2010 Los Angeles Auto Show
-
To comply with upcoming gas mileage rules, automakers will launch appealing and economical compact or subcompact cars in the U.S. market over the coming years. But car designers are thinking far smaller yet. At the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show two weeks ago, General Motors showed off an operating version of the two-seat, two-wheeled Electric Networked Vehicle (EN-V) it unveiled last spring in Shanghai. Spinning in its own length Our video (at bottom) of the EN-V being driven in a small arena shows just how maneuverable this little two-seat pod car is. It skirts the fenced edges of the small...
-
2010 Los Angeles Auto Show: 2012 Infiniti M Hybrid Details
First previewed at last year's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, we've been hearing about the 2012 Infiniti M Hybrid for more than a year. Now, finally, Infiniti has officially unveiled the M35h, its very first hybrid-electric vehicle, at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show. First of many? It's the...
John Voelcker -
Try Again: Honda's Big-Car Hybrid System Has Plug-In Ability
It wasn't even at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show, where Honda only showed a video of the new plug-in hybrid platform it only discussed But details of the new powertrain point the way toward a range of future hybrid Honda models. It uses two separate motor-generators, as does Toyota's Hybrid Synergy...
John Voelcker -
2010 LA Auto Show: Volvo C30 DRIVe Electric First Drive Report
One of the great things about auto shows is the chance for journalists to drive prototype cars, especially at the Los Angeles Auto Show, known for its green-car test drives. We got a chance to spend 20 minutes behind the wheel of the Volvo C30 DRIVe Electric car, with Volvo's Lennart Stegland in...
John Voelcker -
Want To Lease a Fuel-Cell Vehicle? That'll Be $850 A Month, Please
Finishing our last few stories from the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show, we realized we forgot one piece of consumer news: Mercedes-Benz started taking orders for its 2011 B-Class F-Cell hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle last month, and now it has announced the price. So what does it cost to lease a compact...
John Voelcker -
2010 Los Angeles Auto Show Photos: Coda Sedan Electric Car
Startup electric-car company Coda Automotive didn't hold a press conference at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show last week, but they did exhibit their car for the first time. Under the theme "Zen meets Tech," their booth featured a bright yellow 2011 Coda Sedan in the center, next to a full-size model...
John Voelcker -
The 2011 Wheego Whip LiFe is a small, two-seat electric car from a startup company you've never heard of with an unusual name. It doesn't have the fit, finish, or driving quality of a 2011 Nissan Leaf or the Japanese-market Mitsubishi "i" we tested two years ago. And it's only got two seats, which condemns it to a tiny sliver of the U.S. new-car market. In other words, it faces some pretty long odds in getting a foothold in the brutally competitive U.S. new-car market. Especially with a list price of $32,995, which makes it $215 more expensive than the five-seat, five-door Leaf. Beating...
-
Five Questions: Mac Heller, Coda Automotive Interim CEO
It can't have been a particular easy 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show for Coda Autmotive's newly minted interim CEO, Steven "Mac" Heller. Just one day before Coda hosted a reception at its new "Zen meets Tech" display booth at the greenest of all U.S. auto shows, the startup electric car company...
John Voelcker -
Why Startup Coda Thinks It Can Compete Against Big Auto
I just spoke to electric car startup Coda’s interim CEO Steven “Mac” Heller, who is stepping in since former chief executive Kevin Czinger stepped down. Heller talked to us from Los Angeles Auto Show, where Coda is showing off its all-electric sedan — and where automotive...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
2010 LA Auto Show: Mitsubishi Plug-In Hybrid SUV For 2013
Mitsubishi rolled out the tiny "i" electric minicar (nee i-MiEV) during last week’s 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show, confirming its eventual sale in the fall of 2011. But all-electric vehicles are just one avenue the Japanese automaker is investigating as it attempts to curb emissions and end the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
2010 LA Auto Show: Photo Gallery, 2012 Fiat 500 Launch
The 2012 Fiat 500 minicar is the first all-new car to be sold as part of Fiat's takeover of Chrysler. It's also a very cool and stylish little vehicle that won numerous awards in its first year on the market ... and it's the kind of car conventional wisdom says will never, ever sell in the U.S...
