2013

Honda delivered its first coporately-leased all-electric Fit EV back in December 2010 to the city of Torrence, California, one month after announcing it at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show. Since then, Honda has continued deliveries of its Fit EV to fleet customers, but at the start of last week...

It's only a few more months before Ford's first plug-in hybrid car hits the market, in the shape of the 2013 Ford C-Max Energi. The C-Max Energi is just part of a five-pronged attack on the hybrid and plug-in market this year, joining the 2012 Ford Focus Electric, and flanked by the regular C-Max...

Diesel engines make a lot of sense in SUVs, mitigating the gas-guzzling effects of big, heavy bodies, poor aerodynamics and large engines. The Audi Q7 TDI is a good example of this, and Audi has made further improvements for the 2013 model year car, touting 12 percent better efficiency. Audi is...

Just one month after deliveries of the 2013 Ford Escape started, Ford has made a formal recall of all Ford Escapes fitted with its 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine. The recall is to replace an engine compartment fuel line, which is at risk of splitting and leaking fuel in the engine bay, potentially...

Lexus has announced pricing details for its all-new ES 300h hybrid luxury sedan. Joining the non-hybrid ES 350, the ES 300h will have a MSRP of $38,850, plus a delivery, processing and handling fee of $895. With a 2.5-liter, Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder engine, the ES 300h develops a combined 200...

Last month, we told you a little about Ford’s first Overboosted EcoBoost engine, designed to make the 2013 Ford Focus ST mean and green. At that time, the $24,495 sports hatch hadn’t received its official EPA ratings, but yesterday Ford was able to announce them to the automotive world...

It may only be small, but Chevrolet is packing its 2013 Spark with plenty of equipment in an effort to target urban millennial buyers. Already sold in 100 countries worldwide, U.S. customers will be able to buy the Spark later this year. GM has tailored several of the car's specifications to the...

Every year, there have to be winners and losers in the automotive world. Usually, winners and losers are picked by sales figures, but according to CNN, the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu Eco mild hybrid may be the least-liked car of the year so far. Not measured by sales, but by negative reviews. When The...

A few years ago, some automakers began offering stop/start technology on select cars as a way to help lower emissions and increase fuel economy in busy city traffic. Early stop/start systems in non-hybrid cars were often slow to respond to driver input, making them unpopular with drivers, but now...

The Lexus RX luxury crossover line is the mainstay of Toyota's luxury line in the U.S., representing fully 42 percent of the brand's total 2011 sales. And the hybrid Lexus RX 450h model finds many buyers among progressive, affluent suburban families. There's just one problem: Its real-world gas...

The 2013 Honda Fit EV is a fun and well-executed little all-electric hatchback. It's quick, handles decently, gets the highest EPA efficiency rating of any vehicle on the market (118 MPGe), and its rated range of 82 miles is longer than that of the somewhat larger Nissan Leaf. Too bad you have very...

You might not have seen any adverts for it yet, but the 2013 Ford Escape is already flying out of dealer lots. That's not bad when the auto market is currently undergoing a summer slump, but the first all-new Escape in over a decade really seems to be grabbing the attention of buyers. The Escape's...

If you visit this site regularly, you’ll know that we usually only cover smaller, more fuel efficient cars and those powered by alternative fuels like electricity, hydrogen or biofuels. But yesterday the EPA certified the 2013 Ford Taurus 2.0-liter Ecoboost with gas mileage figures never seen...

Toyota's remorseless drive to maintain its largest-by-far share of the global hybrid vehicle market continues apace. The latest vehicle to add a hybrid variant is the all-new 2013 Toyota Avalon, the large, luxurious, mid-size front-wheel drive sedan sold only in North America. The 2013 Toyota...

Anyone who's traveled overseas has seen the small car-based commercial vehicles common in the crowded cities of Europe and Asia. While U.S. workmen may use full-size Ford or Chevy vans, their European counterparts use smaller vans (and pickups too) based on compact or even subcompact models. But...

Launching the greenest model of a car first isn't all that common. Often carmakers want to get their high-end luxury variants out in front to draw attention to a new car. While the 2013 Chevy Malibu Eco has been out for several months, Chevrolet has just now priced the standard 2013 Malibu model...

Americans won't buy hatchbacks, or so goes the hoary old conventional wisdom. That may no longer be true, as Ford found out, but most compact cars are still four-door sedans. With the 2013 launch of its Elantra GT hatchback and Elantra Coupe, however, Hyundai has expanded its compact line to offer...

Over the past few years we’ve seen an increasingly large number of compact and subcompact cars with hands free and voice-activated safety technology you’d normally find in premium and luxury brands. Now we can add the 2013 Chevrolet Cruze to that list. As TheCarConnection reports, the...

How do you make a niche market car with low sales figures more attractive to buyers? By releasing a limited-edition, of course. Enter Smart, Mercedes-Benz’s microcar devision, and its plans to follow its summer-themed Smart ForTwo Sharpred Special Edition with a winter-themed special edition...

Earlier this year at the Chicago Auto Show, Hyundai announced the expansion of its highly-popular Elantra line by announcing two new models for 2013. Now we know that both cars -- the 2013 Elantra Coupe and 2013 Elantra GT Five-door hatchback -- will go on sale for less than $20,000. Powered by the...