We’ve been hearing from General Motors about the Chevy Volt for what seems like an eternity and now it’s Toyota’s turn. The Japanese automaker will reportedly debut a concept version of the Prius plug-in hybrid at the Frankfurt Auto Show in two weeks time.

Toyota has yet to officially announce the debut, but that is normal for Toyota which is notoriously tight-lipped about its auto show vehicles.

No official specs are available but according to a recent report in Japan’s Nikkei business paper the car will be able to travel from 12.4 to 18.6 miles on pure electric power and will cost close to $50,000.

A limited number of plug-in Prius models are due to hit the roads on three continents by the end of this year with 200 in Japan and 150 each in Europe and the U.S. These vehicles will be leased to corporations and governments.

[Source: WorldCarFans]

Recently a few snap shots taken during the 2011 Hyundai Sonata’s official photo shoot were leaked onto the interweb, and now the same seems to have happened to a selection of some of the official images.

These four images show a four door coupe design that is most certainly in keeping with what Hyundai PR folks had suggested. With the 2011 Sonata, Hyundai is making a push to supplant the mainstream Japanese competitors from Honda and Toyota by offering a competitive vehicle that also has plenty of style.

These images also give us our best look yet at the dash of the Sonata, which has a Lexus-like quality to it.

There is no official word on specifications for the new model, but there are rumors of a direct-injection 2.4-liter four-cylinder with 200hp. We also expect a V6 for the North American market.

The 2011 Sonata will debut next month in Korea with a U.S. debut most likely at either the L.A. Auto Show or the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

GALLERY: 2011 Hyundai Sonata

[Source: Hyundai-Blog]

The high-powered Caliber SRT4 is being cut from the Dodge lineup. The folks over at Car & Driver noticed the absence of the vehicle in Dodge’s 2010 product lineup and have confirmed with Chrysler PR that this is no mix-up. The SRT4 is dead. Sadly, this also means that no model in the company’s new lineup will feature the Caliber’s 285-hp, 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder.

Under new ownership by Fiat since the U.S. automaker emerged from bankruptcy protection, Chrysler’s Dodge brand will instead focus on moving more high-volume Caliber models.

The Caliber SRT4 is just the latest high-performance vehicle to become a casualty of the recession, with one of the car’s main competitors, the Chevy Cobalt SS Sedan having been eliminated from GM’s product lineup earlier this year.

[Source: Car & Driver]