Hybrids
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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 to full production now moved up to September from the end of the year, the company says that sales of its crucial Prius hybrid will be better than ever for 2012. So if you're planning on buying a Prius, wait a few months and you'll have no problem. Right now, today, though? Maybe not so good. The...
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After 11 Years, Two-Millionth Hybrid Car Sold In United States
Sometime early last week, someone somewhere in the U.S. bought a hybrid car. And while we may never know exactly who that person was, the car was the 2-millionth hybrid-electric vehicle sold here since the very first Honda Insight went on sale in late 1999. Industry trade journal Ward's Auto...
John Voelcker -
BREAKING: Chevrolet 2012 Volt $1,005 Cheaper, More Options
Want to buy a Chevrolet Volt but missed out on getting a 2011 model? Don’t worry. Next year’s car will offer more options and a lower sticker price, Chevrolet revealed today. Unlike Nissan, which was forced to raise the price of its 2011 Nissan Leaf in Europe shortly before it went on...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Ford Takes on Volt, Plug-in Prius With 2013 C-Max Energi
If you wanted a plug-in hybrid electric car a few years ago the only choices available were a handful of expensive third-party plug-in hybrid conversions or to build your own. By the start of 2011 Chevrolet was offering the first commercial plug-in hybrid in the form of its 2011 Volt. Next year...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Ford's Gas Mileage Goals Spawn 3-Cylinder Engine, New Hybrids
Smaller, more efficient engines that equal the power of larger, lazier ones are how automakers all over the world plan to raise fuel economy. Today Ford [NYSE:F] doubled down on engineering as the best way to boost gas mileage, with announcements about three separate technologies it plans to use in...
John Voelcker -
Flywheel KERS Boosts Gas Mileage By 20 Percent, Volvo Says
It's interesting to see the variations among green technologies as automakers, both in production cars and motorsports, strive for greater fuel efficiency and reduced emissions. The most common means for automakers to boost gas mileage thus far have been hybrid-electric technology and turbodiesel...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
If you plan to shop for a new car this year, there will be a range of plug-in hybrids and EVs competing for your attention. But according to a new survey, only about 30% of you feel comfortable considering them -- and some of you are downright offended by their presence. The news comes from consulting firm (and former Tiger Woods employer) Accenture, which recently issued a report entitled, Plug-in electric vehicles: Changing perceptions, hedging bets. It's a compilation of several thousand surveys conducted with consumers around the world, gauging their understanding of electric vehicles and...
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Behind The Wheel: 2012 Toyota Prius V Station Wagon (Video)
Sometimes we get nicely produced video, and sometimes we get our codriver to shoot it on the fly. For the 2012 Toyota Prius V station wagon we drove last week, it was very much a case of the latter--complete with a mutli-tone "bong" interruption from the Toyota Entune system. Our one-minute video...
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 -
Hybrid Hot Rods: Lexus CT 200h 'Ring Racer, Mugen Honda CR-Z Hardly Dull
Hybrid cars, often defined in the public eye by the distinctive shape of the Toyota Prius, are frequently derided as dull and no fun to drive. While the Tesla Roadster smashed the stereotype of plug-in electric cars as slow and dorky, hybrids haven't been as lucky. So here are a couple of hybrid...
John Voelcker -
2012 Honda Civic Hybrid: 44-MPG Compact's High Points (Video)
The largest single model launch at the New York Auto Show two weeks ago was the 2012 Honda Civic line, with five separate models, new styling, and better fuel economy. The highest gas mileage in the entire lineup comes from the 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid. Honda projects it will achieve 44 mpg for each...
John Voelcker -
2012 Porsche Panamera S Hybrid With 111-Year-Old Ancestor (VIDEO)
Did you hear? Last night, Porsche showed a series hybrid vehicle (analagous to the Chevy Volt) with a radically different design from any of its latest line of hybrids. Its pair of 1.7-liter single-cylinder engines powers a generator that flows electric power to a pair of front wheel motors, each...
John Voelcker -
Suzuki has had a rough time of it lately, with its only new product being the well-received but still low-volume Kizashi sports sedan, halfway between a compact and a midsize car. But for this week's 2011 New York Auto Show, they're display a couple of Kizashi concepts that point toward what the company would like to do with its sporty car. First-ever hybrid In addition to a turbocharged version--previewed by the Kizashi Apex Concept--Suzuki introduced the Kizashi EcoCharge Concept, its first-ever hybrid-electric vehicle. The Kizashi EcoCharge Concept pairs a 144-horsepower 2.0-liter...
