Green Car News

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...

There are two kinds of electric cars on sale in the U.S. these days. The first kind--the ones you should pay attention to--are the volume electric cars. Their makers want to sell as many as they can. The second kind are the "compliance cars," built solely to meet California regulations that require...

BMW has been building diesel cars since the 1980s, but only a handful have ever made it as far as the U.S. Those that have, such as the BMW 335d sold a few years back, have been well received--so the news that BMW is bringing six more diesel models to the U.S. over the next few years will be music...

It's becoming an awkward, unfortunate routine. Somewhere, somehow, a Fisker Karma catches fire, and the company rushes in its inspectors and engineers to analyze the incident. A few days later, Fisker Automotive issues a statement explaining that the battery of the range-extended electric car isn't...

The 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid gives VW something it hasn’t had before: a way to appeal to hybrid buyers who won’t consider its TDI diesels—no matter how fuel-efficient they may be. The result is a relatively sporty, conventional looking compact sedan that’s fun to drive...

The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute has tracked fuel economy and new car sales since October 2007, and during those five years, we've seen gradual gains in efficiency. Today, UMTRI says that new vehicles sold in October reached a record-high 24.1 mpg. The question is: why?...

Electric car drivers have long had a little secret: The cars are generally much nicer to drive than gasoline cars. Now a new survey done at London Metropolitan University in England shows that despite initial skepticism, drivers of the plug-in vehicles came to like them better than gasoline cars in...

For many of us, lines at gas stations and homes without power are no more than news, but millions on the U.S. East Coast are still coping with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Many areas are still without power, and gasoline is a worryingly rare commodity for a transport system utterly dependent...

Love it or loathe it, everyone can recognize the Toyota Prius. Since the second generation model arrived in the 2004 model year, the aerodynamically-honed one-box shape has always shouted "Prius". So much so that many consider Honda's Insight hybrid to deliberately feature similar styling. Only...

The biggest question facing tiny Tesla Motors right now is whether it can ramp up production of its Model S all-electric sport sedan and deliver enough of them to paying customers that it can generate the income it needs to keep going. On the quarterly Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] earnings call this...

The 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid has now reached dealerships throughout the country, selling 3,182 units in October. But Ford had an "October surprise" in store: The company sold 144 of the plug-in hybrid C-Max Energi version as well. That car hasn't been driven by any members of the automotive media...

The EPA has ordered Kia and Hyundai to amend window stickers on 13 models from the 2011, 2012 and 2013 model years after the two companies were found to be misstating the cars' true efficiency. The companies will also have to pay damages to 900,000 owners across the U.S. According to Associated...

Hybrid cars have well and truly hit the mainstream. After years of slow sales around a decade ago, Toyota has now sold over 4 million hybrids. And Honda recently passed its first million. But in the home of the U.S. auto industry, buyers have been slower to catch on to the concept. According to the...

We've written about the Renault Twizy electric minicar on several occasions in the past. After driving it in Ibiza we later tested it in the UK, and while flawed, it really does have appeal for those living in tight, crowded cities. By European standards, most cities in Florida aren't too crowded...

Big German automakers used to thrive on producing large, luxurious sedans. Built seemingly to last forever, they were vehicles of aspiration, a cut above volume vehicles from other carmakers. How things change. Aspiration may still be a part of owning a Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Audi, but now gas...

The good news for plug-in electric car sales just keeps on keeping on. In October, Chevy sold 2,961 Volts--the highest-ever single-month total--and Nissan continued a recent resurgence, selling 1,579 Leafs. Those numbers compare with 2,851 Volts sold in September and 984 Leafs the same month. That...

In 1990, the Clean Air Act amendments set out special rules regarding the manufacture and sale of gasoline in the U.S. This week, some of those rules have been suspended in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The amendments require that reformulated gasoline, or RFG, be used in cities with high levels of...

If you subscribe to the theory that Honda keeps all its really cool products in its home market of Japan, the announcement that the N-ONE retro-styled minicar has hit the market probably won’t do much to convince you otherwise. The N-ONE joins the N BOX and N BOX + models in Honda’s...

When the 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid arrives at dealers in late December or early January, VW will become the only carmaker offering both a diesel engine and a hybrid model of the same compact sedan. Why two such different approaches? Because, Volkswagen says, the audiences for the two cars are...

If you travel for business, taking limos and town cars to and from the airport can be a fact of life. Now that the staple of limo fleets everywhere, the Lincoln Town Car, has ended its production run, there may be a greener alternative in your future. Toyota has announced that it will build fleet...