Even the makers of the world's most exotic cars are thinking green these days.

Australia's Sydney Morning Herald reports, "Sports car manufacturer Ferrari intends to cut its vehicles' greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half and is working on developing hybrid vehicles, the company president says."   Ferrari Chairman Luco Cordero di Montezemolo told reporters "We want to reduce our CO2 emissions by 40 per cent between now and 2012," and "We are currently working on the development of a Ferrari that will use alternative energy sources and which will be based on what we are doing at the moment in Formula 1." 

Edmunds Inside Line adds, "The first hybrid Ferrari isn't expected before 2015," but notes that Montezemolo "maintained that the hybrid car would be 'still fundamentally a Ferrari.'"

Inside Line also notes that the Ferrari will challenge "the planned gas-electric variant of the upcoming Lexus LF-A sports car."

Gizmodo reports, "Lotus has taken a different approach to 'green' car building with the announcement of its Eco Elise - featuring hemp-based bodywork and other renewable materials."  The super-lightweight Elise is considered the ultimate track toy by many enthusiasts for its stripped-down character and world-class cornering prowess.  But the "new Eco Elise celebrates a new type of eco-engineering, in which the company has taken great pains to make the entire manufacturing and driving process as fuel efficient and environmentally sustainable as possible. To that end, they've built the body panels from a hemp resin, and used eco wool and sisal in the interior." 

Edmunds Inside Line notes that the Eco Elise is "a vehicle that the British marque describes as a 'technology demonstrator,' " not scheduled for sale.

Autoblog reports, "This month will see the debut of the Lightning GT electric sports car at the British Motor Show on July 23."  The Lightning is powered by a nano-titanate battery pack that the manufacturer claims "will provide 740-HP and a 0-60 sprint in just four seconds. Those batteries have also been spaced around the car to give it a 48/52 weight balance, which could theoretically give it the kind of handling to match its looks."

The U.K.'s Telegraph adds, "Ten minutes of battery charging will allow the driver to travel 200 miles and the 'regenerative braking' means the batteries receive a boost every time the car decelerates."  The Lightning can be reserved now for a deposit of over $40,000, and the final price is expected to exceed $250,000.

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