Driving down the cost

In line with the chancellor's low-carbon aspirations announced in his pre-Budget report, a UK-made diesel/electric engine that is claimed to provide all the functionality of existing systems at a fraction of the cost could be set to help hybrid cars fall in price.

Developed by

, the Midlands firm behind the A1 Grand Prix engine, the hybrid engine has been developed in response to the government's Ultra Low Carbon Car (ULCC) initiative, an effort to stimulate car makers to produce affordable, low-emission family vehicles.

This £10m initiative, launched in 2003, threw down the gauntlet for manufacturers to develop a prototype family car, capable of 0-60mph (100kph) in 16 seconds and produce CO2 emissions of less than 100g/km.

Earlier this year

unveiled Efficient-C, a modified Berlingo Multispace which, with a little help from Ricardo, used a hybrid diesel/electric engine, to reduce emissions to 99gm/km. But the Zytek engine, launched last week in London aboard a modified Smart ForFour topped this with claimed emissions of just 85gm of CO2 per km.