China looks to Norway

In an effort to decrease the demand for large, gas-guzzling cars, China turns to Norway for a solution: Tax them to death. This, of course (and in good communist spirit), won't mean much to the ever growing community of Chinese millionaires, but will effectively stop the general population from buying larger cars with more power.

The worst blow to the head will be delivered to the cars with an engine size of above 4,0 liters, where the tax doubles, from 20 percent to 40 percent. On more modestly motorized cars, with an engine size of 2,0-4,0 liters, the tax will "only" increase from 15 percent to 25 percent. In other words, much like the Norwegian model, all cars will be more expensive.

These new taxes will take effect from the 1st of September this year.

Don't move to Switzerland

If you have the faintest interest in cars, that is. According to Asphalte.ch, the youth section of the swiss Green Party has proposed a law banning all passenger cars fitting into the follwing:

- has a kerb weight of more than 2.2 tons (4820 lbs)

- or emits more than 250g of CO2 per km

- or has a front facia "dangerous for pedestrians"

Diesel cars without particle filter would be forbidden as well. Non-compliant cars registered before the measure goes into law would be governed at a 100 km/h (62 mph) speed limit.

In other words, most fun cars will be banned in Switzerland if this law proposal gets voted through. Something tells me it won't, but you never know.

Click this link to download an Excel spreadsheet showing all car models that would be banned.

Infiniti G35 Hybrid

The Infiniti G35 is a great car, and the news that Nissan plans a hybrid version of it is good news indeed. Lithium-ion batteries and everything, I read excitedly, thinking this car could maybe be some kind of plugin-hybrid that could travel at least small distances on battery power alone. Unfortunately, Nissan's press release states the following:

The dynamic characteristics of the clutches are as follows: Idle-stop: The battery is used to power the motor to save on fuel.
Regular driving: The engine is used to power the motor as well as regenerate the battery.
Acceleration: Both the engine and battery (power assist) is used to power the motor to achieve smooth acceleration. Deceleration: Energy from braking is conserved and re-routed back to regenerate the battery.

In other words, the G35 Hybrid will be just another Toyota Hybrid or Lexus GS450h, with slightly better fuel economy as opposed to a regular petrol car, but that's it. Why does Nissan aim so low with a car that's not supposed to be on sale until 2010? If this is all I want I could just go ahead and buy myself a BMW 330d, with start/stop technology and regeneration of battery while braking.

Saab 9-4X interior pic

By now we've all seen the spaceship-cockpit design of the 9-4X prototype, but as usual these fancy-schmancy interiors are usually quite a bit more boring when the production model finally hits the streets.

Auto Motor & Sport in Sweden have captured a picture of the 9-4X interior of a test car, and while it doesn't look quite as fancy as in the prototype, it's not really that far off. The only thing I'm waiting for now is an interesting engine to go with that. The 300 hp biopower (ethanol) engine of the prototype was nice.

The new Golf VI

The next generation Golf is here, and...surprise surprise, it looks exactly like the old one. At least no one can accuse Volkswagen of being too radical in their design. On the inside, though, there are certain changes, as VW take downsizing to a new level. The new Golf will likely be equipped with a tiny 1,6 liter TSI-engine that will produce 200 hp! That's pretty impressive, taking into account that the current Golf 1,6 produces only 100. There will also be a 2-liter engine available producing 240 hp, and this will probably be found in the GTI.

On the more boring side, expect 1,0 or 1,2 liter turbocharged engines producing around 75 hp.

And of course, we'll still have to play the waiting game when it comes to the most interesting model: The plugin hybrid. Whether we'll see this car in our lifetime or not is anybody's guess.

Spain goes electric

According to Automotive News Europe, Spain recently presented a plan to have one million electrical vehicles in traffic by 2014. This decision is probably based on protests and riots following the soaring fuel prices this year, and includes detailed plans on how to achieve such a goal.

Personally I don't think the government even needs to intervene here. If the car manufacturers finally give us what we want, nice looking and functional plugin hybrids with decent range on battery power only, I'm convinced they will take marked shares like crazy.