Hybrids

The hybrid graveyard is growing. BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the German luxury makers that teamed up to adapt GM's Two-Mode Hybrid to high-end luxury vehicles, have both canceled both the hybrid vehicles that used the system for 2012, after no more than three model years. Pricey and low-production We...

Toyota has announced pricing on two new models from its Prius family: the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In and the 2012 Toyota Prius V. And it's clarified that both trim levels of the plug-in Prius are likely to qualify for a Federal tax credit of $2,500.

Toyota has just launched the production version of its 2012 Prius Plug-In Hybrid at the Green Drive Expo held in Richmond, California. Toyota will most likely launch the production version of its 2012 Prius Plug-In Hybrid at this year's Los Angeles Auto Show, to be held in mid-November. Just this...

The Chevrolet Volt is now here, on sale in most states, and ready to plug in--and to answer all your questions about what it is, how it drives, how to buy it and how to wade through all its new technology, there's only one solution. Here, you'll find High Gear Media's comprehensive coverage of the...

While Rolls-Royce may have hit the headlines earlier this year with its all-electric 102EX Phantom Concept, its large customer base hasn’t been quite as welcoming. Despite a strong customer ambivalence to anything other than a throbbing 12-cylinder engine underneath the hood of its hand-built...

Last month Ferrari Boss Luca di Montezemelo reiterated that his firm would never bring an all-electric car to market, declaring that he just didn’t believe in them. Instead, he said, the Italian automaker would bring out a gasoline-electric hybrid drivetrain in a few years time. However...

While Toyota is still struggling to get itself entirely back to normal after the devastating March 11 earthquake and resulting tsunami, the company has a number of new green cars coming along this autumn. It is pulling forward the launch for the redesigned 2012 version of its best-selling Camry...

For a few years now, hybrid sales have been stalled at 2 to 3 percent of the U.S. market. But for the first seven months of this year, the total is at the low end of the scale: Hybrids represented 2.06 percent of sales from January through August, and just 1.98 percent of sales in August alone. The...

Innumerable design studies for a successor to the legendary E-Type Jaguar may finally have reached their conclusion: Jaguar's C-X16 concept sports coupe seems very likely to be built within a few years as the Jaguar XE. But the "production concept" to be launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show next...

The Toyota Prius is not only the quintessential hybrid-electric vehicle, but the automaker's third best-selling car line in the United States. Last year, the redesigned 2010 Prius launched with the ad tagline, "Harmony between man, nature, and machine." Tell that to the McCarthy family of Homewood...

With Fisker just starting to deliver its first Karma plug-in hybrid sports sedans--no, still not a single road test by any journalist--attention now turns toward the Frankfurt Motor Show. Next week, the company will pull the covers off a concept for what it says will be the next model in the Fisker...

About 5,600 CR-Z hybrid coupes from the 2011 model year are being recalled to update the control software for their electric motor. The goal is to avert a rare condition under which the car could move in an unexpected direction if the driver doesn't apply the brakes before restarting after stalling...

For 2012, Honda is planning to revise the Insight hatchback to address several of the criticisms levied against its smallest four-seat hybrid. Now, it's released a few details of the revised 2012 Insight before it officially unveils the updated model at the Frankfurt Motor Show, which opens...

Las Vegas is better known for its excess than its frugality, but city bosses are turning that image around by trialling a fleet of electric cars, the first of which is GM's range-extended electric vehicle, the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. The trial will make the city the only government agency in the state...

If any brand has emerged from the bottom of the market into awareness lately, it's Kia. The Korean brand is halfway through introducing an entirely refreshed line of smart, stylish, and inexpensive vehicles that are getting noticed--and selling well. The 2011 Kia Optima Hybrid we recently...

While Lexus unveiled its all-new 2013 GS 350 sports sedan at the recent Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, it showed off only the gasoline GS 350 model. Details of the future hybrid version, the 2013 Lexus GS 450h, remain under cover until the company launches the car officially at next month's...

The word "hybrid" means many things. It can be interpreted as "high gas mileage," or "annoying leftie smugmobile," or--by engineers--an automotive powertrain that uses two different sources to generate the torque that moves the car. But among "full hybrids"--those powertrains that can move the car...

Historically, German automakers were slow to move into hybrid-electric vehicles, relying exclusively on diesel engines to boost fuel efficiency. That's in the past, though, and the Volkswagen Group is aggressively spreading its hybrid powertrain across models from many of its brands. But while VW...

The reviews of the 2012 Toyota Camry mid-size sedan are in now, and the consensus is that it's a competitively priced mild refresh with unadventurous styling. Which may be exactly what Camry buyers are looking for. But on one metric--gas mileage--the 2012 Camry line shines. The 2012 Toyota Camry...

The all-new 2012 Camry Hybrid gets excellent gas mileage, of up to 43 mpg city, 39 highway