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It's not that easy being green, least of all if you're a builder of exotic, high performance supercars or uberluxury sedans. Recently however, there has been a move towards improving fuel economy and reducing emissions by many of the world's biggest and most well known luxury and performance brands.

Take Ferrari's stop-start equipped California HELE or Mercedes-Benz's SLS AMG E-Cell concept, for instance. And there's more on the horizon, including the plug-in hybrid 918 Spyder from Porsche and BMW's Vision EfficientDynamics, the latter of which allegedly will offer M3 performance with a CO2 emissions rating of just 99 grams per kilometer.

And it's not just these four who are in it for the environmental crowd cred: other makers including Lotus, Audi, Lamborghini, Jaguar and Bentley are also looking to green up their model ranges.

This comes as no surprise to Christoph Stuermer, an analyst at IHS Automotive in Frankfurt:

"These upper-end, high-performance cars have always been examples of the best car technology out here, and being green is now part of being technologically advanced They have to come up with something so as not to be seen as technical dinosaurs."

Enrico Galliera, the commercial and marketing senior VP at Ferrari, agrees that it's definitely something that the company's customers are all for:

"When you consider buying a Ferrari, you're considering it for the performance. At the same time, when we approached customers and said, 'Here's a way you can still have that and be greener,' the reaction was extremely positive."

So there you have it. Now you can have your cake and eat it too, though you'll have to pay for the cake part first. And with prices around €180,000 (US$252,376) for the California HELE and an expected €500,000 (US$682,260) for the 918 Spyder that is one expensive, green frosted cake.

PS: Metaphors aren't my strong point...

By Tristan Hankins

For those of us living in colder climates, ice can be a real hassle during winter time; scraping rock like formations from your windshield isn't the best thing that can happen to you in freezing temperatures... But the VW Group in association with the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Technology (IST) in Braunschweig, may soon provide drivers a solution to this pesky problem.

Researchers have introduced what they claim to be the first anti-fogging and anti-icing car windscreen. Unlike heated windows, the new glass panes make use of a physical principle that does not allow an ice layer to form in the first place, even at temperatures as low as -18 C or -0.4 F.

The Volkswagen Group says the secret of the innovation lies in a wafer-thin transparent coating of indium tin oxide that is applied to the window and in theory, stops heat from going upwards and prevents or delays cooling of the glass surface to below the dew point.

"We call this a 'Low-E' (low thermal emissivity) coating. Applied to the outer glazing, it prevents heat from radiating skyward. We are proud of this innovation and will promote it throughout the Group. That is because an ice-free window is an added convenience to our customers," explains Thomas Drescher of Volkswagen Development.

"The 'Low-E coating' cannot prevent ice formation or condensation entirely, but it can significantly reduce the likelihood of it happening," Drescher added.

The VW Group says is still has to work around some problems before it offers this technology on production models. One such issue in the current development phase is that new coating interferes with radio transmission impairing radio and mobile phone reception.

"It will take some time before the ice-free car windscreen is market-ready, but we are working intensively toward this goal. The bottom line is that for the Volkswagen Group, the ice-free window represents a successful innovation that is unique worldwide," said Drescher.

Although there's been no official announcement other than confirmation of a Q5 Hybrid SUV sometime this year (next week's L.A. Auto Show is a good bet), Audi's website seems to think that the brand's mid-size hybrid crossover is ready for some time in the spotlight.

According to the site, the Q5 Hybrid will be a full hybrid with a 2.0 TSI four-cylinder working alongside a 33-kW (44 HP) electric motor, regenerative braking, and start/stop tech.

Behind the scenes, the car will have an adaptive control system to optimize the gas/electric power ratio. On electric power alone, Audi is expecting the car to be able to cruise at speeds up to 100 km/h / 62 mph. Curious about range and efficiency? There's now a power meter in the instrument cluster for just that reason.

As with just about every car out there these days, there's an S mode; in this case, it provides the raciest performance from the hybrid drivetrain by allowing full access to the 240 horsepower and 480 Nm / 354 lb-ft of torque (there's a boost function, too).

Expect a nice, wordy press release very soon, but I couldn't possibly imagine what else you'd need to know; it's a Q5 Hybrid, which just about says it all.

By Phil Alex

Bavarian tuner HS Motorsport has teamed up with Autohaus Kempen and various other aftermarket specialists to create the Audi A1 project car, which features exterior modifications, upgraded suspension and some interior appointments as well.

CFC Styling Station was in charge of the custom paintjob, an "effect-rich silver finish" combined with a black stripe that runs from the front grille to the end of the roof. The rear bumper has been modified in order to incorporate a Golf R32-style two-pipe exhaust system, specially conceived by Fox Sport Exhaust Systems for this project.

To improve handling, engineers at H&R developed a new lowered coilover suspension system (-55 mm at the front and -60 mm at the back).

No tuned car is complete without a nice set of alloy wheels. HS Motorsport offers two different designs, the ASA GT1 in a black matte finish with silver accents, and the "edgier" ASA GT2 in anthracite, both measuring 18-inches. Vredestein and Hankook provide the 215/35 R18 tires. Buyers can also opt for a more powerful braking system from Brembo.

The project car's 122 hp (91 kW) 1.4-liter TSI engine was left untouched, but the German tuner can accommodate power-hungry customers by installing a power kit that increases output to 147 hp (110 kW) and 250 Nm (184 lb-ft) of torque.

Inside, there are two-tone Recaro Sportster CS seats and an optional Alpine sound system.

By Csaba Daradics