Hybrids
-
Next week's Detroit Auto Show promises to be the busiest and most influential in several years. With the auto industry continuing to recover slowly from its 2008 meltdown and Chinese sales rising, both U.S. and overseas automakers will launch new models and show off gleaming concept cars. And green cars will be right at the forefront. The largest contingent will be standard gasoline cars with smaller, more efficient engines that deliver better gas mileage while providing about the same power as the larger, lazier engines they replace. Gasoline direct injection, turbocharging, and other...
-
Honda Civic Hybrid Gas Mileage Case Heads To Small Claims Court
When you buy a new car, you’ll probably use manufacturers’ own gas mileage estimates alongside the official Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fuel economy database to help you choose which car will be best for you. Any of these gas mileage figures -- whether official or not -- can...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Hyundai, Kia To Expand Hybrids, Electrics With New Investment
If you're looking to buy a hybrid or electric car in the next few years, you could certainly do worse than to keep your eye on the Korean carmakers. Hyundai Motor Group, the company in charge of both Hyundai and Kia, has announced heavy investment into hybrid and electric technology this year...
Antony Ingram -
2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid Highly Rated By Consumer Reports
Toyota's Camry has long dominated the family car sector, and that doesn't look set to change any time soon. The February issue of product testing organization Consumer Reports carries tests of three different 2012 Camry models, including the important and extensively-updated hybrid model. All three...
Antony Ingram -
Tata's Expansion Continues: Manza Hybrid Due At Delhi Show
As recently as five years ago you could be forgiven if you'd never heard of Indian automotive giant Tata. Now, the company is best known in the States for its ownership of Jaguar Land Rover, and if you're a Green Car Reports regular, the tiny Nano minicar. In its native India Tata is much more...
Antony Ingram -
2012 Toyota Prius C Compact Hybrid On Sale In Japan, Detroit Launch Coming
Less than three weeks hence, the 2012 Toyota Prius C--the first compact hybrid hatchback from Toyota's expanding Prius line--will be officially introduced for the U.S. market at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. It was first unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show early this month, under the model name Aqua...
John Voelcker -
Take a quick look at photograph of the line up of brightly colored race cars, complete with sponsor decals, crash-helmet-wearing drivers, and it looks like just another car race. But take your time, and you see something strange about the line of patiently-waiting race cars at the Fuji Speedway circuit in Japan. Every single car is a Toyota Prius hybrid. And each car is a competitor in the 2011 Toyota-sponsored Prius Cup. Held to help promote Toyota’s hybrid technology, 29 dealers across Japan took part, each vying for the highest fuel economy and best possible crew service during the...
-
Honda Extends Warranties On 2006-11 Civic Hybrids Due To Gas Leak
Honda has just announced that it will be giving some 80,000 owners of its 2006-2011 Honda Civic Hybrid an extended warranty after concerns that small cracks may form in the car’s gas tank. “The potential fuel leakage is very small from the top area of the tank where the fuel filler...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Mercedes-Benz To Show Two New Hybrids At Detroit Auto Show
Well, looks like Volkswagen won't be the only carmaker unveiling a new hybrid sedan at next month's Detroit Auto Show. Yesterday, Mercedes-Benz revealed a pair of hybrid E-Class sedans in Germany, the first with a gasoline V-6 engine and the second with a turbocharged diesel four. According to...
John Voelcker -
2012 Toyota Prius Gets Updated: More Features, Higher Prices
Toyota finally released the pricing and specifications of its 2012 Toyota Prius hatchback yesterday, increasing the starting price of the popular hatchback from $23,520 to $24,000. Coming with a redesigned front fascia, revised tail lamps, new 15-inch wheel covers and LED daytime running lights...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Five Holiday gift Ideas For Hybrid Car Drivers
There’s just over one week left until Christmas, so we hope you’ve done most of your gift shopping to spare you that last-minute holiday rush. But have you got a present for your favorite hybrid car driver? Last week, we told you about our Five Holiday Gift Ideas For Electric Car...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2013 Honda Accord Coupe Concept Previews Hybrid: Detroit Auto Show
As teaser photos go, it's laughably minimal: two strips of white letters, on a black background, that spell "Accord Concept". Oooooooooohhhhhhhhh. Nonetheless, that's what Honda issued last Sunday with the news that it will show an Accord Coupe concept vehicle at the upcoming 2012 Detroit Auto...
