Apple tops the list, followed by Google and Toyota Motor.

Three Indian entities

PASSENGER-VEHICLE SALES in China fell for a second month in a row in September, dropping 1.4% from a year earlier to 552,800 vehicles and heightening worries about a demand slowdown.

Sales of passenger vehicles in the January-September period rose 11.4% to 5.1 million units, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said.

GLOBAL AUTO MAKERS are nishing to challenge the dominance of Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius hybrid with a slew of eco-friendly vehicles. But Honda Motor Co. is likely to pose the most formidable threat to Toyota when it unveils its new Insight hybrid car Thursday at the Paris Auto Show.

The battle between Toyota and Honda for supremacy in the hybrid petrol-electric car market is set to heat up with both Japanese carmakers set to introduce distinctive new models early next year.

Honda disclosed details on Wednesday of a hybrid hatchback that will be smaller and cheaper than its existing Civic hybrid sedan.

Toyota is due to unveil a larger version of its popular Prius. It has so far kept a low profile on the new model to avoid damping sales of the existing Prius.

Bs Reporter / Mumbai August 2, 2008, 5:49 IST

The growing impact of inflation on car sales is clearly reflected in the dismal growth in domestic sales of the country's three leading auto-makers

Honda has unveiled the future of personal transportation: the FCX Clarity, a hydrogen-powered fuel-cell car that emits only water from its tailpipe and can get the equivalent of 119 kilometers per gallon. The first Claritys were delivered to southern California on June 16, and Hollywood crowds are already lining up to lease it for $600 a month.

Government should encourage use of cleaner transportation Honda, the Japanese auto major, has launched a hybrid version of its popular Civic model in India, making it the first hybrid car to be marketed in the country. While this is good news for those who want to reduce the size of their carbon footprints, India's high import duty on completely built units

It looks like an ordinary family sedan, costs more to build than a Ferrari and may have just moved the world one step closer to a future free of petroleum. The FCX Clarity on a test drive after an introduction ceremony in Japan on Monday. On Monday, Honda Motor celebrated the start of production of its FCX Clarity, the world's first hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicle intended for mass production. In a ceremony at a factory an hour north of Tokyo, the first assembly-line FCX Clarity rolled out to the applause of hundreds of Honda employees wearing white jump suits.

-- Honda's new zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell car rolled off a Japanese production line Monday and is headed to Southern California, where Hollywood is already abuzz over the latest splash in green motoring. The FCX Clarity, which runs on hydrogen and electricity, emits only water and none of the noxious fumes believed to induce global warming. It is also two times more energy efficient than a gas-electric hybrid and three times that of a standard gasoline-powered car, the company says.