Minicars
-
UPDATES, April 11, 2012: Since this article was published on March 30, we've received the following updates: This morning, Mission Valley Ford received a truckload of 10 Think City vehicles from the Indiana factory, though most are already spoken for; Sales and service are only available in the San Jose area; Bob Garzee is working on the LA area, but other areas are not supported at this time; The San Jose price is now $22,300, not $22,500; Think is offering a three-year, 36,000-mile warranty; and Cars can potentially be shipped from the Indiana factory to other locations. In retrospect, it...
-
Chevrolet Spark EV Tested In California, Details Unavailable
It used to be that testing prototype and development cars was done in secret, under heavy camouflage, away from photographers. Now it's a public relations ploy, it seems, complete with QR codes on the sides of distinctively marked engineering vehicles and a promotional blog entry. So if you see...
John Voelcker -
Volkswagen up!: Forbidden Fruit First Drive
We've been following the progress of Volkswagen's up! for quite some time. First, we saw the up! Lite concept. Then the up!, a rear-engined minicar. VW then teased some electric up! taxis, before we finally saw the production version - and several more concepts - at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show...
Antony Ingram -
Toyota Teases FT-Bh Minicar Concept Ahead Of Geneva Show
Toyota is on a hybrid roll at the moment, fresh off the launch of both its 2012 Toyota Prius V wagon and 2012 Toyota Prius C subcompact. It's set to show even more hybrids at the upcoming 2012 Geneva Motor Show. As well as the sleek NS4 Plug-in Hybrid Concept, Toyota has teased the FT-Bh, a city...
Antony Ingram -
2013 Smart ForTwo Facelift: Will It Help Sales?
It's hard to believe, but the current Smart ForTwo has been soldiering on in the U.S. North American market for five years now. Mercedes-Benz offshoot Smart has never enjoyed much popularity in the U.S. The concept makes less sense than it does in its native Europe, where gas is more expensive and...
Antony Ingram -
Swiss Catecar Gives Up On Compressed-Air Car, Goes Electric
You may recall that a few years ago, there was a flurry of interest in compressed-air cars. In the end, it didn't pan out. Compressed air just isn't a dense enough form of energy storage to make it practical for vehicle use--even in very lightweight cars--and no such passenger car is sold anywhere...
John Voelcker -
When Smart launched its ForTwo over a decade ago in Europe, the company heavily played the car's ability to park nose-on to a curb, thanks to its short length. Parking a Smart is hardly difficult anyway, but in crowded cities like Paris, Rome or Madrid, every inch helps. Still, that perpendicular parking looks pathetic next to the Hiriko electric car (via The Verge), a prototype vehicle from MIT Media Lab. The Hiriko's party trick is an ability to hinge in the middle, reducing the car from roughly the length of a Smart ForTwo, to around two-thirds that length. You could fit as many as three...
-
Volkswagen Up Five-Door Minicar: Forbidden Fruit
The regular Volkswagen Up minicar, revealed in full at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, is already a favorite "forbidden fruit" of ours. What's not to like? It's a well-built, well-equipped, compact city car with a fuel-efficient gasoline 1.0-liter engine. It's perhaps one of the closest cars in ethos...
Antony Ingram -
How Cheap Is Too Cheap For A Car? Indian Automakers Test The Water
How do you solve a problem like getting a nation of low income people onto the roads? That's the question that Indian carmakers Tata and Bajaj, among others, are trying to answer. Indian automotive mogul and man at the helm of Jaguar Land Rover, Ratan Tata, tried to revolutionize Indian transport...
Antony Ingram -
Indian Maker Bajaj Unveils 94 MPG Rival To Tata Nano Minicar
Living in a country where safe, comfortable and fast cars are often easy to come by, you can forget that some countries aren't quite the same. Take India, for instance. While the $2,400 or so charged for a Tata Nano might raise eyebrows in the U.S, the tiny, narrow body, basic interior and...
Antony Ingram -
2012 Tata Nano: World's Cheapest Car Gets Less Cheap
In theory, designing the world's cheapest car for a market in which millions of people are beginning to earn the sort of money that will let them buy a car is a masterstroke. In practice, it hasn't been quite that easy for Tata with the Nano. Amidst concerns about flaming Tatas and with lower sales...
