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Holden to stop making cars in Australia

Fresh from the news that General Motors (GM) will be pulling its Chevrolet brand out of mainstream markets in Europe, the automotive giant has now confirmed that its Australian subsidiary, Holden, will stop making cars Down Under by the end of 2017. It’s further bad news for GM, but even more so for the 2,900 Australian people who are set to lose their jobs as a result of the closure. And it’s a sad and disappointing end for the famous Holden marque, which can trace its history back as far as 1856.

Toyota Hydrogen Fuel Cell on sale by 2015 at €100k

The 2003 Toyota Fine S Hydrogen FCEV Toyota has done a great job of turning the car buying public on to alternative powertrains with it Hybrid setup in the Prius, and now it plans to go the same route with a hydrogen-powered production Toyota. Despite Toyota’s headline commitment to hybrid cars, it has been beavering away for a long time with fuel cell technology for its cars. The photo at the top is of the 2003 Toyota Fine-S Concept which was developed to test the fledgeling hydrogen fuel cell setup, and Toyota were running fuel cell cars in Japan and California at this time too, although not, as far as we know, the Fine S.

LA Motor Show: Mercedes previews fast GLA compact SUV model

MERCEDES has unveiled an almost production-ready AMG compact SUV concept with a banzai 355bhp engine. The Concept GLA 45 AMG is the German company’s vision for a rapid car to rival the upcoming Porsche Macan, which like the Mercedes was also unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Using an extremely highly-tuned four-cylinder turbocharged engine similar to that first seen in the A 45 AMG hatchback, the GLA 45 AMG produces enough muscle to fire itself to 62mph in ‘less than five seconds’, according to Mercedes.