hybrid synergy drive
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While it has unveiled the all-new 2016 Prius hybrid twice--once at a glitzy event in Las Vegas, once at the Frankfurt Motor Show--Toyota has been very stingy with technical information about the powertrain that will let the car earn promised EPA combined ratings of 55 mpg or better. At an event in Japan this morning, the company released a bit more information on the technology that propels the car. As with the three previous generations of Prius, efficiency improvements come from hundreds of incremental changes. DON'T MISS: 2016 Toyota Prius: Official Auto Show Debut At Frankfurt Motor Show...
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2016 Lexus ES 300h Hybrid Gets Styling Update, Nicer Interior
The 2016 Lexus ES 300h gets a styling update and some added technology features.
Stephen Edelstein -
Toyota Hybrid Sales Flat In 2014, Honda Up By More Than Half Globally
With U.S. gas prices having fallen 40 percent over six months, fuel efficiency may be less important to car buyers than it was when gasoline cost $4 a gallon. Meanwhile, smaller crossover utility vehicles are supplanting sedans and hatchbacks in more and more driveways. DON'T MISS: Toyota Racks Up...
John Voelcker -
Is The 2016 Chevy Volt GM's Future Hybrid System In Disguise?
At 50 miles, the 2016 Chevrolet Volt offers the longest range of any plug-in hybrid (though the range-extended BMW i3 electric car is rated at 72 miles). Announced this week at the Detroit Auto Show, following an October technical briefing, the technology in the new Volt may turn out to hold some...
John Voelcker -
Toyota Hybrid Sales Top 6 Million Vehicles Globally, And Counting
It almost goes without saying, but Toyota loves its hybrids--and, seemingly, so do the world's car buyers. The Japanese automaker said it had sold 6,072,000 hybrids as of December 31, 2013, breaking the 6 million-unit barrier. MORE: Toyota Sells 23 Hybrids Globally; How Many Can You Name? A...
Stephen Edelstein -
Branding Bad: 10 Eco-Marketing Car Labels That Mean Nothing
Pretty much every carmaker wants to brand itself green--or at least fuel-efficient. And toward that end, most of them seem to have created sub-brands for their green technologies, programs, and aspirations. Based on conversations with car buyers all over North America, we're convinced that most...
John Voelcker -
Say the word "hybrid" and then ask drivers, anywhere in the world, to name a car brand. They'll likely say "Toyota," a testimony to that brand's launch of the first Prius in 1997 and its tenacious pursuit of improvement in hybrid-electric powertrain technology since then. Today, Toyota announced it has delivered 5 million hybrids worldwide--and almost 2 million of them were sold in the United States. To mark the occasion, the company issued not only a press release filled with the obligatory statements from executives and external analysts, but a truly unusual video. In it, happy young hybrid...
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2013 Toyota Avalon Hybrid: 40-MPG Model For Mid-Size Sedan
Toyota's remorseless drive to maintain its largest-by-far share of the global hybrid vehicle market continues apace. The latest vehicle to add a hybrid variant is the all-new 2013 Toyota Avalon, the large, luxurious, mid-size front-wheel drive sedan sold only in North America. The 2013 Toyota...
John Voelcker -
Brewing Hybrid Battle: Is One Electric Motor Better Than Two?
The word "hybrid" means many things. It can be interpreted as "high gas mileage," or "annoying leftie smugmobile," or--by engineers--an automotive powertrain that uses two different sources to generate the torque that moves the car. But among "full hybrids"--those powertrains that can move the car...
John Voelcker -
Mazda To Launch Hybrid Version Of Mazda6 Mid-Size Sedan Soon
While Mazda prepares to unveil its new CX-5 crossover and launch its new SkyActiv engine and transmission technology, it's also quietly developing a hybrid model as well. In March 2010, Japan's small but scrappy maker of "Zoom Zoom" cars signed a deal to license Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive...
John Voelcker -
2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid: New Style, Same Old Hybrid System
Sometimes, you find information in the strangest places. Take the YouTube video, "Georgetown Plant on the 2012 Camry," apparently posted by Toyota of the Black Hills, a dealer in Rapid City, South Dakota. It's got some shots of the newly redesigned 2012 Toyota Camry moving down the production line...
John Voelcker -
Prius Shortages Will End For 2012, Sales Will Rock, Toyota Says
It's been a tough couple of years for Toyota. First was the entire sudden-acceleration mess, along with multiple recalls covering almost 10 million cars. Then came the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which devastated Toyota's intricate global network of parts and assembly plants. But with a return...
