Luxury Cars

Electric cars are getting blinged out. We’ve written before about how major automakers like Nissan, Ford and GM are plowing forth with electric car and hybrid offerings. Nissan, in particular, wants to grab 20 percent of the global electric cars market. But luxury automakers are getting into...

Silent cruising in a seemingly impregnable fortress of fine leather, sensuous wood, and hand-built steel and glass is the ultimate goal of hyper-luxury brands like Rolls-Royce. Which means it's not too surprising that the automaker has confirmed the development of an all-electric version of its...

Think "hybrid" and what comes to mind? Small or midsize, sometimes odd-driving Toyotas? There's now actually a raft of low-volume hybrid luxury and sports sedans from such makers as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus, and now Infiniti. The 2012 Infiniti M35h Hybrid was officially unveiled at last fall's...

While the styling of Buick’s new compact sedan has been known for some time now (a version of the car was unveiled last year in China as the Excelle GT), we finally get a look at the North American model, which will be making its official debut next week at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show. Set to...

All kinds of green cars are eligible for tax breaks, but the 2011 Porsche Cayenne Hybrid could be one of the most expensive vehicles ever to get the IRS' nod of approval. The Cayenne S Hybrid earns its buyers up to $1,800 in federal tax credits, the automaker says, making it the first Porsche ever...

With electricity not always generated through renewable methods, it can be hard to claim that an EV is truly zero-emissions. It's generally accepted that you aren't pumping any gasses out the back as you drive along, though. Well, the car shouldn't be anyway... Despite this, electric vehicle...

It's been almost three weeks since we published a Tesla story. We trust that means that the Silicon Valley electric-vehicle startup is working away feverishly on the designs, engineering, production plans, and manufacturing site for its Model S four-door sports sedan, which it is still promising...

It was so much easier just a few short years ago. Luxury cars wafted and sports machines roared, with nary a thought to gasoline consumed. Hybrids were for weenies, and everyone knew their place. But now? A hybrid Ferrari, a hybrid Porsche race car, an electric BMW ... what is the world coming to?...

It's easy to forget that BMW have already produced two EVs - the 2009 MINI-E, which is undergoing trials in the U.S. and elsewhere in the hands of individuals, and the 2009 ActiveE concept based on their 1-Series Coupe. BMW are busy working away on another EV though, one that will wear the famous...

One of the criticisms of hybrid cars has historically been that there's no payback, especially given the cheap gasoline prices in the U.S. The extra money you spend on a hybrid isn't returned in gas savings, say critics. Well, that may be true, especially when regular gasoline is averaging $2.77 a...

Sometimes, we get the most amazing stuff in our e-mail. Most spy shots show up on our sister site, MotorAuthority.com, but once in a while, sometimes they come directly to us here in green-car-land. Which is how we ended up with these spy shots, taken by a reader on his mobile phone while walking...

Ask most consumers to describe an electric car and the chances are they will talk about the Tesla, the 2011 Nissan Leaf, maybe the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. They almost surely won't think of the large, luxurious, and expensive Range Rover. They may talk about how expensive EVs are. And unless they're...

Remember the bright yellow Mercedes SLS AMG E-Cell prototype we wrote about back in June? Equipped with a four-motor, all-wheel-drive system the SLS AMG E-Cell is capable of putting out more than 525 horsepower onto the road and packs electric supercar performance into the iconic gullwing body. As...

The ink's barely dry on the Tesla - Toyota deal that gives the startup electric-car maker a new manufacturing home. But today, Tesla's going public with some details on how it plans to use the former NUMMI facility in Fremont, California, to build its mainstream 2012 Tesla Model S sedan. The former...

With the impending death of the Mercury Milan Hybrid, there's just one luxury sedan that gets the EPA's top fuel economy ranking for the 2011 model year--and that would be the Milan's surviving sister, the 2011 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid. While it waits patiently for an on-sale date this fall, the MKZ...

Continuing to diversify the green powertrain options it offers to buyers, Mercedes-Benz will add a clean-diesel model to its largest sedan line, the S-Class. The new 2011 Mercedes-Benz S350 BlueTEC sedan joins this year's S400 Hybrid, which adds a mild hybrid system with a 15-kilowatt electric...

The surprise partnership between Tesla Motors and Toyota announced two weeks ago generated a lot of head-scratching. The big question is, What does Toyota get out of the deal? It's easy to see what Tesla gets: more capital (Toyota will invest $50 million in Tesla just before its planned public...

The Cayenne S Hybrid is an off-road capable model that can hold its own on the track and yet return well over 20 mpg on the street.

The list of cars offered to U.S. buyers in gasoline, diesel, and hybrid models is going to get longer. On the heels of its confirmation that the 2012 BMW 5-Series will be offered with a full hybrid system, the company has also confirmed it'll sell a clean diesel version of the new 5-Series in the...

You may recall that last month, we raised our eyebrows and scratched our head over the latest Lexus ad campaign, "The Darker Side of Green." The tagline, first unveiled at the 2010 New York Auto Show, turned out to be a teaser for the upcoming and unusual latest Lexus model, the 2011 CT 200h hybrid...