cheapest cars

The ten cheapest cars in the world - #6 - Chery A-1

The A-1 looks like a competent subcompact and rumors are that it's going to be sold under the Dodge brand in places like Mexico. Nevertheless, it is Chery's partnership with Austrian company AVL that will be bringing the technology to make this car meet the Euro IV standards, something the environment should appreciate. You know, if it were a sentient being that could appreciate things.The A-1 is powered by a 1.3-liter, 4-cyl, 83 HP engine. There are some official pics in the gallery below and you can find more shots of the newest model by our colleages at Autoblog in Chinese

Zap still pursuing Daimler over Smart deal, California Supreme Court next

Once upon a time Zap had a dream to import the Smart ForTwo to the U.S. market. Unfortunately for Zap, that plan didn't work out and Smart's parent Daimler ultimately did a deal with Roger Penske to be the U.S. distributor for Smart. Zap decided not to take this lying down and ultimately filed a lawsuit in 2005 against Daimler (then DaimlerChrysler) alleging the German company interfered with their business (need more background? click here). So far Zap has had no success in U.S. courts, with both a trial court and appeals court ruling they had no jurisdiction over Daimler in the case. Undaunted, Zap is now going to the California Supreme Court hoping to get them to reverse the previous rulings. Zap hopes for a ruling in about three months.

Daimler, ADM & Bayer team up to try biodiesel from Jatropha

We have covered already what jatropha is: a promising crop which can be cultivated on barren land that does not compete with food production and from which you can obtain oil (with a quality similar to rapeseed) to make biodiesel. A lot of research is being done on making jathropa a viable source for biofuels.Three important companies have teamed up to see how good this plant can be. Daimler will investigate how this type of biodiesel affects engines, ADM has expertise in biodiesel production and Bayer CropScience will investigate how this plant can be grown and will develop herbicides, insecticides and fungicides for it. Are three minds better than one here?

Zetsche: We can't make it under 120 for 2012

Daimler's CEO Dieter Zetsche said that the proposed CO2 emission limits for 2012 (120 g/km) are "unattainable". He also stated that politicians don't realise how difficult that limit will be to reach because the cars that will be on sale in 2012 are " actually at the end of their development cycle and can't be substantially changed. In order to achieve that limit, it should have been set up before, but that's something politicians don't want to listen to".Despite these words, he said that Daimler AG is actually committed to protect the environment and reduce carbon emissions, although he sees hydrogen as the sole real future option for pollution-free motoring. Remarkably, he also stated that with just one percent of the world's hydrogen production, one million fuel-cell vehicles could be powered per year. He also announced that the company is working on Li-Ion batteries, although he believes that "buyers don't really want electric cars" (he should read AutoblogGreen readers' comments to change his mind).Zetsche also spoke about Daimler's expectations for the U.S. sales of the Smart (which could lead to profits at Smart for the first time in 10 years), a new CUV based on the C-Class and new more compact supercharged powertrains to reduce fuel consumption.