Japanese
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The Japanese-market version of the 2014 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid gets a few cosmetic changes and improved spot welds.
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TommyKaira Electric Sports Car Light, Fast, Definitely Not A Lotus
The Lotus Elise isn't typical Green Car Reports material, but its aluminum chassis certainly is. The lightweight, strong, bonded structure has gone on to underpin the Tesla Roadster, Detroit Electric SP:01, PG Elektrus, Nemesis and more--all exciting electric-powered sports cars. But not all...
Antony Ingram -
Half Of Japan Now Drives High MPG, Low Power Kei Minicars
If there's one thing that illustrates the culture difference between the United States and Japan better than anything else, it's the cars everyone drives. In the U.S, the Ford F-Series truck has dominated the sales charts for quarter of a century. The smallest engine available is a 3.5-liter...
Antony Ingram -
Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami Delay 2011 Leaf Production (UPDATED)
Nissan has announced that as a consequence of Friday's devastating 9.0 earthquake and Tsunami in Japan production at all of its factories will remain halted until it has fully assessed the damage sustained to its factories, equipment and parts suppliers. Although Nissan's factories have been spared...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Electronics Stores: The Future Electric Car Showroom?
Are electric cars appliances? They plug in, use electricity and certainly have more computers in them than most consumers have in their entire home. But should they be sold in conventional car dealerships or somewhere else? Japanese retail chain Yamada Denki has tried to answer both questions, by...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
If EVs Kill Japan's Autopart Shops, Is The U.S. Far Behind?
Shop owners in the sprawling Japanese industrial town of Hamamatsu are worried: They see a future where their day jobs are under threat, and even worse, by the very companies they are in business to support. What is this great thread? Globalisation? Copyright infringement? Neither - their business...
Antony Ingram -
We love cars here at AllCarsElectric, but sometimes there's nothing better than heading out of the cities and away from civilization to enjoy all that nature has to offer. The last thing we'd want when we got there would be to find our favorite retreat filled with motor vehicles and the fumes they emit breaking the silence and masking the fresh air. Especially if we'd retreated to a secluded little island listed as a United Nations world heritage site. We're sure Nissan would agree, and that's why the Japanese island of Yakushima in the East China Sea, home to cedar trees of more than 2,000...
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What Range Anxiety? Daihatsu EV Does 623 Miles On One Charge
Last October, Simon Hackett and Emilis Prelgauskas set a new distance record for a production battery-powered vehicle: a hugely impressive 313 miles in a 2008 Tesla Roadster. That's around 70 miles more than the EPA's rated range for the world's best -known EV. Unfortunately for them, not even a...
Antony Ingram -
2010 Nissan Leaf Hits Japanese Sales Goals, 60% of Pre-orders from Baby Boomers
Nissan announced this morning that Japanese pre-order sales for its 2011 Leaf electric car have enabled the company to meet its fiscal 2010 domestic sales target before the car even hits the showrooms. The fully electric hatchback will be sold in Japan later this year at a cost of ¥3.76 million...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Toyota Dealers to Give Away 2010 Prius at Chicago Auto Show
As widely reported yesterday, Toyota has suspended sales of 8 models due to a faulty accelerator pedal mechanism. The defective part apparently causes the pedal to stick, resulting in unintended acceleration and loss of control of the vehicle. So what does a Chicagoland Toyota dealership do when...
Robert Scardino -
Nissan Putting its Stamp on EVs (Or Rather, its EVs on Stamps)
Customers served by the Japan Post Network's Minami Kanto office will be able to spread enthusiasm for electric vehicles with a unique set of stamps starting in February. The delivery company has partnered with Nissan to offer a new collection entitled "Nissan Electric Vehicle History." Believe it...
Robert Scardino -
Tommy Kaira Mods Toyota Prius
Japanese tuning firm, Tommy Kaira, has released a modified Toyota Prius that actually looks like it would be fun to drive. Unfortunately, it appears that the modifications are mostly visual, so if you were dreaming of a faster gas sipper, dream on. The pimped-out Prius certainly looks meaner, with...
Robert Scardino -
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...
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Honda Insight Gets Low
The Japanese tuners at "Exclusive Zeus" may have unlocked some hidden potential in the Honda Insight. Just when you thought the new Toyota Prius had delivered the knockout blow to Honda's poorly selling hybrid, someone got the wild idea to turn the Insight into the world's first hybrid low-rider...
Robert Scardino -
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 -
Toyota To Produce Up To 30,000 Plug-In Hybrids In 2012
The Nikkei Business Daily has reported that Toyota plans to produce between 20,000 and 30,000 plug-in hybrids in 2012. The Japanese automaker has already committed to leasing 500 plug-ins for government and corporate use by the end of this year. The plan is hardly a surprise. While traditional...
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 -
Behind the Prius Scenes: How They Made The Harmony Commercial
The first TV commercial for the 2010 Toyota Prius took hundreds of extras and a huge amount of computer graphics
John Voelcker -
Nissan's redheaded stepchild of the Scion xB, called the Cube, will be at the test ride section of the Kanagawa Electric Vehicle Festa this weekend, in EV prototype form. This will give the general public an opportunity to experience the car first hand for the first time. The prototype is front wheel drive and it's powered by a new 80 kW electric motor. Compact lithium-ion batteries under the floor store the power for the little car. Although Nissan has publicly committed to a production ready EV by 2010, that vehicle will not be the EV Cube. Nissan says that the real thing will have its...
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Infiniti Essence: Hybrid Concept with Sex Appeal
We're suckers for fast hybrids even if they'll never make it to production. That's exactly what Infiniti Europe has on display at the Geneva Motor Show with the Essence Concept. It's a 592-horsepower rear-wheel drive, gasoline/electric hybrid coupe and its curves should make Beyoncé jealous...
Robert Scardino