Fuel Efficiency

As nations, automakers, and utilities contemplate how to tackle climate change in real terms, a perfect storm of competition is brewing that will—ideally—produce positive change for the rest of us. Automakers and electric utilities have been incentivized to build electric vehicles and...

The forthcoming diesel-powered 2019 Chevrolet Silverado will, without a doubt, thump with the Heartbeat of America. During the new truck's launch at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, GM product chief Mark Reuss hinted at a future announcement regarding the next-generation...

It looks like GM's investment arm, GM Ventures, has borne some real-world, fuel-saving fruit. Sophisticated engine-control algorithms under the hood of the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado full-size pickup truck, which make the truck's V-8 engines more efficient, came from work done by a company in which...

One year ago at the Detroit auto show, a company called Achates Power unveiled models of a new kind of internal-combustion engine. With opposed pistons in the middle and crankshafts at either end, it was sufficiently different to startle most visitors who paid attention. That engine came with some...

With Volkswagen having left a gaping void in the North American market for diesel vehicles, other automakers are taking a chance at exploiting the fuel for their own market-share gains. The latest entrant is Kia, which—for the first time in its 24-year U.S. history—will have a...

It's been hanging out there in limbo for more than six months: the answer to the question of what happens to gas-mileage rules under Trump. Given the daily political turmoil emanating from Washington, D.C., the fate of corporate average fuel economy rules may have gotten lost in the noise. But for...

The dominant news at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit was about pickup trucks. Ironically, the Detroit automaker with the fewest electrified models on sale was the only one to bring hybridization to a new truck, in the form of its brand-new 2019 Ram 1500. Fiat Chrysler...

The three most significant debuts at the 2018 Detroit auto show were pickup trucks, one from each of the Detroit Three automakers. The 2019 Chevrolet Silverado full-size pickup led on Saturday night, followed on Sunday by the 2019 Ford Ranger, a mid-size pickup that rivals the Chevy Colorado on...

The highest-volume vehicle GM sells in North America is a full-size pickup truck—one that likely also contributes outsize profits from each of its hundreds of thousands of units. So the launch of the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado Saturday night before the Detroit auto show was a big deal for the...

With the permanent end of diesel sales in the U.S. by three VW Group brands—Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche—the number of diesel passenger cars and light trucks has plummeted. In fact, for the 2018 model year thus far, there are only 11 basic models listed in an annual publication issued...

Is one of your New Year's resolutions to go green? We're here to help with this month's deals on electric, plug-in hybrid, hybrid, and other efficient vehicles. Against last month, the cars offering the best incentives haven't changed—but the incentives themselves have. Click ahead to find...

It's 41 degrees F outside. Your electric car, rated for 100 miles, has been charging all night in the cold. Ahead of you lies a 80-mile drive. How confident are you that you'll make it to your destination? What if you want to set your climate control to a comfortable 70 degrees F? Germany's...

Ford's best-selling full-size pickup truck will be powered by a diesel engine for the first time in its 70-year history. Monday morning, Ford revealed details of the new diesel-powered 2018 Ford F-150 Power Stroke, which it claims will achieve an EPA-estimated fuel-economy rating of 30 mpg highway...

Even as vehicles become more fuel-efficient, the unending market shift toward crossover utilities, SUVs, and trucks kept the overall average U.S. new fleet efficiency stagnant for the fourth year in a row. For 2017, sales-weighted new-car fuel economy landed at 25.2 mpg, an improvement over 2016 of...

Amidst all the coverage on Wednesday of the Tesla Model 3 production numbers, we realized we'd forgotten one piece of the Model 3 saga. That would be the official EPA range and efficiency ratings for the 2017 Tesla Model 3 Long Range version. Those were issued at the end of November, and they...

As automakers yet again lobby Washington to roll back planned fuel-economy targets for 2025, they've employed some familiar tactics to drive the point home to lawmakers. It cannot be done. It will cost too much. It will destroy the industry and kill jobs. Consumers do not want this. The science is...

As a given generation of any vehicle ages, German companies in particular often spice up the allure of the aging car with new and sportier versions. Porsche is a master at rolling out new versions of its models across the entire life of a generation, but BMW has learned the trick too. Thus in the...

China has taken a major step toward cleaning up the new cars sold in the country beginning January 1. As numerous countries debate plans to end sales of fossil-fuel vehicles completely at points in the future, China has now forced the end of production for some 553 models, starting Monday. The...

If you're looking to give the gift of efficient motoring this holiday season, numerous manufacturer incentives are available this month that'll save you from breaking the bank. For December, CarsDirect has uncovered leases as cheap as $159/month and discounts as much as $18,100 on fuel-efficient...

Efforts by automakers to increase fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions have intensified in recent years as emission rules have tightened and the effects of climate change are better analyzed. While electric cars and hybrids will grow in popularity, the internal-combustion engine remains the...