John Voelcker -
Here’s an interesting question for you: which automakers are currently leading when it comes to electric and hybrid car development? Like us, you might have the inclination to chose Toyota or perhaps Nissan. After all, the Renault-Nissan alliance has already spent over $5.6 Billion on electric car development. German patent law firm Grünecker disagree. According to a list combined by its in-house specialists on patent law, Toyota is well ahead, filing 2,454 patents in the past five years for hybrid and electric car technology. Nissan, in second place, has filed just 899...
-
Acura Debuting New Models In Detroit, Including First U.S. Built Hybrid
Acura will launch a new compact sedan, a replacement for the RDX crossover and a design concept for the next NSX at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show
Kurt Ernst -
Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid, Electric Concept At Detroit Auto Show
Volkswagen is on a roll in the States these days, with sales of its redesigned Jetta sedan and its all-new mid-size 2012 Passat surging. The only mass-market German automaker intends to keep the momentum going at next month's Detroit Auto Show. It will unveil a 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid and show...
John Voelcker -
Five Reasons Hybrid Cars Are Finally Sexy
Look back a few years, and you’d be forgiven for thinking the only people who wanted to drive a hybrid car were celebrities, leaf-leaning liberals and electric car advocates who couldn’t buy a production electric car. Most of them would have driven the 2004-2009 Toyota Prius -- a car...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid, C-Max Energi Plug-In: More Details
The new Escape crossover arrives at dealers in mere months, minus the hybrid model of its predecessor. That means it's now time to talk about the new 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid, which will serve as the company's hybrid entry in the compact segment. The 2013 C-Max is a five-passenger small minivan or...
John Voelcker -
2013 Lotus Esprit Gets Hybrid Drivetrain, But Only For Base Model
Think of Lotus, the small British sports car manufacturer, and you probably think of small, cramped but agile drivers’ cars like the Exige Coupé or the Elise Roadster. Low on creature comforts and big on power to weight ratios, Lotus cars have traditionally focused on performance, not...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
After nearly a year of waiting, Volvo has announced the full specifications and pricing of its first plug-in hybrid car, the 2012 Volvo V60 Diesel Plug-in Hybrid Wagon. Last February, we were invited to Sweden to get an exclusive sneak peak of the V60 Plug-in Hybrid Wagon concept. Then in June we were given the chance to get behind the wheel of one of Volvo’s early prototype cars at the 2012 Challenge Bibendum Now we can tell you about our pre-launch visit to Gothenburg, where Volvo executives displayed the production V60 Plug-in Hybrid wagon for the first time, strongly hinting that...
-
London's Famous Red Buses Going Hybrid Thanks To Volvo
England: Tea, Big Ben, bowler hats and red buses. One of those things is about be be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century. It's the famous red double-decker bus of course, much as we'd like to see today's young people going about their business in bowler hats rather than baseball...
Antony Ingram -
Hybrid, Plug-in Car Sales Reached 8-Month High In November
Sales of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure electric cars may have suffered over the summer thanks to dropping gas prices, economic woes and a drop in availability of cars, but last month sales of so-called ‘Advanced Drive’ cars reached an 8 month high. All in all, a little under 28,000...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Toyota Prius, Honda CR-Z Rumored To Take Part In GT300 Racing Series
Think of Japan’s Super GT Series, and you probably think of highly-tuned race car versions of rear-wheel drive production cars. But in in the 2012 GT300 class, the traditional image of GT race cars could be challenged by not one, but two hybrid cars. As MotorAuthority reported yesterday...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2012 Buick Lacrosse With eAssist: Mild Hybrid Weekend Drive
We drove the prototype, and liked it. Now we've driven the real thing. We still like it. In this case, "it" is the 2012 Buick Lacrosse with eAssist, the only four-cylinder model that Buick offers in its Lacrosse large luxury sedan. While large Buicks aren't known for their gas mileage, this one is...
John Voelcker -
Toyota Gives Hybrids Testosterone, Plans Hybrid Tundra Pickup
For over ten years now, Toyota has given car owners the chance to drive an ultra-efficient, high gas-mileage hybrid car. But while the 2012 Toyota Prius might give great gas milage, it just isn’t rugged enough for a large proportion of pickup-loving Americans. For them, driving a Toyota Prius...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield