Vancouver: More than a dozen Canadian companies have joined hands to produce a 'green' car made of hemp. To be run on electricity, the prototype design of the car - to be called Kestrel - will be unveiled at the Electric Mobility Show in Vancouver next month. A consortium of 15 Canadian companies will design the green under Project Eve which aims to build environmental friendly cars on the long-term basis.

The four-seater will have bio-composite body made of hemp - which is the name for cannabis (bhang) plant. It will run on batteries with 4.5 to 17.3 kilowatt hours of energy. The car will reach a top speed of 90 kilometres per hour.

It will have a range of 40 to 160 kilometres before needing to be recharged, depending on

New Delhi: The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India is thinking of limiting exports to 15 per cent of its total output in order to concentrate on meeting domestic requirements and take on increasing competition.

"Maruti Suzuki as a company should perhaps deliberately not attempt to export a large part of its production, but keep its exports at about 15 per cent of output," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Chairman RC Bhargava wrote to shareholders in its annual report for the year 2009-10.

In fact, during the April-July period this fiscal, the company's car exports stood at 50,558 units out of a total of 3,35,394 units produced, which is about 15 per cent of the total

Shanghai: The BMW China Automotive Trading Ltd will recall its 5,308 imported GT cars starting on Friday because of a defect in fuel tanks, Xinhua reported on Tuesday.

The defective cars are of BMW 5 series, according to China's quality authority.

The fuel tank problem could stall the engine without warning and the engine might not restart after flameout, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement on its website.

Land Rover will start manufacturing its cars in India by next year, according to Tata Motors’ CEO Carl-Peter Forster.

Forster has revealed that the firm was also in talks with a joint-venture partner in China over producing certain Jaguar and Land Rover models there. No details on what Land Rovers will be made in India have been revealed at this stage, but one option could be production of the firm’s T5 platform that underpins the Discovery 4 and Range Rover Sport models.

This platform is set to live on in 2012 for use on Project Icon, the Defender’s replacement. Elsewhere, Tata Motors’ share price rose earlier to its highest level in 19 years after it posted a profit for the first fiscal year quarter to the end of June.

Washington: Honda has recalled nearly 400,000 vehicles in the US because of a defect that could lead cars to roll away when parked, the Japanese manufacturer said Monday.

The safety recall was related to a defect in the ignition mechanism. Honda in a statement reported 'several complaints about such failures' and 'a small number of related incidents,

New Delhi: Driven by record sales in passenger car and two-wheeler segments, the Indian automobile industry posted its best ever monthly sales of 12,37,461 units in July, beating the previous high achieved in March 2010.

According to the figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) today, automobile sales grew by 31.50 per cent to 12,37,461 units in July compared to 9,41,070 units in the same month last year.

Mumbai:  Mahindra & Mahindra(MAHM.BO) said on Saturday its board have directors had approved submission of a binding bid to buy a majority stake in troubled South Korean automaker Ssangyong Motor(003620.KS) as it seeks to become a major global utility vehicles maker.

It did not, however, reveal any financial details.

The last date for submitting the bids is Tuesday, Aug. 10.

New Delhi: The country’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, on Wednesday launched a new version of its best selling model Alto at an introductory price between Rs. 3.03 lakh and Rs. 3.16 lakh, ex-showroom Delhi.

The new version named, Alto-K10 is powered by a one litre engine from the company’s latest generation K-series engines.

“The Alto’s package of performance, fuel efficiency and attractive cost of ownership have

New Delhi: In an unprecedented move to defend market share, the country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India will launch five cars in CNG version in a single day in the second week of next month.

The company, whose market share has come down below 50 per cent in the quarter ended June for the first time in its history, will unleash factory-fitted CNG options of its best selling Alto, compact cars Estilo and WagonR, multi-purpose vehicle Eeco and mid-sized

Washington: A car that provides a strong protective cage covered with soft foam on both the outside and inside has been one of the most intriguing vehicles competing for the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, a competition to see who can design the best 100-miles-per-gallon car.

All competitors have their eyes on 10 million dollars in prize money but the team behind the foam-wrapped Spira4u have yet another goal - to save lives.