John Voelcker -
The 2011 Lexus CT 200h pretty much occupies a class of one. At the moment, it’s the sole luxury compact hybrid hatchback sold in the U.S. And it’s a dedicated hybrid, meaning there’s no gasoline-only version. If you want the compact hatch, you get the hybrid. It’s also terra incognita for Lexus, which is better known for its luxury sedans but actually sells more of its RX luxury midsize crossover utility than any other model. The unusual marketing campaign for the CT—“The Darker Side of Green”—bears witness to the brand’s goal of...
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One More For The Dead-Hybrid List: RIP Nissan Altima Hybrid
Add one more to the list of hybrid cars that have been sent off to the great gasoline-electric graveyard in the sky. Nissan will end production of its Altima Hybrid sedan after the 2011 model year. Launched in late 2007, the hybrid version of the Nissan Altima used Nissan's own four-cylinder engine...
John Voelcker -
2012 Toyota Prius V Wagon: Hybrid Success, More To Be Built
The 2012 Toyota Prius V wagon hasn't even reached U.S. dealers--it'll arrive this fall--but surging global demand has already convinced Toyota to raise production. The world's largest maker of hybrid-electric vehicles will boost Prius wagon production from 3,000 to 5,000 per month by September...
John Voelcker -
Next Mazda Sports Car Rumored To Be Hybrid; Fans Wail, Moan, Gnash Teeth
Oh, the horror, the horror. Once again, the world is coming to an end. No, not tsunamis, or earthquakes, or tornadoes, or plagues. Not even locusts. Nope, it's the evil specter of hybrid technology that will conclusively decimate all of mankind, depriving it forever of driving fun, pleasure, and...
John Voelcker -
2012 Toyota Prius V Station Wagon: First Drive Review
Toyota executives will go to extraordinary, absurd lengths to avoid defining the body style of the new 2012 Toyota Prius V. Bob Carter, brand sales chief for Toyota Motors in the U.S., first responded with confusion over the question. Presented with a list of alternatives--sedan, hatchback...
John Voelcker -
Does The Toyota Prius Hybrid Hold Up? Consumer Reports: Yes
Gas prices are going up, smaller cars are better than ever, and once again, U.S. car buyers are turning their sights toward higher gas mileage. For that, there's nothing that beats the 2011 Toyota Prius, with its 50-mpg combined EPA rating. But will that Prius hold up? Will the battery pack and...
John Voelcker -
Like many articles, this one started with a reader question. Casey Krakowiecki wrote: I'm interested in buying a new Toyota Prius hybrid. I hope you can answer a couple of questions that will help me. (1) Are the rechargable batteries guaranteed for 8 years? If they fail at 7 years and 11 months, do you get them replaced free of charge, or are they prorated? (2) What happens to the resale value of a Prius if you want to keep it for six or seven years, knowing the cost of replacing batteries is $3,000? They're both good questions. To answer the first one, John Hanson, Toyota's National...
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Lexus LF-Gh Hybrid Concept (New GS) Unveiled For NY Auto Show
Last week they teased it; this week, they took the covers off it. In this case, "it" is the Lexus LF-Gh Hybrid Concept car that will be the centerpiece of the Lexus display at next week's New York Auto Show. The LF-Gh concept car is a styling exercise that "sets out to redefine the premium grand...
John Voelcker -
Lexus LF-Gh Hybrid Teaser Photos: New York Auto Show Preview
Say "hybrid" and most U.S. buyers think Toyota, if not Toyota Prius. Indeed, the company just sold its millionth Prius in the United States, where roughly half of the 2 million Priuses it had built as of last fall have found homes since 2000. But Toyota's luxury marque Lexus also has hybrid models...
John Voelcker -
2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Engine Stalling Investigated
While Toyota clearly hopes the worst of its recall problems are behind it, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a new investigation into an older Toyota vehicle. On February 15, the NHTSA opened an investigation into 32 complaints of engine stalling in 2006 Toyota...
John Voelcker -
Europe's Toyota Prius V Wagon: Better Battery, Two More Seats
At last month’s 2011 Detroit Auto Show, the wraps came off the new 2012 Toyota Prius V, a bigger and more practical version of the Prius hatchback that treads the line between wagon and minivan. Despite the extra height, weight, and girth, however, the vehicle is still limited to five...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Rumor: Toyota To Show Yaris Hybrid Concept At Geneva Motor Show
Last year, Toyota promised to launch a dozen new hybrid and plug-in hybrid models by the end of 2012. One of those new hybrid models may be unveiled in concept form at next month's Geneva Motor Show. Two Dutch websites are reporting that the company will use the show for the world debut of a Toyota...
John Voelcker