Green Car News
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Today, we've got new details on Mazda's 2020 electric car, a deal for Prius owners on a Hyundai hybrid, a longer list of green-car deals for the month, and a significant new report on why smaller turbocharged engines don't deliver what they promise. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We've finally got prices for the 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf; it will start just over $31,000, and delivers a 125-mile EPA range rating. A new report suggests that increasingly complex engines get better fuel-economy ratings, but don't deliver for drivers in real-world use. Remember this weekend's story on China...
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Toyota Prius owners: Hyundai will give you $1,000 to buy an Ioniq HybridThe Toyota Prius is undoubtedly the world's best-known hybrid car, and it's now been in production over four generations for more than 20 years. There have been more than 6 million Priuses built so far, and the U.S. represents the car's largest single market. That means lots of current Prius...
John Voelcker -
2020 Mazda electric car to share Toyota underpinnings, technologyMazda is a tiny carmaker on a global scale, producing just 1.6 million vehicles a year. It competes with four companies (GM, Nissan-Renault, Toyota, and VW Group) that each sell around 10 million a year, as well as numerous other smaller makers still larger than Mazda. In a world where reducing the...
John Voelcker -
Best deals on hybrid, electric, fuel-efficient cars for September 2017Another month has gone by, which means it's time for another round of superb deals for hybrid, electric, and fuel-efficient cars. For September, many of last month's cars hold their place on the list, though incentives have gotten better for some of them. As always, offers listed here reflect the...
Sean Szymkowski -
India actually beat China to all-electric new-car pledge, targets 2030China made headlines around the world on Sunday when state media reported that the country is developing a timetable to end production and sales of new vehicles with gasoline engines. While Norway, The Netherlands, France, and the U.K. have adopted different timetables for various versions of such...
John Voelcker -
Complex engine tech gets better ratings, does little in real world: reportLately, automakers haven't been touting the rising fuel economy of new vehicles, but it has to continue rising to meet reductions in the legal levels of carbon emitted. While major strides in fuel economy have been made over the past five years, the complex engine technologies and other...
Sean Szymkowski -
The 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf gets several notable updates, including a larger battery pack and more powerful electric motor.
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Frankfurt electric cars, Tesla Autopilot crash, plug-in hybrid Ford van, anxious Germans? Today's Car NewsToday, we continue our coverage of all the electric concepts and production cars at the IAA Frankfurt auto show, we read through the NTSB report on a Tesla Autopilot fatality, we consider how desperate German carmakers may be, and we ask your opinion on the fate of CAFE standards. All this and more...
John Voelcker -
Fatal Tesla Autopilot crash: 'system safeguards lacking,' says NTSBThe Florida crash that killed the driver of a Tesla Model S while that car was operating under Autopilot software reverberated far and wide in global media. While human drivers are imperfect, with reaction times limited by millions of years of evolution, they at least provide a focus for blame if...
John Voelcker -
Latest Tesla referral programs draw new CA dealer lobby complaintTesla has once again ruffled the feathers of the California New Car Dealers Association with a new round of referral programs. The Silicon Valley automaker has used referral programs for years; they usually provide perks for current owners who get friends, coworkers, and colleagues to buy a new...
Sean Szymkowski -
Ford Transit van with range-extended electric powertrain revealedAs European countries continue to crack down on emissions from road vehicles, automakers are stepping up with solutions to reduce levels of smog-causing nitrogen oxides, especially in city centers. Ford identified the commercial vehicle segment as one it believes is ripe for electrification, and...
Sean Szymkowski -
Do Frankfurt's electric cars cover German desperation over diesel decline?This year's Frankfurt motor show was big, busy, and full of new concepts and production cars spanning the gamut from small electric cars to exotic supercars with prices in the millions. Every German maker showed one or more electric or electrified concepts, and renewed talk of driving on...
John Voelcker -
If there were a favorite car among journalists and car fans at this week's Frankfurt motor show, it may have been a small, all-electric hatchback city car. Which is pretty remarkable, given the practical, unexciting, utilitarian, slightly nerdy image every non-Tesla electric car seems to carry among that group even today. The car in question is the Honda Urban EV Concept, a reincarnated version of the Japanese maker's beloved old City hatchback, with an up-to-date electric powertrain. DON'T MISS: 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid rated at 47 miles of range Like Toyota, Honda continues to...
