ABSTRACT
The future presented at autosalons and in numerous automobile magazines includes the enticing presentation of environmentally benign vehicles. Examples are electric vehicles powered by fuel cells, hybrid-electric vehicles with small petrol or diesel engines generating electricity on-board, natural gas vehicles, lightweight vehicles built with composite materials instead of metal, and vehicles for public individual transport systems. 1 Only very few of these vehicles ever become available for sale and if they do, it is often years after they appeared at a show or in a magazine.