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Attention, Shoppers: Infiniti QX56s, Diesels Are NOT Hybrids
It will come as a horrible shock to the driver of the pale green Infiniti QX56, but the 2-ton-plus full-size sport utility vehicle is not actually a hybrid. Nor, for that matter, is a Volkswagen Passat TDI--though it at least has a diesel engine, which gives higher gas mileage than the QX56's...
John Voelcker -
Survey: Consumers Growing Greener -- And They'll Shell Out The Green To Prove It
With gas prices barreling toward $4 per gallon, there's lots of talk on the evening news about consumers shopping for fuel-efficient cars. In fact, many theorists see $4 as the tipping point at which car buyers prioritize fuel economy above all other criteria. But a new survey indicates that people...
Richard Read -
U.S. Toyota Prius Sales Top One-Million Mark
Toyota announced today that it's sold more than one million of its Toyota Prius hybrid vehicles. The Prius went on sale in the U.S. market nearly eleven years ago, and while it wasn't the first hybrid on sale here—that title would go to the original Honda Insight two-seater—it has...
Bengt Halvorson -
Putin Test Drives Prokhorov's Russian Hybrid: Video
A three-mile, highly publicized test drive of Mikhail Prokhorov's ë-mobile (say, "yo-mobile") natural-gas hybrid car is the big car news out of Russia this week. Given Putin's previous spin in a Renault F1 car, hopping behind the wheel of the funky-looking economy car is a definite change of...
Nelson Ireson -
Can Urine Rescue Hydrogen-Powered Cars?
It's been a rough couple of years for cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells. As the drums beat louder for electric cars--the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, Nissan's upcoming EV, and more--the hydrogen chorus is waning. But perhaps there's hope. And perhaps it's as close as your nearest urinal. Or, more...
John Voelcker -
When Lincoln launched its 2011 MKZ Hybrid model at the New York Auto Show last spring, the car was less remarkable than its price of $35,180. The number was a surprise because it was the same price as the only other engine option for the MKZ, a 3.5-liter V-6. So what do we know about the two models' sales since the Hybrid's October launch? According to Ford, the MKZ Hybrid is outselling the company's internal projections. With more than one in five 2011 MKZ models leaving dealership lots with the hybrid option, that's a substantial rise on Lincoln's internal projections of 15 percent of the...
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Toyota Total For Hybrid Vehicles Passes 3 Million & Counting
Late last month, Toyota announced that it had delivered its 3-millionth hybrid-electric vehicle, with 3.03 million sold as of February 28. Of that total, almost 2.2 million were the company's dedicated hybrid Prius model, now in its third generation. The 1997 Toyota Prius four-door sedan was one of...
John Voelcker -
Now, You Can Like Ford's Electric Vehicles On Facebook (But Will You Like Them In Real Life?)
Ford has been burning the midnight oil for several years now, and its hard work is paying off. The automaker's One Ford philosophy has resulted in a slimmer product lineup, two fewer brands, and a healthy bottom line. Ford also boasts a much spiffier brand image among shoppers these days, thanks in...
Richard Read -
Do Battery-Pack Failures Reduce the Life of Hybrid Cars? A Reader Asks
Our reader Jonathan P asks: I have a 1997 Saturn that, remarkably, is still running. It probably has the book value of a large watermelon, so if anything major goes wrong with it, that's the end of that. If that Saturn were a hybrid, I'm guessing the battery pack would have died about four years...
John Voelcker -
2012 Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid Preview Gallery, Animation
This morning we brought you the first exclusive live images and official details on the production version of the 2012 Volvo V60, and now we have the official gallery and animation demonstrating how the car's hybrid system works. Promising 124 mpg in hybrid mode and all-electric range of 30 miles...
Nelson Ireson -
Green Can Be Cool: Customized 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid Show Car
Slowly, ever so slowly, the image of green cars is expanding beyond tiny tin-box hatchbacks and nerdy Toyota Prius hybrids to encompass a broader spectrum of the car scene. Take, for instance, this 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid show car, customized by Jonathan Garcia of M&J Enterprises in Phillips...
John Voelcker