Hybrids

Sales of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure electric cars may have suffered over the summer thanks to dropping gas prices, economic woes and a drop in availability of cars, but last month sales of so-called ‘Advanced Drive’ cars reached an 8 month high. All in all, a little under 28,000...

Think of Japan’s Super GT Series, and you probably think of highly-tuned race car versions of rear-wheel drive production cars. But in in the 2012 GT300 class, the traditional image of GT race cars could be challenged by not one, but two hybrid cars. As MotorAuthority reported yesterday...

We drove the prototype, and liked it. Now we've driven the real thing. We still like it. In this case, "it" is the 2012 Buick Lacrosse with eAssist, the only four-cylinder model that Buick offers in its Lacrosse large luxury sedan. While large Buicks aren't known for their gas mileage, this one is...

For over ten years now, Toyota has given car owners the chance to drive an ultra-efficient, high gas-mileage hybrid car. But while the 2012 Toyota Prius might give great gas milage, it just isn’t rugged enough for a large proportion of pickup-loving Americans. For them, driving a Toyota Prius...

Honda released some details of its Tokyo Motor Show concept cars three weeks ago, and now we can see what they look like in person. For U.S. buyers in particular, the most important of them is the Honda Advanced Cruiser-X (AC-X) Concept, a mid-size sedan that resembles nothing so much as a...

A battle is about to commence, and it could get messy. While Toyota's Prius dominates at the lower end of the hybrid market and is set to tighten its hold further with the Prius V and Prius C, Toyota subsidiary Lexus is set to field its GS 450h luxury hybrid sedan against the Infiniti M35h (a Green...

Likely starting with the 2013 Nissan Altima and extending to some of the automaker’s mid-size U.S. products, the automaker hopes to replace a rather large number of V-6 engines—potentially hundreds of thousands a year—with a more fuel-efficient four-cylinder mild-hybrid setup.

Honda's aim with its CR-Z hybrid sports coupe was to inject a bit of much-needed excitement into a market that viewed traditional hybrids as a bit dull, a bit vanilla. Unfortunately for some, the CR-Z was neither a tire-burning machine nor a particularly parsimonious runabout. Maybe vanilla was the...

Earlier today, our sister site MotorAuthority covered a story detailing a new green-engine partnership between BMW and Toyota for European-built BMW and Toyota cars. But while the partnership will give Toyota full access to BMW’s range of clean diesel engines and give BMW the chance to use...

It's not yet in dealerships, but the 2013 Lexus GS 450h offers a big boost in gas mileage for buyers of mid-size sport sedans. The all-new GS 450h hybrid is expected to be rated at 29 mpg city, 34 mpg highway, for a combined rating of 31 mpg. In comparison, the 2012 Infiniti M35h hybrid sport...

Mazda has supplemented i-Stop with a capacitor-based regenerative-braking system, called i-ELOOP, that should provide some of the benefits of a mild-hybrid system without added bulk.

The Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan is an important car for General Motors. It's hugely outselling its lackluster predecessor, the Chevy Cobalt, and the EPA rates the special Cruze Eco model at 42 mpg in the highway cycle, giving it gas-mileage bragging rights. Plug-in hybrid to join diesel model But...

Ask pretty much any car buyer about green cars or hybrids and, chances are, that person will likely mention the Toyota Prius sooner or later. Until this year, though, the Prius has been a single model: a subcompact four-door sedan from 2000 through 2003, and then two generations of mid-size...

Though always overshadowed by the more distinctive Toyota Prius, the hybrid model of the Honda Civic compact sedan has been a longstanding competitor in the field of high-mileage hybrid cars. First launched as a 2003 model, the Honda Civic Hybrid has been entirely redesigned for the 2012 model...

For years, Honda has been showcasing the advances made by its ASIMO humanoid robots at auto shows and press events around the world. But now close automotive rival Toyota is going one better for the Tokyo Motor Show by unveiling a Toyota Prius that can drive itself. One of many advanced technology...

If the Lexus CT200h wasn't evidence enough that the Japanese luxury car maker sees downsizing as an important brand strategy, then plans for a new small hybrid engine in the GS sedan could be further proof. The smaller hybrid would join the 2013 Lexus GS 450h hybrid that was revealed at the 2011...

With new corporate average fuel economy rules now taking us to 54.5 mpg by 2025, gas mileage will be the focus of new-car development for years to come. With its 15 years of experience in hybrid-electric vehicles, Toyota seems well positioned for steady improvements. Now, there's a chance that...

There are many good reasons to drive a hybrid car, but did you know that one of them is improved safety levels? It's true - according to data gathered by the Highway Loss Data Institute (via Automotive News), crashing in hybrid vehicles like the Honda Accord Hybrid or Toyota Highlander Hybrid is...

Earlier today, Toyota released the first images of its 2012 Prius C compact hybrid hatchback that will arrive at U.S. dealers next year. The 2012 Toyota Prius C will be the fourth member of the growing Prius family, joining the classic Prius five-door hatchback, the 2012 Prius V wagon, and the 2012...

Toyota is doubling down on its best-known model for gas mileage, the Prius hybrid. It's already added two models to sit beside the 2012 Prius five-door hatchback, and now, the last new addition to the Prius lineup has been revealed. The 2012 Toyota Prius C, the first compact Prius since the...