Although Peugeot’s frequent collaborator, Mini, has chosen to forgo the hybrid-diesel system in favor of improving engine fuel economy in more mundane manners, Peugeot is full steam ahead with their rather interesting take on hybrid technology.

The 3008 HYbrid4 won’t be making its official market debut until next spring, but as the world’s first mass-market diesel hybrid—and Peugeot’s first delve into the world of hybrids—the details that Peugeot unveiled yesterday reveal a company bent on staking a claim in the rapidly expanding hybrid market.

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In the months since its debut at the Geneva Auto Show one thing has become clear: the Porsche 918 Spyder is perhaps the most jaw-dropping, beautiful and salivatingly-green piece of automotive artwork to ever grace the face of the earth. It represents a sliver of hope to even the most environmentally-hardened among us that the joy and thrill of driving will still be alive even after we run out of oil.

With a 0-60 time of around 3 seconds, a lithium-ion battery that can take the car 16 miles on battery power alone, a maximum fuel efficiency of about 78 mpg, and a combined 718 horsepower, this plug-in hybrid supercar seems to have it all. Thankfully, last month the Porsche board greenlighted the production of the 918 after receiving interest from more than 2,000 potential customers—even to the tune of a greater than $400,000 sticker price.

And now, in a video produced and released by Porsche, Michael Mauer, the company’s design chief, takes us on the 918’s first in-the-wild drive prior to the recent Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Montery, California.
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Remember way back in December last year, when the rumors were swirling that the next generation of Nissan’s sports rocket, the GT-R, would be getting a hybrid drivetrain? Since then we’ve gotten subsequent confirmation that, indeed, Nissan was thinking about putting some kind of electric drivetrain into the GT-R—be it hybrid or fully electric.

And with the upcoming launch of the new Infiniti M35 hybrid at the LA Auto Show later this year, it seems that all the clues are falling into place—could the M35’s hybrid system be a portent of what’s to come for the GT-R?

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Although you might think a car like the Mini would be perfectly suited to getting incredible fuel economy from a hybrid system—especially one that combined an already efficient diesel engine with electric assist—according to Mini, you’d be wrong.

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Although it will be officially unveiled at the Paris Motor Show next month, Kia released a scant few details about its electric Pop concept car today, along with some pictures.

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