Russian Hybrid Car - not an oxymoron!

The first hybrid car to be manufactured in Russia, ё, is pronounced 'Yo' and was chosen after a crowd-sourcing exercise. The car is set to sell at around $10,000 - will be interesting to see if it can put other more well known hybrids to shame.

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Nissan to introduce new passenger car brand in China

Continuing the trend of major global brands launching a 'local' China-only brand (ie. Hermes, GM, et al), Nissan has announced that it plans to introduce a new passenger-car brand in the Chinese market with its local partner, Dongfeng, to help meet demand for cheaper models.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-08/nissan-to-create-new-passenger-car-brand-with-chinese-partner-dongfeng.html


“What Nissan is aiming for is to come up with a smaller and cheaper model without sacrificing their brand image,” said Koji Endo, an auto analyst at Advanced Research Japan in Tokyo. Demand for lower priced cars will grow faster than for more expensive models, he said."


Nissan follows in the foot steps of Honda, who was the first Japanese car maker to introduce a China only brand, Li Nian.


This news comes in the wake of the news that China is set to have 200 million vehicles on its roads by 2020. Did someone mention sustainability and protecting the environment?