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Italian automaker Fiat is currently developing a gasoline and diesel hybrid-drive system for its small cars and vans that could enter production by 2011. Listen guys, if you end up producing a Fiat 500 hybrid, we beg you to bring it to the U.S.

“We are still in the research phase and, if everything proceeds as expected, we could begin production within three years,” Alfredo Altavilla, CEO of Fiat Powertrain Technologies, told Automotive News Europe.

Fiat CEO, Sergio Marchionne, wants the company to have the lowest CO2 emissions of any European carmaker by 2012. That is the same year that the European Commission plans to impose an average CO2 limit of 120 grams per kilometer on new cars sold in Europe.

If all goes as expected, Fiat minicars will get a new 2-cylinder engine that is mated to an electric motor/generator to a dual-clutch transmission. Fiat claims that the small-car hybrid system could bring CO2 levels to below 90g/km.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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