Fiat going hybrid with home-grown system within the next 3 years

Italian automaker Fiat is already huge in the diesel segment with almost 80 percent of the cars sold in the boot peninsula already running without spark plugs. Now, Fiat is working on their own home-grown hybrid system that could be on sale by 2011. With the goal of having the lowest CO₂ emissions of any European car-maker, Fiat is developing their hybrid powertrain to work with both gasoline and diesel engines. Fiat is working on systems for both small cars and vans with the former being paired with the new 900cc two cylinder and dual clutch transmission that is coming for the 500. That system could yield CO₂ emissions under 90g/km which would challenge the Smart ForTwo CDI. For vans, Fiat has a system that will be used with a 2.3L diesel and automated manual gearbox.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. required]