2014

The 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid, a mid-size sedan that competes with hybrid models of the Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata, Kia Optima, and Toyota Camry, will go on sale in October, its maker said today. 47 mpg combined With a more powerful electric motor than its competitors, the 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid...

Ford started European production of its Focus Electric at its German plant last week. It isn't just the first electric car Ford has produced in Europe, but the first electrified production vehicle period--none of Ford's existing or previous hybrid vehicles have been sold in Europe, where diesel...

Don't you wish more auto enthusiasts were like Jay Leno? Sure, plenty of the stuff he likes isn't overly green, but at least he can't drive his massive collection of cars all at once. And he does like plenty of electric and hybrid vehicles too--among them, the Chevrolet Volt. Leno has his own Volt...

Information is power, right? More precisely, based on an interview last week with Mike Tinskey, Ford’s Director of Global Vehicle Electrification and Infrastructure, information is both what buyers of the brand’s Energi plug-in hybrids want to feel empowered, and what they need to get...

Rarely has any carmaker launched a car as obviously unloved as the Ford Focus Electric, the battery-electric conversion of a five-door Focus compact hatchback. As a company, Ford does not believe battery-electric cars will have much of a future for many years to come. Unusually for a new car, it...

Ford's updated Fiesta SFE is offering even better fuel efficiency for the 2014 model year. The Fiesta uses a 1.6-liter gasoline engine, developing around 120 horsepower. It's a fun little car to drive, but the main focus here is economy. With EPA-rated mileage figures of 30 mpg city, 41 highway and...

You want a four-seat car with the highest EPA combined gas-mileage rating you can get--but you've decided you don't want a hybrid. For 2014, two new competitors are joining the fray--and they seem likely to offer considerably better fuel efficiency than today's best-of-the-pack. This year, your...

The Toyota Corolla has been the most popular compact car in the U.S. for more years than we can count. But this year's model is the oldest model in a category that has seen every one of its competitors refreshed in the last three years. The new 2014 Toyota Corolla, the 11th generation of a...

Mitsubishi has recalled 4,313 of its Outlander Plug-In Hybrids in Japan to fix a potential defect that it identified last month. The company resumed production of the plug-in hybrid Outlander after discovering the cause of a fire in one lithium-ion battery pack at a dealership in Japan. The first...

The first examples of Cadillac's range-extended electric ELR have rolled down the assembly line at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck facility. That's where Chevrolet already assembles the Volt range-extended car, on which the more luxurious ELR coupe is based. Cadillac invited IndyCar driver Simona de...

It’s not every day Chevrolet executives talk about launching at car that competes directly with … a Volkswagen. The new 2014 Chevy Cruze Diesel, however, aims directly at the only affordable compact four-door sedan with a diesel engine sold in the U.S. until now: the Volkswagen Jetta...

The new 2014 Chevrolet Impala is a big five-passenger family sedan, the largest one Chevy sells. While it was launched earlier this year with a 303-horsepower 3.6-liter V-6 engine, it can now also be ordered with a 196-hp, 2.5-liter four-cylinder Ecotec engine that produces 186 lb-ft of torque...

The 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel went on sale this week at a handful of top Chevy dealers, and company executives said two of its first three buyers were new to diesel cars. The new diesel Cruze, fitted with a 151-horsepower 2.0-liter turbodiesel four-cylinder engine built in Germany, is GM's first...

One of the biggest hurdles for the proliferation of electric cars has been their high relative cost. While that is to be expected with any new technology, electric cars have received a lot of flak for being just too pricey for the market. That’s starting to change, however, especially now...

Last year, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety introduced a new crash test -- and a new rating to accompany it. A total of 13 compact SUVs recently took that test, and the 2014 Subaru Forester was the only one in the bunch to earn a "good" rating. The test in question is the "small overlap...

Chevy's Cruze diesel is one of the more significant cars arriving this year. It's not just economical by Chevy's own standards, but at 46 mpg highway it comfortably takes the fight to the class-leading Volkswagen Jetta TDI too, With a 15.6 gallon gas tank, that 46 mpg should be enough to get you...

The production version of the BMW i3 electric car will be unveiled at September's Frankfurt Motor Show, and anticipation is building. How much BMW's first battery-electric car will cost is one of the biggest open questions. Now Ludwig Willisch, the CEO of the Bavarian maker's North American arm...

The Chevrolet Spark, the smallest Chevy sold in the U.S., will get some mechanical changes next year, according to Christi Landy, the brand's small-car marketing director. The 2014 Chevrolet Spark, which will go on sale late this year, will offer a continuously-variable transmission (CVT) in place...

Chevrolet's diminutive Spark EV will be the first car in the U.S. to offer the new SAE Combo charger for DC fast charging. Other electric cars have touted such a system, including the Fiat 500e and upcoming BMW i3 electric car, but the Spark will be the first production car available with the...

It may not be fast, it may not be pretty, but the Nissan Versa Sedan has one overriding virtue--it's cheap. That continues for the 2014 model year, as pricing remains unchanged from the 2013 Versa Sedan. A standard Versa S starts at $11,990--plus a $750 destination and handling fee--making it the...