Green
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General Motors will follow its 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car with a production version of the Cadillac Converj concept car revealed at this year's Detroit Auto Show. It's been an open question for a while now: What will be the next vehicle to use GM's Voltec series hybrid electric-car platform? The Opel/Vauxhall Ampera doesn't really count, since it's just a version of the Volt with a restyled front end to be sold by GM's European brands. But this week, GM directors reportedly approved a future model lineup for Cadillac that includes the sleek coupe. Hot-rod electric car?...
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Toyota Creates New Flower Species To Cut CO2 From Prius Production
You may already associate the 2010 Toyota Prius with flowers, courtesy of its "Harmony Between Man, Nature, and Machine" ad campaign, complete with human flowers in the "Harmony" TV spot. Now Toyota has taken flower power one step further, creating two new species specifically to help reduce the...
John Voelcker -
First Drive: 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6
"Our goal was to fundamentally change the view of hybrids," said Peter Tünnermann, project manager for the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6. "We wanted to make a 'non-hybrid' hybrid." In other words, a hybrid that didn't drive like a hybrid. And in that goal, BMW has succeeded admirably...
John Voelcker -
Toyota Goes Wild on Custom Prius Models For Charity
The annual event known as "SEMA" (for Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Assocation) has grown from its simple trade show origins into a global extravaganza bigger than most auto shows. Imagine the hugest Kustom Kar event you can possibly conjure. On steroids. In Vegas. SEMA is now a mandatory stop...
John Voelcker -
The Green Side of SEMA
November is a time to give thanks...for the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA). These are the people and companies who make car enthusiasts drool with automotive add-ons and accessories fit for a classic episode of Pimp My Ride. Each November, when the SEMA show takes place in Las Vegas...
Robert Scardino -
How To Improve Fuel Economy? Raise Gasoline Taxes, Say Executives
Auto executives know how to get U.S. drivers to save a whole lot more gasoline: Raise the price of gas, to at least $4 a gallon. That was the message at the recent Reuters Autos Summit in Detroit this week. The simplest way to get U.S. drivers into cars with higher gas mileage is economic: Make it...
John Voelcker -
Continuing our series on 2010 Toyota Prius reviews from around the web, this week we turn to Jason Mick of TechDaily. He spent an entire week with a 2010 Prius V, the most upmarket trim level, and loved it. Mick isn't entirely new to AllAboutPrius.com. In late August, we reported on his investigation into Prius price-gouging. And he's reviewed a number of hybrid vehicles for TechDaily. But we do wonder if he has a soft spot for the Prius. He liked the performance, calling the car "much more energetic" than previous models, saying it "handled great" on highways and coped well with turns on...
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Is Toyota Planning To Build a Camry CNG Hybrid?
If you've followed any of the news coming out of the 2009 SEMA Show, the mecca for modified cars, you may have seen that Toyota's display included a modified version of the Camry CNG Hybrid it showed last fall at the Los Angeles Auto Show.The Toyota Surfrider Camry Hybrid CNG, which pairs the...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Roadster Channels Taxi Cab In France
If you own a car as unique as the Tesla Roadster, why not advertise your business with it? That's what one Monaco resident did with this electric sports car clad in the standard issue yellow and black. The owner, who runs a New York City cab company which uses mostly hybrid vehicles, recently put...
Robert Scardino -
Nissan Announces Tour Dates, Cities for 2012 Leaf Electric Car
Dates and cities have been announced for the "Zero Emission Tour" that will introduce the 2012 Nissan Leaf hatchback electric car to potential buyers in the U.S. markets where it will first be sold. The car won't be sold nationwide for more than two years. Instead, it will be offered where Nissan...
John Voelcker -
Sanyo To Supply NiMH Batteries to Peugeot
The Nikkei is reporting that Sanyo Electric Co. has signed an agreement with PSA Peugeot Citroen to supply nickel-metal hydride batteries for diesel-electric hybrids. Peugeot wants to be the first car maker to put diesel-electric powertrains into production vehicles. The French auto company will...
Robert Scardino -
Most Popular Prius Posts for October: Floor Mat Recall
It's the end of October, but we'll spare you the lame Halloween jokes and dive directly into the most popular posts of the month on AllAboutPrius.com. Just like the month before, only two of September's most popular posts reappeared: the 2010 Toyota Prius Reference Guide (by now the year's...
