Future Cars

By now, it's well known that the German prestige brands--Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche--will all offer at least one battery-electric luxury sedan or crossover utility vehicle sometime between 2017 and 2021. It's all in response to the startling success of Silicon Valley electric-car maker...

Next Tuesday evening, the 2016 Toyota Prius hybrid will make its world debut in Las Vegas, kicking off what its maker calls "the next era of an icon." "We’re pulling out all of the stops for this exclusive event to celebrate the future of Prius in a truly spectacular way that will be anything...

With the 2016 Toyota Prius scheduled to make its global debut in Las Vegas on the evening of September 8, you had to figure that photos of the car would leak out at some point. And so they have. After years of spy shots of camouflaged Prius development mules, pre-production prototypes, and test...

The Mitsubishi Mirage minicar has been an unexpected success for the U.S. arm of what's usually described as "struggling Japanese automaker Mitsubishi." Sales volume after its 2014 launch was roughly double what the company said it expected to sell, and the Mirage may prove that a market remains...

Hyundai's ambitious plans to offer more green cars than any other maker except Toyota may have tilted slightly toward electric cars. At least, that is, if a tip from a source close to the company is to be believed. According to the report, Hyundai has decided that it will offer an all-electric "AE"...

Electric car sales may be flat this year. Heading into 2016, only a handful of new vehicles are likely to move the needle much. The long-awaited, multiply-delayed Tesla Model X all-electric SUV should finally go into volume production next year, presumably giving Tesla Motors a major sales boost...

When it comes to advanced automotive technology, most global carmakers are placing their bets with care. Toyota is all-in for hydrogen fuel cells, while Nissan is betting on battery-electric vehicles for its future. GM too is on the plug-in side of the ledger, while other makers hang back more...

Footage of the Tesla design studio proves intriguing.

The first Toyota Prius came to market in the U.S. in 2000, but it wasn't until 2012 that the single hybrid model expanded into a family of four different cars. Now it appears that the same could happen--somewhere down the road--to the Nissan Leaf, although not until after a second-generation Leaf...

Battery-electric vehicles with ranges of 150 to 200 miles and prices under $50,000 are now on the horizon from Chevrolet, Nissan, and Tesla, but details of BMW's entry into that segment are less visible. On the higher end, we know that German luxury makers Audi and Mercedes-Benz plan pricey...

Porsche may show an all-electric concept version of its "Pajun" sedan at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show.

Cars with plugs have been on sale since December 2010, and a second generation will start arriving next year. But while long-range battery-electric cars--the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV and an all-new 2017 Nissan Leaf--grab attention, another vehicle on the way could be equally important. That's the...

Over cocktails, two former Lotus colleagues met up in Irvine, California, the mecca for car design. They realized they shared a common dream: to create a next-generation electric vehicle... With a photo of a drink on a bar napkin, so begins the creation myth for Faraday Future, the secretive...

As the cost of advanced technologies to reduce the carbon footprint of vehicle travel rises, car companies have increasingly partnered to share those technologies and their costs. Now BMW has shown the first hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle prototypes from its partnership of several years with Toyota...

Uber is reportedly interested in Tesla autonomous-car development.

Sometimes a few words can make all the difference. In last week's seminars and presentations on the new 2016 Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan, GM discussed its 1.4-liter turbocharged gasoline engine and gave a few scant details on a future 1.6-liter diesel model as well. But the company also suggested...

While Chevrolet beats the drum for the Bolt EV 200-mile electric car it will likely launch before the end of next year, Nissan has been relatively quiet about its plans to upgrade the Leaf's current 84-mile range to compete. But at yesterday's annual meeting, a relatively conventional-looking Leaf...

We learned very few new details about the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV today, but General Motors released a development video that will likely excite fans and potential buyers of the 200-mile electric car. The bulk of today's GM media presentation is about the 2016 Chevy Cruze, to be unveiled tonight...

Among owners and advocates of zero-emission vehicles, few topics generate as much back-and-forth debate (to put it politely) as those cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Discussions of wells-to-wheels carbon footprint, the presently nonexistent hydrogen fueling infrastructure, and their purported...

German carmaker BMW may be on the cusp of the most radical transformation in its history--one that will stun the auto industry if it comes to pass. If a report from early this year is accurate, the company plans to convert the bulk of its product lineup to electric power over the next 10 years...