A tragedy on Toronto streets that claimed the lives of a pair of enthusiasts has once again set alight political fires alight by those looking to ban performance modifications to automobiles.

Volvo announced last week a prototype flexible fuel engine that can burn five different types of fuel: E85, methane (made from either natural gas or plant sources, so Volvo is counting this as two fuels), regular petrol gasoline or hythane, (which is 10 percent hydrogen and 90 percent methane). The vehicle, called the Multi-Fuel, was unveiled at the Michelin Challenge Bibendum, the "international sustainable mobility event".

Who would have guessed a few years ago that Suzuki would be in the midst of international renaissance? While some locales around the world already have a high opinion of the Japanese company's products, the North American market has suffered through one forgettable Suzuki after another. That's because most of them have been rebadged models from General Motors. The current Forenza, for instance, is GM-Daewoo model built in Korea and rebadged for North American consumption.

There's a new set of spy shots of BMW's next X5, due out later this year. Taller, wider and longer, the new X5 gets the must-have third row seating feature to compete with its upmarket SUV/CUV brethren, but carries forward most of the major exterior styling features of the previous models. The full set of spy shots can be viewed at wheels24.co.za here. For comparison purposes, we've included a

From the desk of our Chinese affiliate comes word that Geely has unveiled the KingKong, a compact sedan with apparently mighty aspirations. The newest Geely model will be available with 1.5L, 1.6L and 1.8L DOHC, 16-valve engines, all of which were developed in-house by Geely and meet European emissions standards. The KingKong will be available in Sky Blue, Silk Silver, Snow Mountain White and, of course, Chinese Red.

It seems a stretch to find a silver lining among air pollution and wars fought over fuel, but folks over at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) have found a vein.

With nary a Howie Mandel lookalike in sight, almost one-third of Ford's workers at its Wixom Assembly Plant in Michigan have taken the company's buyout bait- comprising everything from early retirement plans to $100,000 one-time payouts. All told, 433 of 1,433 hourly employees played took up the Blue Oval on their offer, bringing Ford employee buyout totals to 2,574.

After nearly three years of development, a U.K.-based team led by specialist engineering company Ricardo has delivered a full-hybrid diesel version of Citroen's Berlingo. Built in response to the U.K. Department of Transport's Ultra Low Carbon Car Challenge, the fully-equipped van emits just 99 grams/km CO2 (equivalent to more than 75 mpg).

Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) wrote an editorial on how the UAW supports environmental preservation. He points to the advantages of flex fuel, which helps the American farmer and reduces dependence on foreign oil; alternative engine technologies (e.g., hybrids, clean diesel, etc.) which can boost domestic manufacturers with the right incentives; and the proper application of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards which would then reduce pollutants for