Japan
-
Sometimes you have to run something just 'cause it's goofy. And so it is with today's item, showing the Japanese-market "DecoPrius" concept whose goal is to lure young women's interest back to a product they view as increasingly anti-social: the automobile. In urbanized Japan, cars are far less necessary than in the US. And increasingly, teenage and 20-something Japanese view cars--any cars--with something between disinterest and disgust. They're just not considered even remotely cool, compared to devices like computers, mobile phones, and music players, or pursuits like shopping or travel...
-
VIDEO: Driving The Nissan LEAF Test MuleJust when you thought the Nissan LEAF mania was beginning to subside, the Green Car Advisor team posted this video of a test drive of the LEAF's powertrain. The drive took place at the automaker's track in Oppama, Japan last week. Apparently, GCA's wily auto journalists convinced Fernando Menezes...
Robert Scardino -
Want That 50-MPG 2010 Toyota Prius For $21K? Keep Waiting
Often we get our best topics for posts from AllAboutPrius.com readers. Yesterday, Steven Ileras sent us a note asking about the status of the mysterious Prius I trim level. When we ran down the 2010 Toyota Prius equipment levels and packages (numbered II, III, IV and V) right after introduction, it...
John Voelcker -
Toyota To Build Hybrid Auris In the UK Next Year
Awhile back, we speculated that Toyota's new, smaller-than-Prius hybrid would be based on the Auris Hybrid compact hatchback sold in Europe. We were wrong; in fact, the US will get a hybrid version of the already-high-mileage Toyota Yaris subcompact instead. But the Auris Hybrid is moving along...
John Voelcker -
2010 Toyota Prius Shortages Ahead Due To Global Demand?
Last summer, with $4/gallon gasoline, you couldn't find a Toyota Prius on dealer lots anywhere. Early this year, in the depths of the economic doldrums, US dealers could hardly give away the high-mileage hybrids. Now, once again, the Tsutsumi factory in Japan is cranking out hybrids as fast as it...
John Voelcker -
Honda's Next Two Hybrids Coming Next Year
While the 2010 Honda Insight has gotten a lot of attention lately, it's far from Honda's only hybrid. Now the company has announced that it will put two more hybrid-electric vehicles on sale in Japan next year: the 2011 Honda CR-Z and the 2011 Honda Fit Hybrid. Honda had previously announced both...
John Voelcker -
The people of Japan love their hybrids and the Lexus HS 250h is no exception. The Nikkei reports that Toyota has already taken 1,500 pre-orders in Japan for its upcoming luxury hybrid. This exceeds the automaker's expectations three times over. Not to be outdone, the overwhelmingly popular third generation Prius, which was released in May, has a waiting list eight months long, which should be enough to make any greenie positively jittery. While hybrids gain tremendous ground in Japan, they still only represent a modest share of the market in the U.S. Whereas hybrid versions of the Lexus RX...
-
Nissan Exec Says Investments For Battery Production Will Exceed $1 Billion
Last month Nissan received $1.6 billion in subsidized loans from the U.S. Department of Energy to prepare their plant in Smyrna, Tennessee for the production of electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries. At the Reuters Japan Investment Summit on Wednesday, senior vice president and head of...
Robert Scardino -
Japan Post To Test More Than 40 Electric Vehicles
Japan Post Service Co., (the part of Japan Post Group responsible for mail delivery) is expected to start 5-year lease terms on 40 electric vehicles by the end of July. The company will utilize 20 Mitsubishi MiEVs and 20 Subaru Stellas primarily in Kanagawa Prefecture where some charging...
Robert Scardino -
A Toyota Prius To Die For: The High-Mileage Hybrid Hearse
Sometimes all we can say is that it's a privilege to write for AllAboutPrius.com. It's just never, ever dull around here. Today, for your delight, we bring you the world's highest-mileage hearse, which also happens to have the lowest carbon footprint of any casket-transport device short of the...
John Voelcker -
Mitsubishi's Smash Success Spawns 5 More Electric Vehicles
In less than six weeks, fleet buyers in Japan will start receiving deliveries of the production version of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car. Individual buyers will be able to place orders at the same time, for delivery starting next April. The i-MiEV has turned into a smash success for struggling...
John Voelcker -
Subaru Plans For Cleaner Diesels and Hybrid Models by 2011
Quirky carmaker Subaru sees cleaner diesels and hybrids on the horizon. This week Ikuo Mori, president of Fuji Heavy Industries, (Subaru's parent company) told Japanese reporters that Subaru is developing a cleaner diesel designed to meet 2011 global emissions standards and that he hopes to have a...
Robert Scardino -
Score one for the new Honda Insight; it outsold every other car in its home country last month
-
Rumormill: 370Z Plug-In Hybrid Planned For 2011
We've been following Nissan's plans to offer hybrid versions of Infiniti models for awhile now. If this excites you, the latest rumors out of Japan will make you downright giddy. According to 370Z.com Nissan plans to offer the same hybrid system in the 370Z by 2011. The Z will incorporate a...
Robert Scardino
