Toyotais set to invest $340m in a second plant on the outskirts of Bangalore that will produce its planned low-cost car. The move will improve the Japanese carmaker's position as it jockeys for business in one of the global industry's fastest-growing and most strategically important markets. India, with its large pool of first-time carbuyers and cheap engineering and manufacturing skills, is emerging as the car industry's biggest new centre of low-cost production. Renault, General Motors, and Suzuki all produce low-priced vehicles in the country.

The battery-testing facility at General Motorsin Michigan is working 24 hours a day, seven days a week on the Chevrolet Volt, the electric car the company this week described as its "number one priority". The US carmaker is developing the Volt and its still-unproven technology in parallel on one of its briskest development schedules ever. It aims to start selling the car by late 2010 and, in so doing, wrest industry leadership on environmental issues from Toyota, its archrival.

Tesla Motorsplans to begin selling electriccars in Europe next year, taking advantage of the weak dollar. Ze'ev Drori, chief executive of the US start-up, told the Financial Times that Tesla would start selling the roadsters, which will be priced at just under