Hybrids

It is, as yet, not possible to buy a plug-in car with seating for seven passengers. That will all change when the 2016 Volvo XC90 hits the market, as the latest generation of the Swedish SUV features both a seven-seat option, and the availability of a Twin Engine plug-in hybrid model. At a glance...

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...

American buyers are still enduring what seems like an interminable wait for the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid. Over in Europe however the plug-in crossover has been on sale for a few months now--and Mitsubishi is adding another variant to the range. Unusually, reports Motoring Research, it's...

Turn back the clock by one decade, and there were just four hybrid cars on sale in the U.S. One was the first-generation Toyota Prius. The original Honda Insight was still going strong as the most efficient vehicle on sale (and only plug-in cars still better it today). Honda also offered the Civic...

A small recall will affect unsold Ford Focus and C-Max Hybrid cars.

Several manufacturers now offer gas-saving hybrid versions of their vehicles but it's surprisingly rare to find two companies who have gone about it in the same way. The early pioneers, Toyota and Honda, fielded completely different systems at launch--and well over a decade down the line Honda has...

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...

The 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid received very positive reviews when it was launched almost a year ago. Its EPA fuel-efficiency rating of 47 mpg combined approaches that of the 50-mpg Toyota Prius, but the Accord is a more conventional looking mid-size sedan--a plus for many buyers. Yet sales have been...

We can buy a hybrid or electric vehicles and cover the roof of our homes in solar panels, but when it comes to other aspects of our daily lives a fossil-fuel reducing lifestyle is often a the whim of local governments or private businesses. One we often forget about, at least until they wake you...

Toyota will fix faulty brake-fluid reservoirs in previous-generation Camry Hybrid models.

Ten years ago, your choice of hybrid vehicles was pretty limited. A lot has changed in those ten years, and the rise of Ford as a real force in the hybrid markets is one of the biggest changes. 2004 saw the launch of its very first hybrid, the 2005 Escape Hybrid, and the maker's cars have gone from...

With the new and more fuel-efficient Honda Fit hatchback now on sale, the Japanese carmaker is slimming down its lineup a bit. For 2015, it has eliminated three low-selling green cars: the Honda Insight hybrid subcompact, the Honda Fit EV electric car, and the very low-volume Honda FCX Clarity...

61 mpg. That's the figure everyone will want to know, so that's the one I'm starting with. 61 mpg is what I've managed so far from the 2001 Honda Insight I bought back in March, over a distance of more than 5,000 miles. That, for the record, is eight miles per gallon better than the figure buyers...

The concern that very quiet hybrid and electric cars may pose a danger to unaware pedestrians has been around for a decade or more now. Back in 2010, Congress required the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop rules for adding alert noises to cars running on silent electric...

Toyota's Prius hybrid has undoubtedly done more to raise awareness of green vehicles and improving fuel efficiency than any other single model on sale today. First launched in the U.S. in 1999 and styled by a design team in California, the Prius name has since been applied to two further...

The 2015 Lexus NX is the first compact crossover from Toyota's luxury brand, and it's been a long time coming. Unlike the mid-size Lexus RX, which helped to launch the luxury crossover category 15 years ago, the smaller NX faces established competitors from the German luxury brands. But Lexus will...

Mercedes-Benz revealed back in May that it would launch a plug-in hybrid version of its all-new C-Class in the fall of 2015. Further details of that car have now emerged, including drivetrain specifics and its efficiency figures in European testing. Mercedes sources have revealed to Autocar that...

Automakers love to boast about Nürburgring lap times when selling performance cars. Once one of the most dangerous motor racing circuits in the world, it's now a measuring stick for the capabilities of road-going sports cars, performance sedans and supercars. ALSO READ: White House Responds To...

With a new Toyota Prius on the horizon, rumors abound as to what the next-generation of the world's best-selling hybrid will offer when it's unveiled late next year. Some changes are a given: Better fuel efficiency, an improved interior, a revised yet familiar shape. Others, such as all-wheel...

Volvo's long-term powertrain strategy is all about four-cylinder engines. Gone are the firm's long-standing five-cylinder gasoline and diesel units, and gone is the old XC90's V-8--replaced, in the next-generation car, with a power unit Volvo calls 'Twin Engine'. Using an intriguing mix of...