The Audi E-Tron electric sports car is a go, according to Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen. The super-futuristic electric car that debuted at the Frankfurt Auto Show was such a hit that de Nysschen thinks there will be working examples on the road within two years.

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VW premiered its spanking new EV concept, the E-Up!, at the Frankfurt Auto Show yesterday, and gave the strongest hint yet that the car will be very close to the production model available from 2013.

The E-Up! boasts acceleration to 62 mph in a fairly zippy 11.3 seconds and tops out at 84 mph, whilst its 18 kWh integrated lithium-ion batteries will enable a range of over 80 miles (see picture gallery after the jump).

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Exciting new pictures of a hotly anticipated Audi electric car concept have been leaked, a week before the ‘official’ unveiling at the Frankfurt Motorshow.

The car will apparently be called the ‘e-Tron,’ and as you can see from the pictures, will take a lot of its design cues from the R8, but with a different front grille, LED headlights, wheels and rear end. Inside, the cabin is also quite different, featuring a driver-biased center console with two screens; one for the rear view camera and one showing a navigation map (see picture gallery after the jump).

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I’ve always been of the mindset that fuel efficiency and performance do not have to be mutually exclusive. A new concept car from BMW pursues that ideology, blending almost 600 ft-lbs of torque with a 62.6 mile-per-gallon fuel efficiency.

Called (take a deep breath) the Vision EfficiencyDynamics turbodiesel plug-in hybrid concept, it combines a lot of future technology into a polarizing design that is sure force people to draw lines in the sand.

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Japanese luxury car-maker Lexus has announced plans to launch a five-door compact hybrid hatchback. The new model looks set to be a major competitor to the BMW 1-Series and Audi A3 in the hot-hatch segment.

The new model will be showcased in September at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show and is due to go on sale in the UK by autumn 2010.

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Renault has announced plans to showcase a trio of electric cars at this September’s Frankfurt motor show, including all-electric versions of the Megane saloon and the Kangoo (on sale 2011), as well as an all-new concept EV.

At this stage, Renault is keeping tight-lipped about the details of its concept car, revealing only that it will be a four-metre, five-door hatchback that will go on sale in 2012.

According to Renault C-Segment Development Chief Christian Steyer, all of the company’s new EV offerings will feature noticeable styling, but nothing too radical. He told reporters, “We want a real signature for our electric range, so when people see one in the street they will know it is a Renault electric car. The key is to do this without frightening customers away. Customers must be tempted, and not rushed too fast.”

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Sometimes when looking forward, you have to look back to really get inspired.

110 years ago electric cars were at their peak, representing over a quarter of all cars on the road in America, but Henry Ford and the mass-production gas motor changed all that. And while most of us have gotten used to the idea of an engine under the hood, a transmission, and sometimes a driveshaft as integral to our cars, Volvo is taking a nod from the first electric carriages and putting their motors where they are most needed: the wheels. The Volvo ReCharge is a plug-in hybrid concept that relys on four indepedant electric motors, one in each wheel, to move and power the C30-based concept.

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