• Mahindra-Reva sales have dropped after the subsidy that the government had offered ended on March 31 this year. The car now costs Rs 4-4.87 lakh. The new policy will be implemented in the second quarter of this financial year, which leaves three months of expensive electric vehicles - and poor sales for Reva. 
• The new Mercedes crossover has (finally) been christened the GLA. It will share its platform with the A and B Class, and will be slightly smaller than the BMW X1. 
• Luxury players like BMW and Mercedes are being extremely conservative with sales projections for this financial year, with both quoting between 10 and 20 per cent. Audi is positive, with a projection of over 50 per cent riding on the Q3's launch. 
• Thomas Chacko, a 62-year old motoring enthusiast, will set out to cover 25000km all over India in 80 days in his Tata Nano. He will visit significant locations like the geographic extremes of the country in all four directions, the highest motorable road and Nagpur, the geographic centre of India. 
• Land Rover has produced three lakh units of the Freelander 2 since the first examples rolled off the production line in 2007. 
• Renault-Nissan have committed to purchase 25 per cent more stake in Lada auto manufacturer AvtoVAZ, bringing its stake to 50 per cent. The purchase will be implemented by 2014 and will give Renault-Nissan an added advantage in one of the world's fastest-growing auto markets.
• Honda has found a unique way to ease traffic congestion: it has a technology that monitors the behaviour of the vehicle being driven, and analyses whether the driving characteristics will lead to congestion. It worked very well in test situations, by reducing fuel consumption by up to 23 per cent and of the trailing vehicles by 8 per cent. Now Honda plans to test it in Italy and Indonesia - we now plan to follow the test results carefully: to the best of our knowledge, there are very few things that can make an Italian driver slow down...
• Rumor has it that the next Subaru Impreza WRX/STi might have a turbocharger that runs on electricity. You heard that right: the heat from the exhaust gases will be used to generate electricity, not spin the impeller, and the electric power is what will spin the turbocharger. Less turbo lag, yes - but are we going to see (hear?) the death of the blowoff valve?

The CarWale Daily Fuel is your quick daily dose of automotive news from India and around the world. If you want to know whatever's in the news but want it short and sweet, here's your solution. 

Mahindra Reva also signed three MoUs with leading Australian research institutions to collaborate on development of advanced vehicle and energy management technologies.  The MoUs are with Swinburne University, LaTrobe University, and Australia’s national automotive research body, the AutoCRC.

 Mahindra Reva has entered into the MoU with the AutoCRC to establish an operational framework for an Applied Research Program. The two-year MoU will facilitate the sharing of relevant confidential information and enable the two parties to establish specific project agreements under the Applied Research Program.  The MoU with Swinburne University, which has Australia’s largest electric vehicle research group, will focus on advanced EV technologies.

The company’s three year MoU with LaTrobe University aims to facilitate collaborative research and development for new energy management technologies. The research program will develop new concepts and techniques at the crossroads of high-efficiency building design, electric vehicles, and vehicle-to-grid technologies. Energy management systems for commercial buildings would encourage employees to use electric vehicles, which could in turn serve as a source of energy for the workplace or help stabilize clean energy sources like solar or wind power.

The REVAi is a technologically advanced car equipped with a `boost’ mode for acceleration and power. It also has a ‘hill restraint’ feature which allows enhanced negotiation on slopes. As an eco-friendly and economical car, it offers ease of driving without clutch and gears. Further, the vehicle can drive at 80 km per hour with acceleration from 0-40 km in 7 seconds. The car also has a regenerative braking system by which energy is pumped to the battery while slowing down or applying the brakes.