Hybrids
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Remember that $21,000, very basic 2010 Prius? Toyota has now confirmed it has neither current plans nor a schedule for selling the lowest-level model of the 2010 Toyota Prius, known as the Prius I, to consumers. In fact, it doesn't even have a timeframe for "continued, regular fleet sales of Prius I" beyond a small pilot program it ran in September. Missing mystery 2010 Prius We've written before about the missing model of the 2010 Prius, which was launched early this year in equipment levels II, III, IV, and V. The then-unspecified Prius I model was rumored to retail at $21,000, giving...
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First Photos: 2011 Toyota Prius Station Wagon!We've written before that Toyota plans to introduce more Prius body styles to expand the reach of its most recognized and iconic hybrid car. Now, our sister site GreenCarReports.com has uncovered three photos of a possible 2011 Toyota Prius station wagon. One comes from a blog called Woody's Car...
John Voelcker -
2011 Toyota Prius Station Wagon To Feature Lithium-Ion BatteryWe've known for a while that Toyota plans to introduce more Prius body styles to expand the reach of its most recognized and iconic hybrid car. Now, images of a possible 2011 Toyota Prius station wagon have hit the media. At least in Japan. Woody Thompson, proprietor of Woody's Car Site, points us...
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BMW's Other Hybrid: 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid 7 SedanFor 2010, BMW is releasing two hybrid vehicles that are very different both in style and in their approach to using electric power to assist the gasoline engine. We've already covered the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6 "sports activity coupe", which uses the Two-Mode Hybrid system jointly developed by...
John Voelcker -
2011 Volkswagen Touareg To Include Hybrid, Launch in JanuaryThe completely redesigned 2011 Volkswagen Touareg sport utility vehicle, which will be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show this January, will include a hybrid model in the range from the start. The 2012 Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid will be Volkswagen's first hybrid electric vehicle, and it will go on...
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Do Hybrids Hit Pedestrians More Often? NHTSA Report May Say SoAdvocates for the blind have long been pushing for hybrid and electric cars to make some kind of artificial noise at low speeds, to alert people with vision impairment of their presence when operating in all-electric mode, which is quieter. But data on whether electric-drive cars actually hit...
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General Motors will follow its 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car with a production version of the Cadillac Converj concept car revealed at this year's Detroit Auto Show. It's been an open question for a while now: What will be the next vehicle to use GM's Voltec series hybrid electric-car platform? The Opel/Vauxhall Ampera doesn't really count, since it's just a version of the Volt with a restyled front end to be sold by GM's European brands. But this week, GM directors reportedly approved a future model lineup for Cadillac that includes the sleek coupe. Hot-rod electric car?...
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Toyota Creates New Flower Species To Cut CO2 From Prius ProductionYou may already associate the 2010 Toyota Prius with flowers, courtesy of its "Harmony Between Man, Nature, and Machine" ad campaign, complete with human flowers in the "Harmony" TV spot. Now Toyota has taken flower power one step further, creating two new species specifically to help reduce the...
John Voelcker -
First Drive: 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6"Our goal was to fundamentally change the view of hybrids," said Peter Tünnermann, project manager for the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6. "We wanted to make a 'non-hybrid' hybrid." In other words, a hybrid that didn't drive like a hybrid. And in that goal, BMW has succeeded admirably...
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Toyota Goes Wild on Custom Prius Models For CharityThe annual event known as "SEMA" (for Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Assocation) has grown from its simple trade show origins into a global extravaganza bigger than most auto shows. Imagine the hugest Kustom Kar event you can possibly conjure. On steroids. In Vegas. SEMA is now a mandatory stop...
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DailyTech Reviewer Spends Week With 2010 Toyota Prius, Loves ItContinuing our series on 2010 Toyota Prius reviews from around the web, this week we turn to Jason Mick of TechDaily. He spent an entire week with a 2010 Prius V, the most upmarket trim level, and loved it. Mick isn't entirely new to AllAboutPrius.com. In late August, we reported on his...
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Is Toyota Planning To Build a Camry CNG Hybrid?If you've followed any of the news coming out of the 2009 SEMA Show, the mecca for modified cars, you may have seen that Toyota's display included a modified version of the Camry CNG Hybrid it showed last fall at the Los Angeles Auto Show.The Toyota Surfrider Camry Hybrid CNG, which pairs the...
