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Honda is set to begin sales of its much anticipated CR-Z sports hybrid coupé in the US from August this year. The car has drawn much attention over the past 3 years, it originally started life as a design concept in 2007 and is clearly based on Honda’s infamous CR-X coupé. With pricing set to begin at $19,200 USD for the 6 speed manual transmission model the CR-Z will be the cheapest and the sportiest hybrid for sale in the North American market, a fact which has many industry analysts tagging it as a potential big win for Honda in a space currently dominated by Toyota. Lanjut →

Porsche has green-lit its futuristic hybrid, the 918 Spyder, for a limited production run. There is no word yet on when it’ll hit the showrooms, how many will be made or how much it’ll cost but Porsche have said that this information “will be made public in the coming months”. Most analysts are predicting a $650,000 USD sticker price for the hypercar hybrid. We’ll give you a moment to pick your jaw up off the floor…. All done? Before there is a slew of irate comments demanding an affordable hybrid that the every day Joe can afford let’s remember that this is Porsche and it’ll never be cheap to buy a Porsche. Lanjut →

Electric and ultra low carbon emission vehicles for sale in the UK are set to be eligible for 25% off the purchase price of their sticker price (limited to £5,000 or $7,760 USD) from January 2011. The move was initially announced by the previous British government in 2009 but was put on hold until the Autumn spending review this year. This new subsidy will drop the price of the Nissan Leaf in the UK from £28,350 to £23,350 ($44,000 to $36,240 USD). Lanjut →

Sikorsky have unveiled an all electric helicopter called Project Firefly at this years Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture 2010. The Firefly is a modified Schweizer S-300C, a light helicopter renowned for its reliability and safety and will feature twin onboard lithium-ion battery packs that will provide 15 minutes of flight at 92 miles per hour, not much but it’s just the first step in this direction. The Firefly weighs in at a relatively light 2,125 pounds and is currently set up a single seater format. The chopper won’t fly at the airshow but will be on display to the general public, Sikorsky has been working on the Firefly for just over 2 years and have said that the first test flight is still a few months off, citing test pilot safety as their primary concern. Lanjut →

Porsche is pushing hard into both the hybrid and electric car technology arenas this year and the official announcement yesterday that they have already developed and deployed 3 100% electric Boxsters for daily road testing in and around Stuttgart only seems to reaffirm this push into the brave new world of electric propulsion. History buffs will be quick to point out the Ferdinand Porsche, the founder of Porsche, was building and racing both hybrid and all electric cars around the turn of the century so it seems only fitting that Porsche would set its sights on developing modern cars that echo the forward thinking of the company’s founder. Lanjut →