A GROUPof British MPs is urging the government to use Tata-owned luxury Jaguar cars instead of Japanese hybrid cars that run on a mix of electricity and petrol. The campaign that could be summed up as "be British, drive British' follows Tata Motors' acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover in April and its plans to inject about

BANGALORE-BASED electric carmaker Reva Electric Car Company is looking at licensing its vehicle technology to other carmakers. One of the largest manufacturers of electric cars in the world, Reva is currently exported to 13 overseas markets in small numbers.

INFLATIONARY pressures have applied brakes on the growth plans of carmakers reeling under the pressure of high interest rates and a sharp dip in consumer demand. Rising interest rates and sluggish stock market conditions have further dampened

Senator John McCain hopes to solve the country's energy crisis with cold hard cash. The Republican presidential nominee-inwaiting thinks the government should offer a $300 million prize to the person who can develop an automobile battery that leapfrogs existing technology. The prize would equate to $1 for every man, woman and child in the country. In a speech at Fresno State University in California, McCain will also propose stiffer fines for automakers who skirt existing fuel-efficiency standards. AP

Washington: American automobile manufacturer Chrysler has plans to equip its cars with a system that will enable people to surf the internet while driving. The UConnect Web system is what the company says can bring wireless internet access to cars' dashboards.

John McCain will push on Monday for car makers to build more environmentally friendly vehicles, threatening new legislation if they do not comply and proposing tax breaks to encourage consumers to buy "cleaner" cars. According to excerpts of his speech obtained by Reuters, the Republican presidential candidate will call for auto manufacturers to speed up the process of making engines that can use alcohol-based fuels.

Ram Prasad Sahu Trying times ahead for Tata Motors as it grapples with a large acquisition and a slew of new product launches in a tough macroeconomic environment. Slackening of demand, rising input costs and higher interest rates are not welcome news for the country's largest automobile player, Tata Motors. To maintain its margins, the company was forced to increase prices of its commercial and passenger vehicles over the last five months.

Bernard Simon Carmakers aim to improve margins with more pricing power on small models. General Motors' assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio, is a rarity these days. At a time when the carmaker is trimming capacity and chopping jobs across North America, Lordstown is about to hire 1,400 workers for a third shift. The plant owes its good fortune to building the sporty, fuel-efficient Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 cars. While demand for big sport-utility vehicles and pick-up trucks has plummeted, Cobalt sales jumped by 18 per cent in the first five months of 2008.

Swaraj Baggonkar Banks make criteria tougher for funding the car. Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata's dream to help the common man own a four-wheeler may meet its bete noire in bankers as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and rival lenders realign rules to finance the Nano, touted to be the world's cheapest car. To avoid being saddled with a large amount of bad loans, banks are keen to fund second-time car buyers as against two-wheeler owners, who intend to graduate to owning a car, bank officials, who declined to be identified, said.

S Kalyana Ramanathan In a move that seems like making up for its delayed entry into the compact car segment, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), a joint venture between Japan's Toyota Motor and Pune-based Kirloskar Group, is planning to launch a series of models with engines varying between 1.1-1.3 litre over the next two to three years to address the 1-million unit compact car market in India.