Lutz's Cadillac puts on a better show than Lutz

"Hi, I'm Bob Lutz, and this is the Cadillac CTS-V Drive Challenge." General Motors Co.'s marketing chief dons his monogrammed helmet and puts Cadillac's 550-horsepower sedan through some warm-up laps at Monticello Motor Club, a members-only track. In what might have passed as a dismissible moment of Lutz braggadocio, "Maximum" Bob has challenged anyone with a four-door sedan to beat his 2010 CTS-V. Though not a showman by trade, Lutz is bankable for amusing, bald-faced assessments of his employer, his critics and the auto industry at large.

MIT researchers rethink electric-car batteries

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say a new battery design for electric vehicles could be a lightweight and inexpensive alternative. The goal for the team's three-year project, launched in September 2010, is to have a functioning prototype ready to be engineered as a replacement for existing electric-car batteries. At this point in the project, the prototype uses a “semi-solid flow” to separate the two functions of a battery--storing energy and discharging it when needed--into separate physical structures.

Autoweek in review: What you might have missed

The Chevrolet Volt went low voltage as the factory prepares to suspend production for five weeks in March. The move is designed to reduce inventory of the hybrid sedan. Autoweek's Mark Vaughn got behind the wheel of the new Fiat 500 Abarth for a test drive.