Europe
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Toyota is planning to unveil three new hybrid concepts at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show including an intriguing 5-door hatch for their upscale Lexus brand. The LF-Ch (pictured above) is aimed squarely at the premium compact segment whose other notable players include the BMW 1-series and the Audi A3. What sets the LF-Ch apart from its German competitors is Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive. Aside from that, precious few details have been released, but more information is expected in the days leading up to the Frankfurt show. The Toyota Auris Hybrid will also be on display as it prepares for...
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2011 Scion iQ To Go On Sale By End of Next YearIn March, when Toyota unveiled a concept version of the 2011 Scion iQ at the New York Auto Show, it said only that it was studying the idea of bringing the "micro-subcompact car" into the US. Now it looks like the iQ will arrive by September or October of 2010. That's a few months earlier than the...
John Voelcker -
2010 Ford Transit Connect Small Delivery Van Selling Well
Today seems to be Ford day; this morning's e-mail included a news release on the early sales success of the 2010 Ford Transit Connect small delivery van, just while we're in the middle of writing up our four days of travel in a 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid. We first drove the 2010 Transit Connect in...
John Voelcker -
Toyota To Build Hybrid Auris In the UK Next Year
Awhile back, we speculated that Toyota's new, smaller-than-Prius hybrid would be based on the Auris Hybrid compact hatchback sold in Europe. We were wrong; in fact, the US will get a hybrid version of the already-high-mileage Toyota Yaris subcompact instead. But the Auris Hybrid is moving along...
John Voelcker -
Volvo To Use Ener1 Li-ion Batteries in Plug-In Hybrid Demonstration Cars
In a press release issued earlier today, American lithium-ion battery maker, Ener1, announced that their products would be tested in two Volvo V70 plug-in hybrid wagons this fall in Europe. The tests are in preparation for Volvo's plans to launch a production plug-in vehicle in 2012. Volvo is...
Robert Scardino -
Nissan Exec Says Investments For Battery Production Will Exceed $1 Billion
Last month Nissan received $1.6 billion in subsidized loans from the U.S. Department of Energy to prepare their plant in Smyrna, Tennessee for the production of electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries. At the Reuters Japan Investment Summit on Wednesday, senior vice president and head of...
Robert Scardino -
Chrysler's on the skids right now, no doubt about it. June sales plummeted 42 percent, and some consider its takeover by--errr, sorry, partnership with--Italy's Fiat to be the blind leading the lame. But Fiat is far from the company it was 20 years ago, when it folded its tents and snuck out of the US, leaving handfuls of rusting, unreliable hatchbacks strewn across the landscape. Today's Fiat brings at least two green innovations to Chrysler: the fantastic Fiat 500 minicar, in four variations, and MultiAir, a new engine technology said to boost fuel economy at least 10 percent. Four models...
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EV Rentals Available In Bergamo, Italy
Say you're an eco-conscious tourist on vacation in Italy and you'd like to explore the outskirts of Milan, but you left your driver's license in the hotel safe. No problem. Catch a cab 25 miles northeast to Bergamo and rent an Italian-made Startlab Open Street EV. The Startlab is an electric...
Robert Scardino -
Tesla To Open Seven Dealerships This Summer
Tesla Motors has confirmed that they will open seven new regional sales and services centers this summer. The new stores will be located in New York, Seattle, Chicago, Miami, London, Monaco and Munich. The New York, Chicago and London locations will all open within the next few weeks. The electric...
Robert Scardino -
Lexus Planning Hybrid Audi A3 Competitor
Lexus plans to unveil a front-wheel drive, hybrid-only hatchback at the Frankfurt Auto Show to compete with the likes of the Audi A3 and the BMW 1-series. The car will be the European cousin to the HS 250h, which is expected to go on sale this summer in the U.S. The new hatchback won't share any...
Robert Scardino -
Frozen Chickens Killed Detroit. Discuss.
A dispute with Germany over frozen chickens kept imported vans and pickups out of the US; did it insulate Detroit from the real world?
John Voelcker -
Renault Unveils Uber-Cute Kangoo BeBop ZE, First of Four Electric Cars
The French automaker livened up its annual meeting by revealing an adorable electric minivan that it will build by 2011
John Voelcker -
German composite plane maker, Flight Design, will introduce a hybrid engine for light planes at the Aero Show in Friedrichshafen, Germany next month. The concept uses a Rotax engine in combination with an electric booster designed with the help of Franz Aircraft Engines. The booster provides an extra 40-horsepower which is used during takeoff and climbing. The hybrid system is lighter than a traditional system of similar power, so the concept would theoretically offer higher payload for light aircraft. Flight Design plans to test the new system this year by modifying an existing plane...
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Tesla Roadster Appears in Swedish Commercial
Sometimes speaking the same language isn't a prerequisite to understanding. Take this Swedish commercial. What appears to be an advertisement for the Finnish energy company, Fortum, carries a strong message. Transportation as we know it is portrayed by barren landscapes dotted with exploding oil...
Robert Scardino
