Future Cars

Toyota will give away one of its hydrogen fuel-cell cars to support the not-for-profit Environmental Media Association.

What will the next-generation 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car look like? No actual photos, or even teasers, have yet been released. Despite that, we're gradually getting a better picture: It'll still be a five-door hatchback, and it'll still be around the same size. But expect its 'EVness' to be...

Do you ever get the sense that Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has fun in his job? Last night, at 6:31 pm Pacific time, he tweeted a photo with the caption, "About time to unveil the D and something else". The photo showed a roller door with the letter "D" on it, the shadowy front end of what appeared...

Time was, the Toyota Prius hybrid was the unquestioned technology champion and king of the fuel-efficiency battles. No longer, though. Now, as Toyota starts to plan for the launch of its fourth-generation flagship hybrid car, the legendary Prius faces more competition than ever before from newer...

Pity poor Mitsubishi, whose Outlander Plug-In Hybrid has been on sale in Europe and Asia for almost two years. But the plug-in hybrid SUV's U.S. debut has been delayed several times, and now is set for the fall of 2015, likely as a 2016 model. Now we can get a glimpse of what the revised plug-in...

Sometimes it's the throwaway lines that carry the most interesting news. In a routine report on August sales of new cars and trucks last Wednesday, The Detroit News had this nugget about the upcoming 2015 Chevrolet Colorado mid-size pickup truck: "GM said dealers have ordered nearly 28,000 midsize...

The 2015 Buick Envision will be sold in the U.S. as a 2016 model.

Imagine a smooth, quiet, comfortable largish sedan that emits nothing, with a range of 250 miles or more--one that pegs its driver as a person in the vanguard of advanced technology vehicles. The Tesla Model S electric car, you say? No, no, no: That would be Toyota's upcoming hydrogen fuel-cell...

It's long been acknowledged that the current Nissan Leaf electric car is a radical and distinctive design, just as the landmark 2004 Toyota Prius hybrid was. But some portion of potential buyers, who may be amenable to the benefits of driving a battery-electric vehicle, won't consider the Leaf...

It's been a quiet period for hybrid news lately, with the 2016 Toyota Prius launch delayed and still more than a year away. But further down the road, it appears that both Hyundai and Ford now plan to offer dedicated hybrids--vehicles designed specifically around a hybrid powertrain that offer no...

For a two-seat car priced at more than $100,000, not sold in North America, and with just 250 built, the Volkswagen XL1 gets an extraordinary amount of attention. That's due to the hugely high fuel-economy ratings for the tiny carbon-fiber vehicle powered by a diesel plug-in hybrid system. It's...

The Volkswagen XL1 is a high-technology, high-cost plug-in hybrid that, while intriguing, will do very little do directly change the automotive landscape. Like many such projects though, lessons learned from its development and status as a rolling economy experiment could help production...

General Motors confirmed this morning that the revised 2016 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car will be released at next January's Detroit Auto Show. And the company released the first teaser image of the car, showing a more rounded rear to the liftgate of what will likely continue as a...

Electric-car advocates often take it as an article of faith that electric propulsion will one day compete directly with vehicles powered by fossil fuels. Many would go further, arguing that electric cars are already competitive with those using an internal-combustion engine, or ICE, in the consumer...

Some vehicles have complex, protracted development histories--and it looks like the Infiniti LE electric luxury sedan may be one of them. Following a period in which its development was suspended by Infiniti's then-CEO Johan de Nysschen (who most recently heads Cadillac), the LE is now back on...

While the keys of the first Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell to be leased in the U.S. were handed over last month, the automaker is putting the final touches on the new 2016 Hyundai Tucson. It's expected to launch early next summer. Hyundai's chief U.S. designer, Chris Chapman, told us the next Tucson will...

Toyota's next-generation Prius is one of the most eagerly-awaited green cars of the moment, but potential buyers may have to wait a little longer to get their hands on the car. According to Automotive News, Toyota has pushed the next-gen Prius's production date back by six months, from next Spring...

Chevy reveals the interior of the next-generation Cruze ahead of its launch in China.

Plug-in hybrids will clearly be all the rage among carmakers for the next couple of years. While the number of high-volume battery-electric vehicles today can be counted on one hand--BMW i3, Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model S--virtually every global automaker now has plug-in hybrids planned for launch...

While the Chrysler portion of the newly constituted Fiat Chrysler Automobile company moves ahead on its revised product plan, there will be a new Fiat coming soon as well. The long-awaited 2016 Fiat 500X crossover utility vehicle, with available all-wheel drive, will be unveiled on July 4th...