Mercedes-Benz envisions an all-electric S-Class. Hyundai hatches an electric future with a hip design. BMW has a fuel-cell plan. And Honda prices its forbidden-fruit electric hatchback. All this and more here at Green Car Reports. 

The Mercedes-Benz Vision EQS concept, doesn’t aim to entirely replace the S-Class, but it does completely rethink the flagship-sedan idea without the packaging constraints of an internal-combustion engine under the hood. 

Hyundai has looked back to an era when hatchback design was both utilitarian and stylish, while looking ahead to an electric future and a mass-market EV platform with its retro 45 EV concept

BMW also at Frankfurt revealed its hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, in development form. There’s a timeline, too, with a hydrogen BMW X5 due as soon as 2022 and a more widely available model potentially starting in 2025. 

Rivian has found another company willing to help boost its finances on the way to production: Cox Automotive. Although it’s not entirely clear how Cox could benefit from the $350M investment in Rivian, the electric truck hopeful is at a stage when it’s tooling up its Normal, Illinois plant and could use the capital.

Automated safety features work. A study released by GM and involving University of Michigan researchers looked at collision rates and found that “the more automated the system, the greater the benefits.”

And we just can’t resist telling you (again) how cute the urban-retro Honda E is—and how disappointed we are that Honda has held firm in its insistence that this model won’t come to the U.S. At the Frankfurt show, Honda confirmed a starting price for Europe of about $37,000.

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