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st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } China's BYD Auto has received a lot of recognition for vehicles they have been working on. Many are eagerly awaiting the companies offerings expected to arrive in the U.S. next year. The company has promised low prices, long ranges, and other innovative technology. The wait may be coming to an end as the automaker will display two of its vehicles at the NAIAS in Detroit in January. BYD will have two vehicles on display in Detroit. Both the e6 and the F3DM will be in attendance at the opening of the show next month. Additionally, both vehicles are near...
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Detroit Auto Show Preview: BMW Concept ActiveE Electric CarA little more than a year ago, the all-electric Mini E stole the limelight at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show. Now, BMW has released details of its next all-electric concept car, which will formally debut at next month's Detroit Auto Show. The BMW Concept ActiveE electric car is based on the BMW...
John Voelcker -
The Volt Song: What Happened, and What It Could Have BeenAnd we thought our piece on the LA Auto Show's Volt dance was pointed. Hah! Look here. Or here, followed by here. Or here. Ouch. Like a good journalist, we wanted to know more. So we asked for an interview with Maria Rohrer, Director of Global Volt Marketing Operations at Chevrolet, to understand...
John Voelcker -
Royalty Drives Fisker Karma Plug-In Hybrid, Journalists Not So MuchNot surprisingly, automotive journalists compete to be the first to drive the latest new cars. Some crave Chevies, others follow Ferrari. Here at GreenCarReports.com, we want to be among the first to drive electric cars and other plug-ins, new hybrids, clean diesels, and so forth. We've driven a...
John Voelcker -
Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid On Sale in 2011, Less Than $10K MoreHigh Gear Media has partnered with Tesla Motors on a new writing contest where YOU can win a tour and road test of the 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport. You can submit as many articles as you like and enter multiple times. Enter now! == As a plug-in battle starts to take shape among the 2011 Chevrolet...
John Voelcker -
DOE Loans Stifling Innovation Industry Wide?How could loans from the federal government possibly be a bad thing for automakers? According to special adviser for Coda Automotive Darryl Siry, whose words appeared in an article he wrote for Wired.com, loans from the US Department of Energy could be stifling innovation by reducing the...
Eric Loveday -
We're eagerly waiting for the 2011 Scion iQ to be launched in production form. That may be at next month's Detroit Auto Show or April's New York Auto Show, where the concept version landed from the sky last year. Sold in the rest of the world as the Toyota iQ, the 2011 iQ will go on sale in the U.S. next year as a Scion. It's only slightly longer than a 2010 Smart ForTwo, but seats three adults plus a fourth person of less-than-adult size. Quoted fuel efficiency for the European version, which has a tiny 1.0-liter engine: 54 miles per gallon. The U.S. ratings are likely to be somewhat lower...
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All-Electric Roadtrip From LA to Detroit? No Problem, Says TeslaAs we've noted elsewhere, we write a lot about Tesla. We certainly give them more ink...errr, electrons?...than their share of the sports car market, since they're just delivered their 900th Roadster. Not that they're not wildly fun to drive, mind you. But despite early engineering difficulties...
John Voelcker -
Why Can't We Buy Small European Diesels in the U.S.?It may be the one question we hear most often here at GreenCarReports.com: Why can't I buy one of those great little fuel-efficient diesels, like they have in Europe? Take, for example, the ultra-high-mileage Econetic version of the Ford Fiesta, sold in Europe with a 1.6-liter turbodiesel that...
John Voelcker -
But Would You WANT Your Prius To Sound Like a Spaceship?With early data now showing that hybrid cars seem to hit pedestrians more often, carmakers are ramping up efforts to find ways of alerting people when a nearby car is operating in electric mode. Now the UK's Group Lotus Engineering has come up with a noise-generating system, one of several...
John Voelcker -
Panasonic Approved For $4.6 Billion To Acquire Sanyo, To Become World's Largest Li-Ion Battery MakerPanasonic recently received regulatory approval of its massive $4.6 billion plan to purchase leading battery maker Sanyo Electric Co. Upon news of the approval of the plan, the company almost immediately began talks with at least 10 automakers. The talks center around the company supplying...
Eric Loveday -
2011 Ford Fiesta Prices Start at $13,995, Go As High As $23KPrices for the eagerly awaited 2011 Ford Fiesta will start at $13,995 for the four-door sedan, but prices for the new subcompact will go as high as $23,000 for top-line model when it goes on sale next summer. The base sedan with a five-speed manual gearbox carries a sticker price of $13,320, plus...
