The road has gotten bumpier for electric cars. Coda Automotive, one of what had been a promising crop of electric car startups, filed for bankruptcy protection this month, and said it would reorganize around the electric storage market. High-end electric car maker Fisker Automotive, which has had financial woes for months, announced meanwhile it was laying off 75 percent of its workforce, raising the prospect of defaulting on US government loans.

Japanese auto giant Toyota said Wednesday it had sold over 1.2 million hybrid cars around the world last year, more than doubling sales in the previous 12 months. The company -- the world's biggest automaker -- said it had shifted around 1,219,000 million duel fuel cars, including green celebrities' favourite Prius. The figure means around 14 percent of all vehicles Toyota sold last year were hybrids. The home market, where subsidies for environmentally friendly cars were in place for much of calendar year 2012, accounted for more than half of the sales.

Gas-guzzling SUVs, eco-friendly electric cars and the odd brave attempt to marry the selling points of both are taking centre stage at the biennial Seoul Motor Show. Carmakers including Hyundai, Toyota, GM, BMW, Volkswagen and Ford are taking part in the 10-day event, with nine models making their global debut as Seoul seeks to catch up with better-known Asian auto shows in Tokyo and Beijing.

Shares in GS Yuasa, the Japanese battery supplier for Boeing's troubled Dreamliner, plunged Thursday after its power packs overheated or caught fire in Mitsubishi's electric and hybrid vehicles. The stock dropped 11.11 percent to 392 yen by the close in Tokyo after the automaker said late Wednesday that lithium-ion batteries made by a joint venture including GS Yuasa had suffered malfunctions in at least two instances.