Green
Rumormill: Could Lexus become a hybrid-only brand?

This could be Japanese-only news, or just a case of bad translation, but Toyota Managing Officer Toshio Furutani has apparently told Japan's Nikkei Business News that Toyota wants every vehicle in the Lexus product line to offer a hybrid option, and that "in the medium to long term, Toyota was considering making the Lexus lineup hybrid-only."
read more »Prius Overload: Toyota to bump production 70%

Click above for high-res gallery of the Toyota Prius
If the Prius went mainstream when Toyota bumped production to 280,000 worldwide units per year in 2007, the fuel efficient hybrid is now primed to kick project green to the next level. When Toyota begins producing the next gen Prius, it'll do so with more factory space than ever dedicated to the universal symbol for fuel efficiency, making it possible to produce 480,000 vehicles per year. The Japan-based Tsutsumi factory, which currently builds five different vehicles, will stop making the JDM Wish minivan to allow for more Priuses. Even more Prius capacity will be available beginning in 2010, when the Japanese automaker's new Mississippi plant comes online and begins to produce more of the hybrid.
read more »GM breaking up with Big Oil in new commercial

General Motors is apparently serious about it's green push and will be launching a new commercial later this month to show off its environmental intentions. The spot, created by McCann-Erickson, is GM's televised Dear John letter to Big Oil that begins by saying, "We've had this great relationship for many years. We think we will both be a lot happier and healthier if we see less of each other."
read more »Toyota developing clean-diesel V8 for Tundra/Sequoia

Click above for high-res gallery of the Diesel Dually Tundra
Analysts predict diesels to make up 20% of U.S. market by 2020
Hybrid vehicles may hold most of the headlines right now, but both analysts and industry insiders agree that oil burners will comprise a far greater slice of the automotive propulsion market by 2020. BorgWarner CEO Tim Manganello told the SAE Automotive World Congress in Detroit that diesels would account for 20% of vehicles by 2020, and both Ford product chief Derrick Kuzak and Toyota engineering vice president Ed Mantey agreed with the assessment. Manganello based his prediction on powertrain trends in Europe, which already feature diesel engines in about half of its vehicles.
Ford's new green initiative cuts emissions by 30-percent
Ford has been in the cross hairs of environmentalists for years, but the Blue Oval is now out of the solar-powered dog house after detailing its environmental plans to activist shareholders. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and the Investor Network on Climate Risk Network are now giving Ford the green thumbs up after FoMoCo detailed its initiative to reduce emissions by 30-percent by 2020.
New York 2008: Mercedes burns oil and rubber

Click above for high-res gallery from Daimler's press conference