John Voelcker -
It's no mystery that Nissan CEO, Carlos Ghosn, wants electric vehicles to be a significant part of the Japanese automaker's future. He takes every chance he gets to advertise his ambitions and he's got the Leaf EV to champion his cause (and perhaps more importantly for Nissan, to take some press away from the Chevy Volt). It should be no surprise then, that Nissan's luxury division, Infiniti, bears the responsibility of combining high style, driving performance and zero-emissions motoring. In that vein, the company's bigwigs had some tantalizing innuendo for the boys of Motor Trend at the LA...
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Hyundai: No More V6s For Midsize Cars or Compact CrossoversOne of the standouts among the global carmakers at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show was Hyundai. The Korean company has seen its market share rise from 3 to 4 percent during a dismal downturn, even without any new volume models to spur excitement. Now, with its Los Angeles launch of the 2010 Tucson...
John Voelcker -
Fisker Sets New Date For Release of Karma, Targets September 2010The CEO of Fisker, Mr. Henrik Fisker himself, announced that production of the companies plug-in EREV Karma will be delayed slightly. Though the delay does not comes as a surprise, its certainly a disappointment for some interested buyers. The company had previously stated that the Karma would...
Eric Loveday -
Will the 2011 Mazda2 Spawn a MazdaSpeed2 Hot Hatchback?Sometimes the most interesting cars at auto shows are the ones the manufacturers don't talk about. As expected, Mazda unveiled its new 2011 Mazda2 subcompact at the Los Angeles Auto Show yesterday. The company also showed a couple of concept versions, including one called "Mazda 2Evil" that we...
John Voelcker -
2010 Toyota Prius Plug-In Launches, But You Can't Buy One NowHybrid and plug-in fans, not to mention the Prius faithful, have been eagerly waiting for Toyota's response to the reams of copy benerated by the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle. Surely Toyota, which invented the modern hybrid vehicle and has now built 1.5 million Toyota Prius...
John Voelcker -
Green Car of the Year: 2010 Audi A3 TDIThe 2010 Audi A3 TDI was awarded the 2010 Green Car of the Year Award today at the Los Angeles Auto Show by Green Car Journal, which has presented the award for five years. It follows last year's winner, the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI, to make two clean diesels in a row to win the award. The 2010...
John Voelcker -
While Toyota's press conference today at the Los Angeles Auto Show covered the new 2011 Toyota Sienna minivan, a very special Prius hybrid on the show floor signaled the company's first tentative step into the world of plug-in vehicles. Toyota will deliver the first of 150 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrids early next year. But they will go only to "select partners" who will add the cars to their fleets. The company says the Prius Plug-In Hybrids are for "market/consumer analysis and technical demonstration." Its goal is to accumulate real-world data on how and where users plug in their cars, how...
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Our First Drive of the Chevy Volt in Extended-Range ModeSeveral first drives of the Chevy Volt in extended range mode have begun to emerge. The vehicle is less than a year away from production and many are eagerly awaiting its arrival. Our editor in chief Lyle Dennis, also the founder of GM-Volt.com, displays his eagerness of the vehicle for all...
Eric Loveday -
2009 Los Angeles Auto Show: PreviewOnly a handful of U.S. auto shows count as important. Detroit, in January, is one; historically, New York in April has been another. But the up-and-comer is the Los Angeles Auto Show, which now occurs in late November or early December and focuses on green cars of all stripes: hybrids, electric...
John Voelcker -
Most Popular Prius Posts for November: The Recalls Have ItAck! It's December! Wha'ppened? Well, to avoid thoughts of the holiday shopping you haven't done yet, here are the most popular posts of the past 30 days on AllAboutPrius.com, three of them returning from October's most popular posts. This month, it's all about safety and recalls. The...
John Voelcker -
November's Popular Green Car Posts: Prius Wagon, 2010 VW Golf TDISomehow it's December already--how many shopping days left?--so it's time to look at the most popular posts on GreenCarReports.com during the last 30 days. This month, just two are held over from October's most popular posts. The new winners include items on the possible new Toyota Prius hybrid...
John Voelcker -
Nissan To Double EV Battery Capacity by 2015Nissan continues to make headlines on a regular basis. The much talked about Leaf EV is of course the center of attraction for the company. Numerous articles have popped up recently discussing every aspect of the vehicle. A recent article on this site discussed the possibility of leasing the...
Eric Loveday