Hybrids

Toyota’s all-new compact hybrid -- the 2012 Prius C -- isn’t due to go on sale for another few months, but that hasn’t stopped it from being an instant hit in its native Japan. Known as the 2012 Toyota Aqua in Japan, the gas-sipping hybrid has proved so popular that Toyota has...

The Lexus RX 450h, on sale since 2009, is set to gain a facelift this year and a sporty new trim line, to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March. The 2013 RX will gain some of the styling cues found on the 2013 Lexus GS range, giving the front end a sharper, more aggressive look. The...

Just ten years ago, cars like the 2002 Toyota Prius traded performance for unbelievably-high gas mileage, bringing the concept of eco-friendly gasoline electric hybrid cars to the masses. Recently however, automakers like BMW have used full hybrid technology to give high performance luxury cars...

Toyota is on a hybrid roll at the moment, fresh off the launch of both its 2012 Toyota Prius V wagon and 2012 Toyota Prius C subcompact. It's set to show even more hybrids at the upcoming 2012 Geneva Motor Show. As well as the sleek NS4 Plug-in Hybrid Concept, Toyota has teased the FT-Bh, a city...

Mitsubishi has picked this year's Geneva Motor Show in March to launch its new Outlander SUV. The all-new Outlander takes cues from the PX-MiEV concept seen at recent shows, and Mitsubishi says its fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas figures are among the best in its class. Better still should be...

Buy a gasoline 2012 Toyota Highlander crossover in the U.S., and the chances are it will have been made at Toyota’s Princetown factory in Indiana. Opt for the more fuel efficient 2012 Toyota Highlander Hybrid model, and your car will have been made a third of the way around the world in...

The chances are by now that even if you didn’t watch Super Bowl XLVI, you’ve watched all of the new TV ads which aired during the event last Sunday. That means you’ll also have seen the hilarious debut advert for Acura’s 2015 NSX Hybrid, staring Jerry Seinfield and Jay Leno...

The 2013 Acura ILX will be the company's first entry into the compact sedan market since the Integra, but of most interest to GreenCarReports readers is the hybrid version. Previewed in concept form at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, the production ILX, Acura's first ever hybrid model, will make its...

The 2012 Toyota Prius C may be the most surprising entry in the expanding Prius range. It's smaller, less unusually styled, and about $5,000 less expensive than the standard Prius liftback. And it's more fun to drive (relatively) than its larger siblings. It also gets real-world gas mileage of 50...

It takes a lot of money and time to develop and produce hybrid cars and electric vehicles, but that's not to say regular gasoline cars can't benefit from some of their technology. Mild hybrid technology is a cost-effective way of improving the gas mileage of a car using a fairly simple electric...

Many automakers claim that their exploits in the world of motorsport go towards improving their road cars. It's a tenuous connection sometimes, but Audi could lay fair claim to motorsport -derived technology in its road cars, from its Le Mans program. With maiden wins for its TFSI technology in...

Hybrids are set to go head-to-head on Japan's race tracks this year, as Honda has finally confirmed it's set to enter a CR-Z in the GT300 class of Japan's SuperGT series. Toyota announced its Prius GT300 challenger several months ago, before it was revealed at the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon last month...

The stakes are high for Super Bowl XLVI this Sunday. Not just for the New York Giants and New England Patriots, though, but for the sponsors who spend millions on the precious seconds of advertising time during ad breaks. We don't know how much Acura's two minutes are costing to promote its 2015...

Back in 1955, French carmaker Citroën launched one of the most dramatic-looking cars ever made. It was named the DS, in French pronounced Déesse, meaning "goddess". Many thought that appropriate given the striking, avante-garde looks, and today it's often considered one of the greatest...

If you've been following over the last few weeks, you'll have seen us pitch two cars from particular manufacturers against each other. While there are often clear differences between the models, the exercise highlights what someone in the market at a particular price point can expect, when...

When you drive a wagon, you usually need the space. And so it was with the 2012 Toyota Prius V, in which we hauled holiday gifts, heavy sagging boxes of old car magazines, furniture, and other life impedimentia over a 10-day, 650-mile test drive that spanned late December and early January. It's a...

The Buick Fuel Efficiency Games App teaches players about mild hybrid systems, aerodynamics and maximizing fuel economy.

A few days back we took a look at two similar, yet very different Hondas. The 2012 Honda Insight and 2012 Honda Fit share a platform, but different bodystyles and the use of Honda's Integrated Motor Assist hybrid technology in the Insight, makes each model unique. The same could be said of the...

According to the ninth annual Avoider study published yesterday by J.D. Power and Associates, many car-buyers avoid green cars because they’re too small, look strange, or cost too much. As we’ve previously found from other recent surveys, gas mileage proved to be the number one...

A southern California Prius owner learned the hard way that energy-efficient building windows can reflect enough sunlight to melt plastic.