Green Car News

Could the next Toyota Yaris be a Mazda2 under the skin? Mazda has announced that its factory in Mexico will begin producing a new Mazda2-based Toyota small car from 2015. Mazda's press release states that the car, which will be sold "mainly in North America", will be produced at a rate of 50,000...

Most of the attention paid to plug-in electric cars goes to Nissan, Chevy, and Tesla. But in other countries, the hope of running small cars on grid power--no matter how unreliable that grid may be--lives as well. In India, the large truck maker Mahindra & Mahindra is preparing to launch the...

GM has started production of its two new bi-fuel options in the pickup truck market. The 2013 Chevrolet Silverado HD and 2013 GMC Sierra 2500 HD bi-fuel models are able to run on either regular gasoline, or compressed natural gas (CNG). A 6.0-liter V-8 as found under the hood of each truck isn't...

Electric cars may be the future, but in the present they're still a risk. Nissan knows this more than most, and at a conference reporting its Q2 2012 financial results, chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga says that Nissan would still like to penetrate the market more. However, he also expressed...

James Bond, Agent 007, has now been driving his Aston Martin DB5 sports cars since 1964. With the new film, Skyfall, opening tomorrow, we thought we'd propose some new motor cars for Commander Bond. He's ventured into many other vehicles, including airplanes, submarines, and newer Aston Martins...

This seems to be our time for debunking dumb stories about plug-in electric cars. First, we had to educate a Forbes columnist (and oil-industry consultant) about how the auto industry works. Now, it's time to offer some gentle guidance to all those journalists who covered last month's release of a...

The MINI brand re-established itself globally by building fuel-efficient cars that, coincidentally, were also surprisingly fun to drive. In fact, when it comes to cars powered by their front wheels, we can’t think of any that handle better than MINI’s products. The brand has innovated...

Toyota has announced a voluntary recall of Scion iQ vehicles from the 2012 and 2013 model years. In all, some 11,200 vehicles are affected. The recall centers around the weight sensor cables located beneath the iQ's front passenger seat. According to a press release from Toyota, those cables "can...

Tesla being what it is--a venture-funded startup battery-electric automaker in Silicon Valley--every utterance from its CEO Elon Musk becomes newsworthy. So a generalized hint at future development of its main product, the 2012 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan, becomes fodder for news stories. In...

There's nothing like a bargain price on a brand-new car. And since Suzuki has announced that it'll stop selling cars in the U.S., there are bargains galore on new Suzuki models. But is buying a brand-new car from a departing manufacturer a good deal? That depends on how the carmaker exits; unlike...

Now the recriminations--and lawsuits--will start. And we expect the focus on real-world gas mileage to increase, following news that Hyundai and Kia will revise gas-mileage figures downward on 13 different models from the 2011, 2012, and 2013 model years--and reimburse buyers for the extra money...

Olympic sports events leave a lasting impression on the countries they visit. Not just in terms of athletes, but in the facilities they leave behind. London's 2012 Olympic Games were no different, and several companies are attempting to find a use for the huge Olympic park specially constructed to...

Fisker Automotive has had more than its share of trials and tribulations of late. Now, a new threat has emerged that holds the potential to harm the company severely, by cutting off its supply of lithium-ion battery packs. A123 Systems, its bankrupt battery supplier, wants to end the contract under...

As more and more people enter China's middle classes, demand for automobiles is increasing all the time. So is the quality of China's cars. As the kudos of imported brands becomes more attractive, Chinese companies are working hard to compete. Some are even breaking out of China and into the...

Nissan might be investing heavily in its electric car program, but the automaker hasn't forgotten hybrid vehicles completely. In fact, the company is set to launch one hybrid or plug-in car per year for the next few years, allowing it to compete in a market where hybrid vehicles are gaining...

Volkswagen's line of TDI diesel cars has passionate fans. Now that the company is launching the 2013 VW Jetta Hybrid, it will likely gain some hybrid advocates too. But diesel and hybrid fans are very different groups, as the company's marketing surveys show. So why couldn't Volkswagen simply add a...

Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia are being sued in U.S. courts over inflating gas mileage ratings on 2011-2013 vehicles. It was revealed on Friday that both automakers had reported higher numbers on EPA window stickers than the cars were actually capable of in EPA economy testing. Both companies...

After nearly a three-decade run in the United States market, Suzuki has decided to cease selling automobiles here to focus on its core markets in India and Southeast Asia. Those of us in the industry weren’t surprised by the announcement that American Suzuki Motor Corporation was filing for...

Which international carmaker currently has the largest range of electric vehicles? The answer is Renault. The French automaker has a significant EV portfolio--and as the French government puts greater emphasis on EVs, it may soon be joined by other carmakers too. Indeed, between electric cars...

Lexus can claim credit for kicking off the luxury crossover market in the U.S, with the original RX. Since then, the RX models have always sold strongly--and account for 40 percent of the marque's sales. Now, it appears that a smaller model could be on the way, as Kaizen Factor reveals (via...