Detroit Auto Show
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Unlike most cars, the current Ford Fusion is selling better now than it has at any time during its eight-year model run. That's a great lead-in for Ford, which is launching the all-new 2013 Ford Fusion at the Detroit Auto Show. With a sleeker design, a choice of three four-cylinder engines, plus not only a hybrid but a plug-in hybrid model--the 2013 Fusion is Ford's first mid-size sedan design sold around the world since the 1995-2000 Contour. "New global face of Ford" The styling of the new Fusion sedan was previewed by the Ford Evos Concept at the Frankfurt Auto Show in September. The...
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2013 Dodge Dart: Full Details From Detroit Auto Show
The 2013 Dodge Dart is set to be one of 2012's most significant new releases. Replacing the underperforming Dodge Caliber, the new Dart should give Dodge its strongest compact ever and provide tough competition for Ford's Focus and Chevrolet's Cruze - and now we have all the details. If you've been...
Antony Ingram -
2013 Dodge Dart Video & Photos Leak Before Detroit Auto Show
Before its unveiling, coming at 8:45 am this Monday, Chrysler trickled out photos of the exterior and dashboard of its new 2013 Dodge Dart compact sedan. But now both a video and more photos have leaked out onto those crazy Interwebz, showing every angle of the first product developed by the...
John Voelcker -
2012 Detroit Auto Show: Green Car Preview--Concept Cars
While the bulk of our green car coverage from the 2012 Detroit Auto Show will concentrate on production models, concept cars can be just as exciting. With wild styling, untested powertrains and flashy colors they might not seem too relevant, but many of the cars we cover today began as concepts and...
Antony Ingram -
2012 Detroit Auto Show: Green Car Preview--Production Models
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...
Antony Ingram -
2013 Dodge Dart: 40-MPG CAFE Target Hints At EPA Ratings
The 2013 Dodge Dart, which will be fully revealed to the public at next week's Detroit Auto Show, achieved an unadjusted gas-mileage rating of at least 40 mpg, according to Chrysler. But hold on; before you rush over to the dealership and put money down, consider that 'unadjusted' means that it's...
John Voelcker -
Via Motors, the extended-range electric truck conversion company with GM legend Bob Lutz on its board, announced today that it would use lithium-ion cells from A123 Systems in its battery packs. The startup company will show its full lineup of electric-drive pickup trucks at next week's Detroit Auto Show. The contract adds another low-volume entry to the list of electric vehicles using A123 cells. Others include the 2012 Fisker Karma, the upcoming Chevrolet Spark EV minicar, and the BMW ActiveHybrid 5 and upcoming ActiveHybrid 3. Via plans to take new Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks (in...
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Toyota NS4 Plug-In Hybrid Video: 2012 Detroit Auto Show Preview
Even the most ardent hybrid car fan would struggle to say they're the sort of vehicle to get your pulse racing. Today, Toyota released an official video of its upcoming plug-in hybrid concept, the NS4. Last month, Toyota (via Motor Authority) previewed the NS4 concept. Due at the 2012 Detroit Auto...
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 -
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 -
2013 Chevy Sonic RS: Detroit Auto Show Debut For Sporty Trim Package
The 2012 Chevy Sonic subcompact launched this year to largely favorable reviews, including our own (here and here). For next year, Chevy is upping the ante, with a turbocharged 2013 Sonic RS model that's meant to take the littlest U.S.-built Chevrolet into hot-hatch territory. The Sonic RS will be...
John Voelcker -
Nissan To Show Electric Van Concept At Detroit Auto Show
As we count down the days to the Detroit Auto Show media preview (24 days from today), the announcements of new cars and concepts are now coming in regularly. Or should we say announcements of announcements? Evoking Honda's logo release yesterday, Nissan says it will show off an "innovative...
John Voelcker -
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 Show. That event's media previews begin on Monday, January 9, less than four weeks from now. The sole descriptive copy about the upcoming concept runs as follows: The Accord Coupe Concept will convey the dynamic and aggressive profile of the ninth-generation 2013 Honda Accord set to go on sale in the...
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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 -
Should 2013 Dodge Compact Be Named Dart, Duster, Camber...Or Caliber?
With just six weeks to go before the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, where Chrysler will unveil its critically important 2013 Dodge compact sedan, we still know relatively little about it. We've seen a spy shot, and last week we learned that the new model won't be called the Dodge Hornet, a name we rather...
John Voelcker -
VW Ditches Darth Vader, Goes All Yoda With 2013 Jetta Hybrid
If you remember Volkswagen’s Super Bowl advert from earlier this year involving a pint-sized Darth Vader, its 2011 Passat had a particular affinity with the dark side of the force. But as of 2013 the evil Pasatt will have a nemisis in the form of the 2013 VW Jetta Hybrid, complete with a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Cadillac's Volt-Based Converj Electric Car Gets Green Light: Exclusive
Sometimes, like Lazarus, dead cars rise again. We've learned from an inside source at General Motors, a person close to the project, that the electric Cadillac Converj luxury coupe is now back in the GM product plan. The Converj was recently approved for production by GM product executives. It will...
John Voelcker -
Possibly the most rapturously received vehicle at last week's Detroit Auto Show was the Porsche 918 RSR coupe, a hybrid race car that isn't even street-legal. And it's about as far from the quintessential Toyota Prius hybrid as you could get. It doesn't use a battery pack at all, in fact, but the flywheel-based Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) that the company's engineers first installed in the one-off Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid factory racer. After a heart-breaking retirement less than two hours before the end of the 24 Hours of Nurburgring this summer, that car (running in a class of...
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Now We Know: This Will Be The New 2012 Ford Escape Hybrid
Ford was clearly one of the stars of last week's Detroit Auto Show, launching green vehicles and concepts across a wide range of fuel-saving technologies. The company unveiled just a single concept, the Vertrek crossover, but it's an important one. The production version of the Vertrek will be the...
John Voelcker -
Why The 2011 Chevy Volt Won North American Car of the Year
Earlier this week the judges in the North American Car of the Year announced that the 2011 Chevrolet Volt had won the coveted NACOTY prize. At the press conference kicking off the start of the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, the NACTOY team announced that the 50 or so automotive journalists representing a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Revolutionary or Flop? Li-Ion Struggles With Reservations
Last year Li-Ion Motors were crowned winners of the Progressive Insurance X-Prize Alternative Side-by-Side category with their suitably unusual Wave II electric car. Amidst all the controversy surrounding the X-Prize results and allegations of misconduct and fraud, court cases and even a U.S...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Video: 2012 Ford Focus Electric Live Unveiling At 2011 Detroit Auto Show
Ford’s Volt and Leaf rival has been revealed, making its world debut last week at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and then reappearing again this week at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show. We are, of course, talking about the 2012 Ford Focus Electric, the Blue Oval’s first...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
2011 Detroit Auto Show: Sexy Electric Mercedes SLS AMG Due 2013
If the shots we showed you last year of Mercedes-Benz’s electric offering on the now iconic SLS AMG super-car were enough to get your juices flowing, you’ll be pleased to know that Mercedes announced yesterday at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show that the all-electric SLS AMG E-Cell will be...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield