2012

Sometime early last week, someone somewhere in the U.S. bought a hybrid car. And while we may never know exactly who that person was, the car was the 2-millionth hybrid-electric vehicle sold here since the very first Honda Insight went on sale in late 1999. Industry trade journal Ward's Auto...

The 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid isn’t set to go on sale until early next year, but we already know quite a lot about the car. This is mostly thanks to the fleet of Prius Plug-In Hybrid prototypes running around the country, an early version of which we drove back in 2010. However, some...

It appears Volkswagen is copying Toyota’s commitment to offer a hybrid option on every model in its lineup, if the latest comments from the automaker’s CEO, Martin Winterkorn, are to be believed. The German auto giant sees hybrids, more specifically, range-extended plug-in hybrids, as...

Nissan has always been particular in who it choses to associate with its all-electric Leaf, but its latest superstar signing is quite literally a shining example of what it means to be a leader in the world of green cars. Enter Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds. The 34-year old star of Green Lantern -...

There’s no mistaking the fact that Nissan is rapidly increasing its production volumes for its 2011 Nissan Leaf in order to clear its order books and get 12,000 Leafs delivered in the U.S. by the end of 2011. You’d think that by the start of next year, a Nissan Leaf might be easy and...

The 2011 Nissan Leaf may have been the first all-electric mass-produced electric car from a major automaker to hit the roads, but in the first few months following its launch Nissan came under a lot of criticism for not having a more sophisticated thermally managed battery pack inside the Leaf. Now...

For its second year of production, the 2012 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car will come down $1,000 in price and be offered with several new features and two new colors. The list price of the 2012 Volt, including an $850 destination fee, is $39,995. That compares to $41,000 for the 2011...

Want to buy a Chevrolet Volt but missed out on getting a 2011 model? Don’t worry. Next year’s car will offer more options and a lower sticker price, Chevrolet revealed today. Unlike Nissan, which was forced to raise the price of its 2011 Nissan Leaf in Europe shortly before it went on...

If you wanted a plug-in hybrid electric car a few years ago the only choices available were a handful of expensive third-party plug-in hybrid conversions or to build your own. By the start of 2011 Chevrolet was offering the first commercial plug-in hybrid in the form of its 2011 Volt. Next year...

Toyota has managed to make its Prius family iconic, instantly identified by its unique silhouettes and body styles, and almost synonymous with 'hybrid'; and this past year, GM's Chevrolet Volt, as well as the Nissan Leaf have gone on sale with distinct shapes calling them as among the greenest...

For the first time in 80 years or so, major automakers are building and selling plug-in electric cars in the U.S. How are they letting people know about their new cars? Advertising, of course. Our colleague Richard Read looked at four electric-car TV ads, analyzing what made them work and what...

How far can a 2011 Nissan Leaf really go on a single charge? It’s a question we’re often asked, but one which is particularly difficult to answer since it relies on many different variables ranging from how fast the car is being driven to the temperature of the battery pack, the...

Buick announced today that it would price the four-cylinder version of its 2012 Lacrosse large sedan at $29,960. That sneaks the advertised price neatly under the $30,000 mark, although a mandatory $860 destination charge means buyers will see a sticker of at least $30,820 before they start adding...

We don't envy the makers of electric cars. They have to deliver vehicles that look as great as their gas-powered counterparts, and they have to explain those vehicles, too -- how they work, battery range, and so on. They've got a long, tough battle to win over consumers. But while we wouldn't...

As we reported earlier this year, gas mileage is increasingly becoming a concern for not only individuals but corporations and government agencies as well, including most police forces. While the federal government is looking to improve the gas mileage of its fleets by switching to smaller cars and...

Back in April we heard that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety had awarded both the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt its highest possible award for safety - the IIHS Top Safety Pick. Now Chevrolet's plug-in hybrid has passed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)...

It seems that people just can't get enough of the 2012 Tesla Model S, the all-electric luxury sports sedan that SIlicon Valley startup Tesla Motors says it will put on sale in little more than a year from now. The factory has now released a whole set of new images, showing slight tweaks to the...

The MINI family is set to expand with two new editions set to debut over the next six to twelve months; the production versions of the MINI Coupe and Roadster concepts first unveiled back in 2009. The first of these will be the new 2012 MINI Cooper Coupe, which has been previewed today in these...

It may still be well over a year away from launch, but Tesla’s latest press photographs are certainly getting the automotive world talking. Released over the weekend, the photographs show a Model S which looks good enough to take on mainstream automotive giants on the showroom floor head-on...

It doesn’t take a scientist to tell you that the team behind BBC’s Top Gear really don’t like electric cars. Everything from the humble G-Wiz through to the mighty Tesla Roadster and the fresh-faced Nissan Leaf have fallen foul of their comical but factually inept portrayal of...