2011
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The new 2010 Toyota Prius is expected to hit showroom floors in June. With the economic downturn, the new Honda Insight coming to market, and gas prices near $2, you may think that Toyota would be worried about sales of the new Prius. However, Toyota execs are not worried. Toyota believes that there is enough room in the market for both the 2010 Prius and the new Honda Insight. Toyota expects the new Prius to bring 100,000 buyers into showroom during the last half of the year and to put an end to the falling sales of the current Prius. Why is Toyota optimistic? Toyota cites that...
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Fisker Taking Pre-Orders for Convertible Karma SFisker Automotive recently unveiled a convertible version of its extended-range electric Karma called the Karma S which is slated for production in the second half of 2011. The Karma and Karma S concept have similar design cues and are strikingly beautiful in person. The Karma S adds the appeal of...
Eric Loveday -
Current Prius May Stay As Low-Cost Foe For 2010 Honda Insight
Would you buy a stripped-down current Prius for $5,000 less than the new, fancier 2010 model? Toyota hopes so.
John Voelcker -
GM to Build Chevy Volt Engines in Exisiting Flint Michigan Plant
An important sidebar to the story of the Chevy Volt extended-range electric car is its gasoline generator. This is used to generate electricity extend the car's driving range beyond the 40 mile capacity of its battery. When GM finally decided it would use a 1.4 L 4 cylinder engine for that role, it...
Lyle Dennis -
Chicago Auto Show in the Rear View
As the largest and oldest auto show in North America comes to a close, nothing is certain in the automotive industry. General Motors is clinging to life, Ford is banking on new technologies to repair their brand image and increase sales, and Chrysler is putting hope into a conceptual crop of EVs...
Robert Scardino -
2011 Chevrolet Volt-alike Spied in Opel Ampera Drag
Euro-Volt to get airing at the Geneva motor show.
John Voelcker -
You've heard about Chrysler's plans for new electric cars. According to the company's own plan, the first EV it sells will be a small convertible. The 2011 Dodge Circuit EV is planned to be a roadster--at least, that's what our partners over at GreenCarReports.com found buried in the Chrysler viability plan. Our first glimpse of the Dodge Circuit came at the 2008 Detriot Auto Show. The Circuit looked like a Lotus Europa coupe that had gone into witness protection.Of course, in 2007, Dodge showed a Demon convertible that was fairly close to the Lotus in overall size and proportion. Now that...
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2011 Dodge Circuit EV A Roadster--Viability Plan Proves It
You thought Chrysler's first EV was nothing more than a rebadged Lotus? You're wrong...so wrong.
John Voelcker -
2011 Chevrolet Spark: The smallest Chevy ever
Chevy's upcoming global Spark takes the blue bowtie into mini-car territory
John Voelcker -
Aptera 2e Full Production Specs Released
The Aptera 2e, is a unique electric vehicle. It is a 3-wheeled 2 seat airplane-shaped vehicle that is a cross between a motorcycle and a commuter car. The first one has rolled off the production line, and they are expected to go into low volume series production in the fall of this year. At the...
Lyle Dennis -
GM: Give us plugs, we'll sell you Volts
The Chevrolet Volt will launch in cities that provide EV infrastructure: public charging points, lower electricity prices, and more
John Voelcker -
2011 Audi Q5 Hybrid Expected to Launch Next Year in the USA
Audi has previous considered entering the hybrid market, and now has finally confirmed it will officially to do aiming to bring a hybrid version of its luxury SUV the Q5 to the US in 2010.. Wolfgang Hatz who is head of Audi's powertrain development said the automaker will build a hybrid to compete...
Lyle Dennis -
If you've followed the Tesla Motors story from the beginning, you know that there have been trials and tribulations along the way. How many speeds would the transmission have? When would the cars be delivered? How fast would they actually be? Today, Tesla Chairman, Elon Musk gave some insight as to the extent of those tribulations, in an email to Tesla customers. Musk admitted that the electric car company grossly underestimated production costs for the Tesla Roadster when it originally set prices at $92,000. Whereas the company believed production costs would be about $65,000 per vehicle...
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Lithium Polymer Batteries For 2011 Hyundai Sonata
Here's more news falling under the "Korean Automakers Are Taking Over the World" category. Hyundai plans to introduce a hybrid version of their popular midsize Sonata sedan for 2011. The Korean car company expects to meet the 2020 Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards in 2015. The Sonata hybrid...
Robert Scardino -
Fisker Karma S Sunset E-REV Concept to be Unveiled at Detroit Auto Show
Fisker has developed an extended-range electric vehicle called the Karma, which is expected to go into production by the end of 2009. It is a four-door sports car priced at $87,000. Now the automaker is teasing us with its plan to unveil a new concept on January 12th 2009 called the Fisker Sunset...
Lyle Dennis
