Chang'an Motor Corp (Ford and Suzuki's Chinese partner with a cool Star Trek-slyle logo) will build a gasoline-electric hybrid for the Chinese market (and possibly overseas) by 2008. The company said it hopes the hybrids will make up 10 percent of it's sales by 2010. The company will invest about $31 million as part of its $620 million investment in its own-brand cars. Chang'an's announcement comes after other auto

Apparently the industry is tired of talking about the potential alliance between General Motors and Nissan/Renault, so we've moved on to a new potential alliance, that of Sirius and XM. Both companies comprise the only players in the satellite radio business, so if the two were to pair up the resulting company would have quite the monopoly. It's not a monopoly of much, as neither company has been able to turn a profit since each began.

Reuters reports that second-generation air bags are less risky for children while still providing appropriate levels of safety for larger adults. The development is a vast improvement upon earlier generation air bags, which were developed to protect an average size male and could be lethal for smaller adults and children.

EV Rental, a smallish rental agency on the West Coast that rents nothing but hybrids, is doing quite well for itself. EV Rental has 425 hybrids and the cars are rented out 90 percent of the time (compared with 80 to 85 percent for most rental agencies). EV Rental can also charge about $10 more a day than other agencies' comparable non-hybrid vehicles. The company turned a profit last year, and the EV Rental CEO told the Wall Street Journal that this year should be even better. The Journal writes

We know, June is a little late to be releasing your annual report for the prior year, but Delphi was forced to wait until discussions with GM and its own unions concerning wage and benefit reductions bore some fruit. That fruit came in the form of an agreement with GM for a historical attrition plan that has seen 12,600 Delphi employees and 35,000 GM workers agree to job transfers, buyouts and early retirement.

Volvo is coming right along with its plans to have its new green production plants operational soon. Volvo Trucks' plant in Tuve, Sweden, for example, will use five large wind power plants and a new biofuel plant to generate electricity and heat. Volvo will open its first CO2-free factory in 2007, and the Volvo Group will open two additional CO2-free factories by the end of 2008. When the plants generate more power than they can use, the excess will be fed back to the grid. All of this furthers

With Hyundai's recent string of successful redesigns, we're patiently awaiting to learn what the next incarnation of its Tiburon coupe will be like when it debuts in 2008... make that 2009... actually, make that never, as Motor Trend is reporting the Tiburon will be phased out then to make room for a new rear-wheel drive "poor man's BMW" sport sedan arriving in 2008. The sport sedan will spawn a coupe and convertible in 2009 that will replace the current Tiburon that's been on the market since 2