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What will happen to US fuel-economy rules to 2025? Take our Twitter pollEven the automaker lobbying group didn't go this far in their complaints about emission and fuel-economy rules for vehicles in the 2022 through 2025 model years. When the Obama Administration approved final EPA emission rules for those years, the automakers complained that the comment period had...
John Voelcker -
Mini Electric Concept revealed in Frankfurt auto show debut (updated)We've known since last July that an all-electric Mini Cooper will go into production in 2019. Now, we can see the first renderings of the car that will make its official debut at the Frankfurt auto show in two weeks. The Mini Electric Concept is recognizable as the three-door hardtop version of the...
John Voelcker -
Electric E-Type Zero, Frankfurt EV concepts, Jaguar I-Pace races, who's electrified now? Today's Car NewsToday, it's all about media days at the Frankfurt motor show. We've got concepts and production cars from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen, a new EV racing series from Jaguar, and even an electric conversion of the sexiest car ever built. All this and more on Green Car Reports. The Mercedes-Benz...
John Voelcker -
Who's going all-electrified? Volvo, then Jaguar Land Rover, now Lincoln: reportAs the auto industry intensifies its embrace of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, announcements of "all-electrified" product lines continue to roll in. First, Volvo made a splash with its announcement saying that all models launched from 2019 onwards would be electrified in some manner. The...
Sean Szymkowski -
Formula E races to add Jaguar I-Pace electric-car race seriesMedia days at this week's Frankfurt motor show seemed to be all about electric cars and concepts, from mass-market brands like Volkswagen to luxury makers like Mercedes. Jaguar Land Rover, however, was able to get its own share of press by announcing that its upcoming electric car would go racing...
John Voelcker -
Predicting the future is always hazardous, but for the auto industry, this is a particularly uncertain time. Four trends—electrification, connectivity, autonomy, and sharing—are coming together in a whirlwind that could rearrange the industry and its businesses within a decade or two. That's a relatively short timeframe in an industry that spends $1 billion per platform and plans its products for seven-year lives. DON'T MISS: How important will plug-in hybrids be in 2025? Poll results The relatively rapid growth expected for plug-in electric cars, in particular, has combined with...
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Volkswagen ID Crozz electric crossover concept updated at Frankfurt showGermany's giant VW Group has said, several times, that it will have 30 different electric cars on sale globally by 2025. Over the last year, it's unveiled three different Volkswagen ID electric-car concepts, two of them thinly disguised versions of future production models for 2019 and 2020. Now...
John Voelcker -
Mercedes-Benz GLC F-Cell EQ Power plug-in hydrogen crossover launches at FrankfurtIt's a plug-in hybrid crossover, but it doesn't have an engine. It's a hydrogen fuel-cell SUV, but it has a feature no other hydrogen-powered car offers. It's the Mercedes-Benz GLC F-Cell EQ Power, launched Tuesday at the Frankfurt motor show. DON'T MISS: Mercedes-Benz GLC to offer world's first...
John Voelcker -
World's sexiest car, Jaguar E-Type, reappears as all-electric conceptElectric cars are now accepted as future volume models for most automakers, but Jaguar Land Rover has taken a very different approach to showcase its future electric powertrains. In fact, it's not a concept for a car of the future at all, but a half-century-old Jaguar E-Type fitted with the most...
Sean Szymkowski -
BMW i Vision Dynamics Concept previews all-electric four-door sedanIf concept cars are meant to grab attention, then the BMW i Vision Dynamics Concept—an all-electric sedan that debuted Tuesday at the Frankfurt motor show—may have fulfilled its mission. With the huge, vertical twin-kidney BMW grille also seen on the BMW X7 SUV concept, the smaller...
John Voelcker -
Mercedes-Benz Concept EQA small electric hatchback debuts in FrankfurtFollowing various teaser images, the Mercedes-Benz EQA concept for a compact all-electric hatchback made its debut on Tuesday at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show. It's a preview of what will become a volume production car around 2020, competing against numerous 200-mile hatchbacks of the same size...
John Voelcker