2010

By now, anyone who's shopping for a 2010 Toyota Prius knows that Toyota's newest hybrid is a smash hit. Global demand is high, the company is making as many cars as it can get battery packs for, and the US Cash-for-Clunkers program has boosted sales of the new hybrid even above already-high demand...

Before it launched in the US in March, the 2010 Honda Insight generated huge buzz. It was the "affordable hybrid," the "Prius killer," Honda's triumphant re-entry into the dedicated hybrid market it abandoned with the first generation Insight in 2006. So how's it going? Well, 2010 Insights are...

Last Tuesday, we noted that sales of the 2010 Toyota Prius have soared due to the Cash-for-Clunkers program. In fact, it's the fourth most popular vehicle purchased to replace a clunker trade-in. The unexpected success of the Clunkers trade-in system, formally known as the Car Allowance Rebate...

While many US car buyers are still getting used to the idea of hybrid electric vehicles like the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid or the 2010 Toyota Prius, a new variation is barreling down the pike: the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, or PHEV. A plug-in hybrid uses a larger battery pack to allow the car...

If you think 18' tall flowers can only be the product of your imagination, an acid trip or a sci-fi novel, a visit to Navy Pier in Chicago may change your mind. As part of the launch of the 2010 Prius, so-called "Solar Flowers" will be on display from August 8 - 22 in the City of Broad Shoulders...

Every August, executives from the world's auto industry gather in Traverse City, Michigan, for what's known as the Management Briefing Seminars. It's a mix of presentations, news, schmoozing (and, traditionally, golf) that ended yesterday. This year, the audience was down by one-third over last...

Well, the other shoe finally dropped. General Motors said today that the plug-in version of its Two-Mode Hybrid system would be fitted to a Buick crossover to be introduced next year, with the plug-in arriving in 2011. That'll be at least a few months after the arrival of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt...

Sometimes you have to run something just 'cause it's goofy. And so it is with today's item, showing the Japanese-market "DecoPrius" concept whose goal is to lure young women's interest back to a product they view as increasingly anti-social: the automobile. In urbanized Japan, cars are far less...

Never let it be said US car buyers don't know a good deal when they see one. The Toyota Prius has become the fourth-most popular car purchased under the first 80,000 Cash-for-Clunkers vouchers processed by the US Department of Transportation. In fact, Toyota sold 19,173 Priuses during July, almost...

Today I took the Lexus HS 250h running errands with my five-year-old, Sophie. Bank, grocery store, dry cleaners, that sort of thing. At the end of the day, I'm still impressed, and so is Sophie (she loved that she could connect her iPod to the sound system). The HS 250h was so quiet while idling...

It’s ten o’clock on Saturday night and I have the windows down, the moon roof open, and “Time to Pretend” by MGMT buzzing in my ears. I feel giddy, invincible, like the road was made for me and I’m the only one on it. Headlights appear in my rear-view mirror and I glance down at the...

The Government Under Estimates CARS Program

It's the very last day of July, so it's time again for us to recap the five most popular posts of the month on AllAboutPrius.com. Compared to June's most-popular list, we're back to the basics, with our posts on the the making of the "Harmony" commercial and the followup MPG advertisement falling...

The Japanese tuners at "Exclusive Zeus" may have unlocked some hidden potential in the Honda Insight. Just when you thought the new Toyota Prius had delivered the knockout blow to Honda's poorly selling hybrid, someone got the wild idea to turn the Insight into the world's first hybrid low-rider...

Near where we spend our weekends, in the hilly terrain of upstate New York, there are three Subaru dealers. For several years, the largest one has paired strong-selling Subarus with the Suzuki lineup of all-wheel-drive entries and small, relatively green cars. When we got the word about the...

If there was an award for the "Most Badass Hybrid Debut In 2010," the new BMW X6 ActiveHybrid would win. BMW won't call it a sport utility vehicle, and for good reason. There's not much utility left in it. Oh, but there's plenty of sport. The so-called "sports activity coupe," was spotted near the...

Often we get our best topics for posts from AllAboutPrius.com readers. Yesterday, Steven Ileras sent us a note asking about the status of the mysterious Prius I trim level. When we ran down the 2010 Toyota Prius equipment levels and packages (numbered II, III, IV and V) right after introduction, it...

Though not quite as premature as Christmas decorations in stores on Labor Day, Motor Trend's September 2009 issue hit the shelves just in time for August. The new edition includes capsule reviews of 168 cars for sale in 2010 and 2011. The Toyota Prius, the Honda Insight, the Fisker Karma and the...

Like CVT, which stands for continuously-variable transmission, PZEV is one of those acronyms floating around the auto world that mean nothing to most car buyers. It stands for Partial Zero-Emission Vehicle,  one of a number of arcane emissions brackets created by the very aggressive California Air...

It's one thing to put a car on display. Fisker has been there and done that. Now, they'll put their prototype to the test on the racetrack. As part of the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races, the Fisker Karma will complete two laps around the 11-turn Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The Karma will...