A British engineering firm has put together a high-performance hybrid version of BMW's Mini Cooper. The PML Mini QED has a top speed of 150 mph, a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds. The car uses a small gasoline engine with four 160 horsepower electric motors — one on each wheel. The car has been designed to run for four hours of combined urban/extra urban driving, powered only by a battery and bank of ultra capacitors. The QED supports an all-electric range of 200-250 miles and has a total range of about 932 miles (1,500 km). For longer journeys at higher speeds, a small conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) is used to re-charge the battery. In this hybrid mode, fuel economies of up to 80mpg can be achieved.

Explains Martin Boughtwood, PML's MD: "Until now, most electric vehicles have been little more than souped-up milk floats, limited by range and speed, with compromised performance. For those with a green conscience who also value an enhanced motoring experience, there is still something missing.

"Working in partnership with our customer, Synergy Innovations, we set out to demonstrate what our electric wheel technology is capable of. We simply took a standard BMW Mini One, discarded the engine, the disc brakes, the wheels, and the gearbox. These components were replaced by four of our electric wheels, a lithium polymer battery, a large ultra capacitor, a very small ICE with generator (so small it almost fits alongside the spare wheel), an energy management system and a sexy in-car display module."

Jack Neal's parents only discovered their son's successful bid when they received a message from eBay about the Barbie pink Nissan Figaro.

Rachael Neal, 36, said her son was quite good at using the computer.

Mrs Neal, of Sleaford, Lincolnshire, said she had left her eBay password in her computer and her son had used the "buy it now" button.

She said: "Jack's a whizz on the PC and just pressed all the right buttons.

California filed a global warming lawsuit on Wednesday against Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp. and three other automakers, charging that greenhouse gases from their vehicles have cost the state millions of dollars.

State Attorney General Bill Lockyer said the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California was the first of its kind to seek to hold manufacturers liable for the damages caused by their vehicles' emissions.

The lawsuit also names Chrysler Motors Corp., the U.S. arm of Germany's DaimlerChrysler, and the North American units of Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd..

It also charges that vehicle emissions have contributed significantly to global warming and harmed the resources, infrastructure and environmental health of the most populous state in the United States.

"Automakers must do their fair share to protect Californians from global warming. Polluters should pay, and the Attorney General's lawsuit forces them to do that. Passenger vehicles are the single largest global warming polluter in the state, accounting for 27 percent of emissions. The technologies exist to profitably slash emissions while saving consumers billions at the pump. And yet car companies are fighting the state's landmark regulations requiring them to offer vehicles with 30 percent lower emissions by 2016. Ten other states are following California's lead, accounting for one in three vehicles sold in the United States. In a global market increasingly focused on reducing global warming emissions, automakers who do not build clean cars will fail."

Vehicle alert
This system alerts drivers to the presence of vehicles moving too fast at blind intersections. For example, if the system determines that a car is approaching a driver too fast from the left, a buzzer will sound and a voice recording will call out: "Car approaching from left." At the same time, an image of an approaching vehicle will appear on the driver's CARWINGS navigation screen.

The system will also alert a driver when is detects that he or she approaching a stop sign or red traffic light too fast.

Speed alert
This system warns drivers when they are speeding in a school zone. As soon as a driver passes the speed limit in the area, a buzzer will sound and a voice recording will warn: "School ahead. Watch your speed." An image of a school zone sign will also appear on the driver's navigation screen.

Dynamic route finder
This system informs drivers of the quickest route to their destination using probe data collected from mobile phones of CARWINGS subscribers, including taxi owners, as well as vehicle data collected by mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo.

Traffic.com's Jam Factor combines real-time speed and travel time measurements calculated from digital traffic sensors combined with information from state-of-the-art operations centers to provide a user-friendly, yet comprehensive, measure of the traffic intensity on a roadway. This color-coded, numerical system clearly and consistently identifies traffic conditions and delays on a scale from 0-10 with 10 representing the worst traffic conditions along the driver's route.

