Automakers Produce Cars of the Future

Automakers around the world are planning to make cars that are smaller, use up less fuel and do not damage our environment. At auto shows around the globe car producers are presenting what they have in mind.
General Motors has already showed one of its prototypes .It is called P.U.M.A. , which means Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility Vehicle. It looks like a cart, has two batteries and seats for two people.
While GM’s car may never be produced other car makers have already made mini-cars that you can buy. Mercedes’ Smart car has been popular in Europe for some time. Chrysler’s GEM Peapod and Toyota’s IQ are two small cars that have been specially designed for city traffic.
Man people want to buy small cars because they save fuel. That means saving money on petrol plus being able to find parking spaces more easily in crowded cities.
Carmakers are also spending money on research to make alternative-fuel cars. Maybe one day, most of us will drive biodiesel, hydrogen, or solar-powered cars.

Hybrids are cars that are already on the market today. Toyota and GM already produce hybrid cars, trucks and SUV’s that run on petrol and electricity. Other companies, like BMW, have made cars that use hydrogen and electricity. Although such cars are still too expensive to produce in great numbers carmakers are continuing to improve them and make them cheaper.

Segway's P.U.M.A.

 

• accessibility = user friendly
• alternative-fuel = not powered by petrol but other environment-friendly kinds of energy
• although =while
• cart = here: an object that has a small, round form and a motor
• crowded = full
• damage = destroy
• design = make, plan
• environment = the world around us
• fuel = here: petrol; the liquid for of energy that a car needs to drive
• globe = world
• have in mind = what they are thinking of
• hydrogen = the lightest gas that forms water when you mix it with oxygen; it is also a source of energy;
• popular = liked by many people
• prototype = the first form of something new
• research = to study a topic and find out new and interesting things about it
• solar-powered = energy from the sun
• SUV = sport-utility vehicle= car that larger than a normal car and is used to travel over rough ground
• urban = city
• vehicle = car 

use up - zużyć coś, zużywać coś
damage - uszkodzenie, szkoda, uszczerbek (np. własności, zdrowia); źle wpływać
have in mind - mieć na myśli
accessibility - dostępność; przystępność; ułatwienia dostępu
carmaker - producent samochodów
utility - pożytek, użyteczność; funkcjonalny, praktyczny; wszechstronny

 źródło: http://www.english-online.at/technology/future-cars/prototype-cars-of-the-future.htm