country for the calendar year 2008 by 40 per cent to 2,800 units. Of these, 2,200 cars will be rolled out from the company's assembly plant near Chennai, while the remaining will be imported from Munich, the premium car maker's global head quarters. 
 

Should BMW achieve its sales target, it would grow over last year's sales by 102 per cent. BMW's optimism comes at a time when the passenger car market in India is worrying about ending up with a single digit growth in the 2008-09 financial year.

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Research released today by The British International Motor Show, sponsored by Zurich Connect, reveals a high level of confusion surrounding car emissions and greener driving technology. Most people (85%­) do not know their own car’s emissions level, over half admit to feeling confused about emissions (60%) and do not know which tax band their car falls into (52%), even though nearly three quarters (70%) say they care about reducing emissions when driving.

It also found most people (84%) do not know if an emission rate of 100gs of carbon dioxide per km is a high or a low value (it’s considered very low). And more than half (58%) think electric vehicles have exhaust pipes whilst a quarter (25%) believe that biofuel is CO2 free.

Common misconceptions when it comes to greener driving terminology include:Electric cars- Over half (58%) do not realise electric vehicles don’t have exhaust pipes- A fifth (17%) think they produce CO2 from their exhausts- One in six (15%) think water comes out of electric car’s engines.

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If Volkswagen AG decides to build its U.S. assembly plant in the South, the German company will join other foreign automakers that are increasingly turning the region into a hotbed of car manufacturing.

The South offers automakers ample highway and rail systems and proximity to the large market of U.S. consumers. But its main attraction: Existing auto plant workers, even those who are victims of other industries exporting jobs, have rejected overtures by the United Auto Workers."Foreign-owned automakers have been a tough nut for the UAW to crack, and the South is particularly difficult," said Harley Shaiken, a University of California, Berkeley, professor who specializes in labor issues."That is without question an important part of their location decision," he said.

Volkswagen's plant will be part of the company's strategy to increase its presence in the U.S., where the maker of the Jetta, Golf and Beetle holds just 2 percent of the market.VW executives have narrowed their site options to Alabama, Tennessee and Michigan. All three states are offering financial incentive packages. The automaker's representatives and economic development officials won't discuss the site search.A Tuesday meeting of the company's management board in Frankfurt, Germany yielded no decision on where to build. Volkswagen's supervisory board, the equivalent of a U.S. board of directors, is to meet July 15, with an announcement expected soon afterward.

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General Motors, the maker of the iconic off-road Hummer, may be gearing itself up to sell mini-cars in the US, in order to win back market share as soaring fuel costs turn Americans off gas-guzzlers.

Usually sold only in Asia and Latin America, GM is thought to be developing a version of the Chevrolet Beat for America’s highways, according to a report by Bloomberg. Not much bigger than the Daimler Smart car, the Chevrolet Beat does 40 miles to the gallon - making its fuel efficiency second only to hybrid cars in the US.

The consideration by GM comes after the company’s US sales tumbled 18.5pc last month, while rivals Ford and Toyota also reported dwindling sales, down 28pc and 11.5pc respectively.

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