Antony Ingram -
Video: How To Turn A Scion iQ Into An Aston Martin Cygnet
As well as the BR-Z sports car, Scion buyers in 2012 will be getting their hands on the 2012 Scion iQ, a funky minicar sold in other markets as the Toyota iQ. The iQ variations don't stop there, however. As you might be aware, British luxury car maker Aston Martin has bought the rights to build its...
Antony Ingram -
At first glance, Nissan’s Pivo3 concept from this week’s Tokyo Motor Show looks pretty wild: Seating is staggered, with the driver ahead of two passenger seats; wheel-hub motors provide power; and aggressively configured four-wheel steering that allows the Pivo3 to be turned on a dime—well, a two-meter one.
-
2012 Mitsubishi 'i': Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2012 Nominee
Last year, the only volume battery electric car on sale in the U.S. was the Nissan Leaf. But for 2012, there's a new electric vehicle in town: the 2012 Mitsubishi 'i'. The egg-shaped minicar is Mitsubishi's first plug-in offering, but it's actually been around longer than the Leaf, with tens of...
John Voelcker -
2012 Fiat 500: Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2012 Nominee
GreenCarReports nominates 2012 Fiat 500 as one of the six contenders for its Best Car To Buy 2012 award, given to the car or cars that provide the best and most practical alternatives for car buyers who want to drive green.
John Voelcker -
2013 Chevrolet Spark: Details, Live Photos From L.A. Auto Show
It's the smallest car ever sold as a Chevrolet. It's already a huge hit in India (where it's fitted with a tiny 0.9-liter three-cylinder turbodiesel). And now it's coming to the U.S. At this week's Los Angeles Auto Show media days, the 2013 Chevrolet Spark minicar shared the stage with a Chevrolet...
John Voelcker -
Next Fiat 500 Minicar: Abarth 'Hot Hatch' Sports Version
The 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth model to be launched in November at the 2011 LA Auto Show will be the fastest, best-handling model yet in the growing Fiat 500 minicar line.
John Voelcker -
GM Officially Confirms 2013 Chevy Spark Minicar, Spark EV Electric Version
General Motors has just officially, finally confirmed news that this site has previously reported: The 2013 Chevrolet Spark minicar will be launched in the first half of next year An all-electric Spark EV model will be offered in selected regions of the U.S. and other markets New front-end styling...
John Voelcker -
There are many unusual things about the BMW i3 Concept electric minicar revealed last month, including its glass doors and roof, not to mention BMW's first production battery-electric powertrain. But the BMW i3 is also at the leading edge of another efficiency trend: tall, narrow tires that reduce the vehicle's wind resistance compared to the usual short, wide tires fitted to cars today. Fitting low-rolling-resistance tires to a line's most efficient models is now de rigeur. Over the years, these harder, lower-friction tires have gone through several generations, so that's today's versions...
-
Cheap Fuel Efficiency: Ten 40 MPG Cars For Under $20,000
For many people, the purchase of a fuel efficient car is usually made to save money on driving, as the cost of being a car owner rises further and further. That being the case, why buy an expensive car in the first place, potentially taking years longer to pay off the fuel savings? The good news is...
Antony Ingram -
Gordon Murray Announces New Teewave AR.1 Electric Sports Car
Gordon Murray may need little introduction among gearheads following his work on the McLaren F1 supercar back in the 1990s, but his most recent projects, the T.25 and T.27 minicars, certainly raised a few eyebrows. Sports car fans need not have feared however, as today Gordon Murray Design (GMD)...
Antony Ingram -
Mercedes-Benz Hoping To Revive Smart Brand With TV Ads
Mercedes Benz is hoping a targeted television advertising campaign, accompanied by low-interest financing, is all it will need to reignite U.S. interest in the Smart brand.
Kurt Ernst -
U.S.-Bound 2013 Chevy Spark To Get Design Updates
The Chevy Spark minicar, bound for the U.S. in 2012, will get minor front end changes required to meet U.S. safety standards.
Kurt Ernst -
Is Second Time The Charm For Smart's ForTwo In U.S. Market?
The 2011 Smart ForTwo minicar: Cramped, noisy, slow and unsafe, right? If you answered yes to all those then the new team running Smart USA for Daimler AG is banking on a new educational advertising campaign drawing you in. Smart USA thinks the slide in popularity of the model is down to what the...
Antony Ingram