Automakers are working on reducing pollution and CO2 emissions with concept vehicles like VW’s Blue Motion, Seat’s Ecomotive, and Opel’s Ecoflex,and upcoming developments are strongly centred around hybrid motorisation. Toyota was first to commercialise a series-production hybrid car — the Prius — and most other automakers are working in this direction. Examples include VW’s Golf Hybrid and BMW’s Efficient Dynamics system.
At the same time, another major vector for reducing CO2 is vehicle downsizing. Automakers are developing cars smaller than their previous smallest models, like the Toyota IQ — it’s smaller than the company’s Aygo. And India’s Tata Motors have attracted global attention with their Nano. The market forecasts that by 2012, miniature cars will represent 38% of yearly car production worldwide, a 65% increase over 10 years’ time.
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