Tokyo - Toyota Motor Corp said Thursday its net profit in the April-June quarter fell 28.1 per cent from the same period a year before to 353.6 billion yen (3.25 billion dollars).

Japan's leading automaker saw its operating income drop 38.9 per cent to 412.5 billion yen mainly due to the yen's rise against the US dollar.

Sales also declined 4.7 per cent to 6.22 trillion yen, the company said.

Stockholm  - Saab Automobile posted a loss for 2007, but the group owned by US automotive giant General Motors reduced its losses compared to 2006, Swedish financial daily Dagens Industri reported Wednesday.

The Swedish-based carmaker sold some 125,000 cars in 2007, roughly 7,800 fewer cars than in 2006, the report said.

Saab Automobile's loss for 2007 was 2.2 billion kronor (360 million kronor) compared to a loss of 2.9 billion kronor in 2006, the daily reported, citing the group's annual report filed in Sweden.

Munich  - BMW is hoping to transfer hybrid technology from its Formula 1 cars to the M sport model range as part of a plan to make the cars more fuel efficient, according to BMW's head of technology research Albert Biermann.

The effectiveness of combining a combustion engine with an electric or hybrid drive was limited. In the long term, the company was looking at more technology transfer from the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) that will be used for the BMW-Sauber Formula 1 cars in the 2009 racing season, Biermann said.

Stockholm - Saab Automobile posted a loss for 2007, but the group owned by US automotive giant General Motors reduced its losses compared to 2006, Swedish financial daily Dagens Industri reported Wednesday.

The Swedish-based carmaker sold some 125,000 cars in 2007, roughly 7,800 fewer cars than in 2006, the report said.

Saab Automobile's loss for 2007 was 2.2 billion kronor (360 million kronor) compared to a loss of 2.9 billion kronor in 2006, the daily reported, citing the group's annual report filed in Sweden.

London - The first new Lotus in more than a decade, the Lotus Evora, was unveiled last week at the British Motor Show with the sports car manufacturer releasing more details of the car.

The Evora, which ran under the project called Eagle, will sell in Europe early next year for around 70,000 euros (109,700 dollars).

It enters the sports car market as the only mid-engined 2+2. Powered by a 3.5-litre V6 Toyota engine, the car has an output of 206 kW/280 hp.

Munich - Occupants of small mini cars such as the Fiat 500 have hardly any chance of surviving a head-on collision with a big Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), according to Germany's automobile association ADAC.

Summing up the results of a crash test conducted with an Audi Q7 and the new Fiat 500, the ADAC pointed out that even a small car with an above average safety standard stood no chance in a crash with an SUV.

Although the safety cell of the Fiat 500 has been classified as one of the best in its class, it could not withstand the sheer mass of the SUV with the main supporting strut of the Q7 boring itself into the safety cell of the Fiat, the test showed.