John Voelcker -
2010 LA Auto Show: Toyota-Tesla RAV4 EV, Under the Hood
There's a lot we don't know about the 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV that Japan's largest automaker is prototyping with Silicon Valley startup Tesla Motors. That includes the battery pack size, traction motor power, and stated range--although 100 miles is the goal, according to Jim Lentz, president of Toyota...
John Voelcker -
As they say, everything old is new again. Fourteen years after it launched its very first RAV4 crossover at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Toyota returned to LA to launch an all-electric version of its latest RAV4. And this one is, as the logos in a teaser photo released earlier said, "powered by Tesla." The launch of the second version of the RAV4 EV is on a fast timeline, led by a working group made up of Toyota's Technical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a team from Tesla Motors. In Toyota's words, the team has treated the project as similar to a typical mid-cycle “major-minor”...
-
2010 LA Auto Show: 2012 Honda Fit Electric Car, World Debut
This afternoon, Honda unveiled its plans for an all-electric version of the Honda Fit subcompact hatchback to be launched globally in 2012. The announcement came at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show. The announcement represented a full circle of sorts, since Los Angeles was the home of many of the 300...
John Voelcker -
2010 Los Angeles Auto Show: SoCal Edison Launches EV Website
The 2010 Los Angles Auto Show is nearly upon us, and we're getting excited for the wealth of new electric cars on display at the show. It's not just about the cars themselves though - equally imporant are the companies displaying EV-related technology. One such company is Southern California...
Antony Ingram -
GreenCarReports Best Car To Buy 2011 Nominee: Honda CR-Z
As we noted yesterday, we'll be giving one brand-new 2011 model the GreenCarReports 2011 Best Car To Buy Award in conjunction with the Los Angeles Auto Show next week. We'll summarize each of our five nominees, one per day, between now and then. We going down the roster by previewing each nominee...
John Voelcker -
2010 Los Angeles Auto Show: Toyota Shows Teaser Pictures
Yesterday, with just one week to go before the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show, Toyota released a few teaser pictures of the much-anticipated love-child of Toyota and Tesla - and told us when it will be unveiled. The Toyota 2013 RAV4 Electric Vehicle is based upon Toyota’s popular compact...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Tesla-Powered Electric RAV4: Initially Just "A Few Thousand"
One of the more eagerly awaited green vehicles at next week's 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show is the electric RAV4 crossover that Toyota will launch in partnership with Tesla Motors. Now we learn that the initial order is for little more than a test fleet of perhaps 2,000 vehicles, according to Tesla...
John Voelcker -
Audi has aggressively pushed its clean diesel models in the U.S., including the Audi Q7 TDI luxury sport-utility vehicle. But even the company that wins Le Mans Series races with its turbodiesel race cars is hedging its bets with hybrids. Today Audi released the first video of its upcoming 2012 Audi Q5 Hybrid, the compact sport-utility vehicle it will launch next week at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show. The Q5 Hybrid uses a 2.0-liter gasoline TFSI engine that produces 208 horsepower, mated to a relatively powerful 33-kilowatt (44-horsepower) electric motor between the engine and transmission...
-
First Photos: 2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV Electric Car, U.S. Version
First came the sketch, now come the photos. Mitsubishi has released the first official images of the U.S. version of its 2012 i-MiEV electric minicar, just a week before the car is unveiled at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show. The company also released some specifications for the little i-MiEV...
John Voelcker -
Five New Electric Cars We'll See At The 2010 L.A. Auto Show
One of the biggest motoring events of the year is just around the corner - the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show. Manufacturers will be out in force with the best of their product lineup and a combination of glitzy stands and glitzy girls to make the metal seem that little bit more appealing. What we're...
Antony Ingram -
Fisker Dealer: Karma Plug-In Sedan Deliveries Start March or April
We've written before about the schedule for the 2011 Fisker Karma, which (like many other electric cars) has slipped a bit since the car was first unveiled. Now Fisker's newest dealer, located in none other than LA's epicenter of green consciousness--namely Santa Monica, California--says that the...
John Voelcker