Economy

Magna Steyr may be one of the most significant automakers you’ve (likely) never heard of. There are no Magna Steyr dealers, and it doesn’t sell directly to the public, but if you’re an automaker, the company is at the top of your call list when engineering services or contract...

The eagerly-awaited new 2013 Dodge Dart compact sedan will start arriving at dealerships in June. But the first volley of Darts won't include every model. The model with the highest gas mileage will be known as the Dart Aero, and it should go on sale sometime between July and September. At a Dart...

Always carry a camera; you never know what you'll see parked on the street. That's how our contributor, Thomas Bey, shot these exclusive spy shots of an engineering prototype for what may be a future hybrid Jeep or Dodge model to be based on the same running gear as the 2013 Dodge Dart compact...

Sometimes you have to ask, What were they thinking? A recent article on five small cars with the worst gas mileage named four for which gas mileage may not even cross the minds of their buyers. But it did remind us that the 2012 Toyota Matrix has pretty low fuel economy for a compact hatchback. In...

Though it has wandered through a handful of brand identities and images over the past decade, Acura continues to reinvent itself. This time, the next new thing is a hybrid using Acura's first ever implementation of Honda's familiar hybrid system (on a modified Civic platform) in the 2013 ILX. Entry...

Dodge has priced its new Dart compact sedan from under $17,000, including destination charge.

Fiat, like MINI, realizes that small isn’t for everyone, which is why the Italian automaker recently announced the four-door Fiat 500L for the U.S. market. It turns out that the 500L won’t be the only model built on a widened version of Fiat’s Punto platform, as Fiat is reportedly...

While the company didn't make its self-imposed deadline for first customer deliveries in February, Coda Automotive has a different reason to celebrate today. At 10:25 am Pacific time, the first production 2012 Coda Sedan electric car is set to drive off the assembly line at its plant in Benicia...

Yesterday, Hyundai threw one of the better-attended press events at the Chicago Auto Show, launching two new models to expand its successful Elantra compact lineup. We've already shown you live photos of the 2013 Elantra Coupe and 2013 Elantra GT five-door hatchback, shot as the cars were revealed...

The 2012 Toyota Prius C may be the most surprising entry in the expanding Prius range. It's smaller, less unusually styled, and about $5,000 less expensive than the standard Prius liftback. And it's more fun to drive (relatively) than its larger siblings. It also gets real-world gas mileage of 50...

Until now, you'd have been hard-pressed to find the words "Buick" and "compact five-door crossover" in the same sentence. But as of this month's Detroit Auto Show, the 2013 Buick Encore--available at dealers roughly a year from now--takes GM's entry luxury brand into new territory. It's a five-door...

Since the demise of the well-loved Integra compact many years ago, Acura has had no compact four-door sedan. That's about to change, with the arrival of a production car based on the 2013 Acura ILX Concept shown today at the Detroit Auto Show.. It's a compact four-door near-luxury sedan with one...

We're just back from the live launch of the 2013 Dodge Dart, one of the most crucial--and well-attended--launch events of the Detroit Auto Show. And while it may fit right into Chrysler's marketing plans, we thought you'd like to see the actual unveiling--complete with flashy videos, loud music...

While Volkswagen has been selling its large Touareg Hybrid sport-utility vehicle for a couple of years now, most VW buyers still have no idea the company offers hybrid vehicles. That's about to change, with the introduction of the 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid at the Detroit Auto Show. The Jetta...

Before its unveiling, coming at 8:45 am this Monday, Chrysler trickled out photos of the exterior and dashboard of its new 2013 Dodge Dart compact sedan. But now both a video and more photos have leaked out onto those crazy Interwebz, showing every angle of the first product developed by the...

Ding, dong, the Caliber's dead. That news will probably come neither as a surprise nor much of a shame to many of you, as Dodge's baby hatchback hasn't exactly set the market on fire and has been representative of a time before American carmakers cared about making competitive compacts. Detroit...

Volkswagen is on a roll in the States these days, with sales of its redesigned Jetta sedan and its all-new mid-size 2012 Passat surging. The only mass-market German automaker intends to keep the momentum going at next month's Detroit Auto Show. It will unveil a 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid and show...

The new Escape crossover arrives at dealers in mere months, minus the hybrid model of its predecessor. That means it's now time to talk about the new 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid, which will serve as the company's hybrid entry in the compact segment. The 2013 C-Max is a five-passenger small minivan or...

One week ago, we got the first teaser photos of the 2013 Dodge Dart, the all-new compact sedan that will replace the unloved and obsolete Dodge Caliber hatchback. Now, we've got more. Chrysler has released two more photos, in this case of the instrument cluster and touchscreen center stack in the...

It's a magic number, 40 mpg, a nice big round figure to tout in big print every time gasoline prices go up. Most makers have at least one car that achieves 40 mpg, but for the new 2013 Dodge Dart, it's not an option--there has to be one model of the Dart that's rated by the EPA at 40 mpg or better...