John Voelcker -
Today is Halloween, but no tired jokes about green pumpkins here. It's the end of the month, so it's time to look at the most popular posts on GreenCarReports.com over the last 30 days, which include items on hybrids, clean diesels, and two on the Tesla electric car. Four out of the top five are new for the month. The only returnee from September's most popular posts is our ever-popular suggestion that the 2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI is going to be a barn-burner for clean diesel sales. Here goes: # 1: Toyota Goes Steampunk With New Electric-Car Concept for Tokyo. This one was a total shock. We...
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How Far Can the 2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI Go On a Tank of Diesel?
We seem to be covering the 2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI clean diesel hatchback an awful lot here, but a recent blog post raised an issue we hadn't considered: How far can the 2010 Golf TDI go on a single tankful of diesel fuel? The question comes from blogger, host of #carchat on Twitter, and general...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Joins Tax-Incentive Trail for Not-Yet-Sited Model S Factory
It's starting to seem like tit-for-tat around here, as startup electric automakers Tesla and Fisker vie for--and get--federal- and state-funded loans and tax concessions to build future electric cars. The latest salvo, mere days after Fisker announced its purchase of a former GM plant in Delaware...
John Voelcker -
Coupe To Join Expanded Prius Lineup, Perhaps Even Minivan
It's long been the dream of Toyota's U.S. arm that the company would add additional body styles to the Prius line. And Toyota finally gave the nod to that idea earlier this year. Now, details are starting to emerge on the new models that will join the all-new, third-generation 2010 Toyota Prius...
John Voelcker -
2011 Chevrolet Cruze Compact Car Launch Delayed Til Next Fall
As U.S. carmakers get serious about building world-class compact cars, one of the most eagerly awaited entries is the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze, which will face off against a totally new 2012 Ford Focus as well as revised models of the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, and Nissan Sentra. Now reports say that...
John Voelcker -
Hide the Children! Porsche Goes Green And Hybrid, Purists Blanch
Europeans have been slow to the game with hybrids, having bet most of their green strategy on highly efficient clean diesels. But they are increasingly hedging their bets, learning to work with electric motors and battery packs. In the sports-car world, aside from startups Fisker and Tesla, no...
John Voelcker -
Building on the success of the 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid, which is close to sold out due to worldwide demand, Toyota is planning to add additional body styles to the Prius line. Now, the first details of those cars have emerged, and one new model will apparently be a two-door coupe that targets the upcoming 2011 Honda CR-Z hybrid sports coupe. An unsourced report in the British magazine Autocar says the new Prius coupe will use the same 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine and Hybrid Synergy Drive system as today's Prius hatchback. But it will offer even better aerodynamics than the five-door, whose...
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Biden Blurts Out Fisker Nina Plug-In Hybrid Line: Sedan, Coupe, Crossover
There's nothing like a little old-fashioned reporter shoe leather, especially when few other automotive media outlets bother to make the trip. Our colleague Gary Gastelu of Fox News traveled down to Delaware yesterday, to cover the official announcement of Fisker Automotive's $18 million purchase...
John Voelcker -
Chrysler's Next Hybrid: 2011 Dodge Ram Hybrid Pickup Still On Track
While Chrysler was an original partner in development of the Two-Mode Hybrid system used in pickups and sport utilities by Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, as well as upcoming sport utilities from BMW and Mercedes-Benz, its hybrid history has not been happy. The company made fewer than 1,000 Dodge Durango...
John Voelcker -
Greenest Car Company, Honda, Goes Greener Yet, Harder and Faster
Honda has the highest average fleet mileage of any volume carmaker selling in the U.S. market today. And it's had that distinction for many years. But in the face of the car-market meltdown, oil prices that have risen from $30 to $80 a barrel within months, and growing global environmental...
John Voelcker -
Fisker Buying Delaware Plant To Build Midsize 2012 Plug-In Hybrid
At 10 am tomorrow morning, Vice President Joe Biden is expected to announce that Fisker Automotive will buy the closed General Motors factory in Wilmington, Delaware, his home state. According to reports, company founder Henrik Fisker will join Delaware Governor Jack Markell and other dignitaries...
John Voelcker -
2010 Prius Beats 2010 Fusion Hybrid in Detroit News Showdown
Every so often, we like to take a look at what other reviewers have said about the 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid. So we were excited to hear that the Detroit News, from the bowels of Big Three territory, was doing a hybrid showdown comparison test. The paper rated eight mass-priced hybrids, leaving out...
John Voelcker