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It's the end of October, but we'll spare you the lame Halloween jokes and dive directly into the most popular posts of the month on AllAboutPrius.com. Just like the month before, only two of September's most popular posts reappeared: the 2010 Toyota Prius Reference Guide (by now the year's undisputed champion), and last month's surprise entry about a drag-race video that faces off a 2010 Prius against its 2009 predecessor. # 1: 30 Days of the 2010 Toyota Prius: Your Reference Guide. It's the Reference Guide. It's on top. It was on top last month. It will probably be on top next month. What...
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October's Most Popular Green Car Posts: Steampunk Toyota Takes ItToday is Halloween, but no tired jokes about green pumpkins here. It's the end of the month, so it's time to look at the most popular posts on GreenCarReports.com over the last 30 days, which include items on hybrids, clean diesels, and two on the Tesla electric car. Four out of the top five are...
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Tesla Joins Tax-Incentive Trail for Not-Yet-Sited Model S FactoryIt's starting to seem like tit-for-tat around here, as startup electric automakers Tesla and Fisker vie for--and get--federal- and state-funded loans and tax concessions to build future electric cars. The latest salvo, mere days after Fisker announced its purchase of a former GM plant in Delaware...
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Coupe To Join Expanded Prius Lineup, Perhaps Even MinivanIt's long been the dream of Toyota's U.S. arm that the company would add additional body styles to the Prius line. And Toyota finally gave the nod to that idea earlier this year. Now, details are starting to emerge on the new models that will join the all-new, third-generation 2010 Toyota Prius...
John Voelcker -
Hide the Children! Porsche Goes Green And Hybrid, Purists BlanchEuropeans have been slow to the game with hybrids, having bet most of their green strategy on highly efficient clean diesels. But they are increasingly hedging their bets, learning to work with electric motors and battery packs. In the sports-car world, aside from startups Fisker and Tesla, no...
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Toyota Prius To Add Coupe In 2011 To Target 2011 Honda CR-ZBuilding on the success of the 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid, which is close to sold out due to worldwide demand, Toyota is planning to add additional body styles to the Prius line. Now, the first details of those cars have emerged, and one new model will apparently be a two-door coupe that targets the...
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There's nothing like a little old-fashioned reporter shoe leather, especially when few other automotive media outlets bother to make the trip. Our colleague Gary Gastelu of Fox News traveled down to Delaware yesterday, to cover the official announcement of Fisker Automotive's $18 million purchase of the former GM plant that build the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky. During a speech extolling the benefits Fisker would bring to his home state, Vice President Joe Biden asked the crowd to “imagine when this factory ... is making 100,000 plug-in hybrid sedan, coupes and crossovers every single...
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Chrysler's Next Hybrid: 2011 Dodge Ram Hybrid Pickup Still On TrackWhile Chrysler was an original partner in development of the Two-Mode Hybrid system used in pickups and sport utilities by Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, as well as upcoming sport utilities from BMW and Mercedes-Benz, its hybrid history has not been happy. The company made fewer than 1,000 Dodge Durango...
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Greenest Car Company, Honda, Goes Greener Yet, Harder and FasterHonda has the highest average fleet mileage of any volume carmaker selling in the U.S. market today. And it's had that distinction for many years. But in the face of the car-market meltdown, oil prices that have risen from $30 to $80 a barrel within months, and growing global environmental...
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2010 Prius Beats 2010 Fusion Hybrid in Detroit News ShowdownEvery so often, we like to take a look at what other reviewers have said about the 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid. So we were excited to hear that the Detroit News, from the bowels of Big Three territory, was doing a hybrid showdown comparison test. The paper rated eight mass-priced hybrids, leaving out...
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Mitsubishi Evo To Go Plug-In Hybrid? World's Tuners Feel FaintWe can't help it. Once in a while, we like to toss in big honkin' performance cars, like the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500. And even screaming smaller tuner sedans, like the 2010 Subaru STi WRC and Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. But now comes news to rock the world: The next generation of the Mitsubishi...
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Here It Is: New 2012 Ford Escape, But Will There Be a Hybrid?The Ford Escape compact sport utility, including its hybrid model, is now long in the tooth or beyond. It was first introduced as a 2001 model, and has been restyled twice. It still sells well, though, and Ford continues to update the hybrid model. Nonetheless, it's overdue for replacement. Now...
John Voelcker