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Just below the bling of this year's Australian National Motor Show in Sydney, major manufacturers are promoting a serious message about fuel economy and carbon-busting emissions performance.
Holden has rolled out a bunch of initiatives including Chevrolet's Volt extended-range electric vehicle that's likely to be sold in Australia and New Zealand in 2012, two years after its launch in the US.
The Volt, which may take on the Holden badge, is permanently driven by electricity, but uses a small petrol engine to charge its lithium-ion batteries as they become depleted. Without this boost from the petrol engine, its range is just over 60km.
Alternatively, the Volt can be plugged into a standard 240-volt power outlet for a full recharge in less than three hours.
General Motors reckons the charging will cost less per year than running an average refrigerator.
The Volt's electric motor produces 111kW and 370Nm of torque, enough to ensure lively performance from a vehicle that's only a little larger than a Toyota Corolla.
It's one of the first times a Volt has appeared outside North America. The show car is being described as the production version, rather than a development model.
Holden also showed its Active Fuel Management technology (AFM) to be fitted to automatic V8s from early next year.
This allows the engine to run on four cylinders in certain circumstances, reportedly saving around one litre of fuel per 100km.
Vehicles with AFM will be grouped as part of Holden's new EcoLine brand.
This includes vehicles using alternative fuels or featuring fuel-saving technologies. Joining AFM V8s right away will be the company's diesel and LPG-powered vehicles.
Meanwhile, Toyota is displaying a trio of cars that show the direction of the Japanese manufacturer's hybrid technology.
The Hybrid X concept car was built to show the direction Toyota's hugely successful Prius could take in the future.
Its Supra HV-R is the first hybrid car to win a motor race, but its significance goes deeper and showcases technology to make future hybrid systems lighter, more powerful and more efficient.
And Toyota has flown in a left-hand-drive hybrid Camry for evaluation as well as motor show display. Toyota New Zealand has already said it will take this mid-sizer.
The company plans to sell a million hybrids a year globally after 2010 and by the 2020s aims to have its Hybrid Synergy Drive technology across all vehicle series.