The only place they have to go is down," says Fred Rozell, gasoline analyst at the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS). "We'll be closer to $2 than $3 come Thanksgiving."

Travel organization AAA foresees prices 10 cents a gallon lower by the end of next week. It reported a nationwide average of $2.84 Tuesday, the lowest since April 20.

It's good news for consumers and the economy. Continued lower prices "may act like a tax cut" and stimulate spending, says Richard DeKaser, chief economist at National City in Cleveland. He calculates that higher energy prices the first six months cut growth of consumer spending 1 percentage point.

The U.S. average for a gallon of regular peaked this year at $3.036 Aug. 10, according to OPIS/AAA daily surveys. That's slightly under the high of $3.057 Sept. 5, a week after Hurricane Katrina battered petroleum production in the Gulf of Mexico and caused fears of fuel shortages.

Hurtling through a wetland of intrigue and speculation, this unnamed all-terrain vehicle was last spotted in February 2005 speeding around Belarus. With six balloon wheels and what looks like a mighty drive train, this amphibious creature could give you another way to coast from your island home. Although the manufacturer promised to have them on the market by summer 2005, we're still waiting here in the states. If I were you (and extremely rich), I'd call that brother-in-law in the CIA and see what information you can buy.

A spokesman for the auction house said bidding had been brisk and the final sale price was higher than expected.

The vehicle has 11,000 miles (18,000km) on the clock and is said to be in excellent condition.

It is one of two built by the former UK motor giant British Leyland for the visit.

The Pope travelled in the vehicle to Bellahouston Park in Glasgow and Murrayfield in Edinburgh, celebrating a Mass for more than 300,000 people.

The exterior: smoothed wheel wells, a modified grill highlighted by the Nissan badge, and a custom black and grey camouflage paint job offset by safety orange detailing.

The interior: driver and passenger seats are given a 1960s redesign, with Eames-inspired molded wood backs and seamless black leather; safety orange is once again introduced through a glossy center console and accent molding, while extra touches include a matching wood steering wheel and a hand molded fiberglass subwoofer enclosure.

The exterior: a cream Landau roof, custom moonbaby-inspired hubs, white-wall tires and safety orange side panels.

The interior: cream and tan calfskin with heavy contrast stitching on the steering wheel, doors panels and dashboard, a briefcase-inspired glove box and encased subwoofer enclosure with heavy duty straps and buckles; other special features include roadster-style gauges, metal gas and brake pedals, and a wireless communications system.

As a 26-year-old in the late 1960s, Poster indulged himself by buying a brand new blue Corvette for $6,000. Three months later, in January 1969, it was stolen from a parking garage in Manhattan, and since he was unable to afford theft insurance -- Poster lost the car and his $6,000. He never imagined he would see his car again.

In January of 2006, authorities notified Poster that the car had turned up in Long Beach, California. Apparently, an American collector was selling the car to a buyer in Sweden when a routine Customs check flagged the vehicle as stolen. The collector isn't suspected of any wrongdoing, and nobody knows where the car had been or how many hands it had passed through.

With the help of the California Highway Patrol, the Customs Service and the New York Police Department, the car has been returned to Poster.

"This is definitely a miracle," said Poster. "Because in speaking to the police, the odds of them finding me were a million to one."

"We have no tolerance for any numbers higher than zero," said Acting Transportation Secretary Maria Cino. "Motorcyclists need to wear their helmets, drivers need to buckle up, and all motorists need to stay sober."

The annual report found that motorcycle fatalities rose for the eighth straight year, growing 13 percent since 2004. The government said 4,553 motorcyclists died in 2005, compared with 4,028 in 2004. Nearly half of the people who died were not wearing helmets.

Pedestrian deaths increased from 4,675 in 2004 to 4,881 in 2005. NHTSA said it was investigating the increase to try to learn what led to the growth.