Toyota Prius News
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Today's updates are all about new models from the LA auto show, including new electrics from startup automakers Rivian and Byton, a new all-wheel-drive version of the Toyota Prius, a new Hybrid version of Toyota Corolla, and a fuel-efficient new engine for the Mazda3. All this, plus President Trump responds to GM's announcement that it will kill the Chevy Volt, close 5 plants and lay off 15 percent of its workers. Look for even more today on Green Car Reports. At the LA Auto Show, Detroit-based startup electric automaker Rivian followed up the announcement of its planned new electric pickup...
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Toyota Prius AWD-e earns 50 mpg with all-weather treadsIf you want one of the highest-mileage non-plug-in vehicles on the market—like the Toyota Prius, Hyundai Ioniq, Kia Niro, or Honda Insight, there’s been one quite significant deal-breaker for many Snow Belt families: All-wheel drive simply isn’t a possibility. That’s due to...
Bengt Halvorson -
Commentary: How the media may have punctured plug-in hybrids' balloonPlug-in hybrids can offer most of the environmental benefits of long-range electric cars with less cost for giant batteries or range worries. So why don't they sell better? As our esteemed former editor John Voelcker regularly noted, consumers just don't get them. As he concluded in his post...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla news, VW pricing, electric Harley, and Best Car To Buy: The Week in ReverseWho will fill the role of Tesla's chairman to replace Elon Musk? Which cars made the list of finalists for Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy for 2019? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending Nov. 9, 2018. Toyota teased an...
Eric C. Evarts -
All-wheel-drive Prius, low-priced VWs, expensive Autopilot: Today's Car NewsVW announces that its new electric lineup will be priced as low as gasoline vehicles. Tesla raises prices on Autopilot following a two-week free trial. Toyota hints that it may bring an all-wheel-drive Prius to market. And we look at the best deals for November. All this and more on Green Car...
Eric C. Evarts -
Toyota teases all-wheel-drive Prius for LA auto show debutToyota has teased what is probably an all-wheel-drive Prius, slated for introduction at the Los Angeles auto show late this month. In studying the picture the company teased, with a Prius churning through the snow, it’s hard to come to another conclusion. The automaker says in a...
Bengt Halvorson -
Toyota is launching one of its largest recalls on one of its most popular models—the Prius hybrid. Covering all Toyota Prius and Prius Plug-in models built between June 2015 and May 2018, the recall involves a wiring harness for the car's hybrid power control unit, which can chafe and start a fire, the company told Reuters. The problem surfaced in Japan, where one Prius began smoking, and led to the recall of more than 1 million cars worldwide, 192,000 of which are in the U.S. Affected models were sold in the U.S. as model years 2016-2018. Owners will begin receiving mailed notices this...
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Follow-up: In the end, I bought a Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybridIn an article last fall, I reached out to the GCR readers for a suggestion for what plug-in vehicle I should buy to complement my 84-mile range 2015 Nissan LEAF. The new vehicle, my wife’s car, had to handle a 16-mile daily commute, occasional 300-mile trips to Vermont (a place of few DC fast...
John Briggs -
2018 Toyota Prius Prime, Tesla Model 3 take awards for lowest environmental and social impactRating cars isn't just about acceleration times—or at least it shouldn't be. Unlike other car rating organizations, the Automotive Science Group rates cars according to their life-cycle CO2 emissions, based on a combination of their fuel economy and weight, as a proxy for the materials...
Eric C. Evarts -
Toyota may let mechanics repair faulty recall inverters on older PriusToyota may supply independent mechanics with parts and instructions for repairing, but not replacing, potentially faulty inverters on certain 2014 Prius models, Green Car Reports has learned. According to Automotive Career Development Center founder Craig Van Batenberg, Toyota for the first time...
Aaron Cole -
Jay Leno says Toyota Prius will someday be collectibleCar collectors also gravitate towards car that represented turning points in automotive technology or design, and the Prius does that in spades.
Eric C. Evarts -
2019 Toyota Prius will be restyled to look more like Prime: reportGlobal sales of compact hatchbacks are hardly surging, and fuel economy for all types of vehicles is steadily improving. Even given those factors, though, the fourth-generation Toyota Prius hybrid has had an especially rough road since its launch as a 2016 model. At just 108,661 deliveries across...
John Voelcker -
A funny thing happened to Toyota Prius hybrid sales last month. Almost one in three Prius hybrids sold in the U.S. were the Prius Prime model—the one with a plug. Toyota may be the large automaker least friendly to cars that plug in, so what's that all about? DON'T MISS: Toyota Prius hybrid sales have tanked: here are 4 reasons why In the U.S., sales of the four-car Prius hybrid lineup have tanked since their high in 2012. That year, sales soared to 236,655, still the all-time U.S. record, with not only the well-known Liftback model, but also a new Prius V wagon, a new Prius C...
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Toyota Prius recall in 2014 failed to fix problem, lawsuit says, may have cut mileageEarly in 2014, Toyota filed a voluntary recall notice with the NHTSA to fix a defect in roughly 800,000 third-generation Prius Liftback hybrids sold in the U.S. from 2010 through 2014. The company said it would make unspecified changes to software that controlled the vehicle's inverter, which...
John Voelcker -
Toyota Prius hybrid sales have tanked: here are 4 reasons whyThe Toyota Prius hybrid has been its maker's "halo car" and an example of its most advanced technology for two decades. Launched from an early-1990s project to halve the fuel consumption of a small car, its hybrid-electric powertrain pioneered mass electrification of passenger cars. But the sales...
John Voelcker -
Which plug-in hybrid would you buy today if you had to? Twitter poll resultsThe Chevrolet Volt, now in its second generation, has long been the king of mass-market plug-in hybrids. With 53 miles of battery range, its electric performance is exceeded only by the BMW i3 REx range-extended electric hatchback. But the BMW's starting price is close to $50,000, taking it well...
John Voelcker -
Which plug-in hybrid would you buy today if you had to? Take our Twitter pollThis has been something of a plug-in hybrid month. Last week we got our first drive in the 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid, which we felt was the first affordable car with a range similar to that of the Chevrolet Volt. This week we're driving the 2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid. DON'T MISS: 2018...
John Voelcker -
Will Toyota Prius Prime outsell Chevy Volt this year?Compared to the U.S. sales of, say, full-size pickup trucks, the monthly reports on deliveries of plug-in hybrid and battery-electric cars contain some fairly low numbers. The Ford F-Series routinely sells 80,000 a month or more, while the most any plug-in car has ever sold in the U.S. is about...
John Voelcker -
The huge annual SEMA show for builders and owners of highly customized cars brings out some truly bizarre creations. Only at SEMA will you see vehicles like the one-of-a-kind PriuSRT8, a Toyota Prius with a gas-guzzling V-8 engine under its hood that effectively turns the hybrid's green credentials on its head. The once gas-sipping hatchback underwent enormous amounts of work to fit a 6.2-liter supercharged V-8, sourced from the Dodge Hellcat muscle cars, under its stubby hood. DON'T MISS: Toyota Prius One: stripped-down hybrid added at lower price American Racing Headers carried out the...
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2017 Toyota Prius Prime real-world gas mileage, electric range reviewThe 2017 Toyota Prius Prime is an automotive enigma. It proudly flaunts its eco-friendly credentials, yet its factory-rated 25 miles of electric range simply pales in comparison to the 53 miles advertised by the Chevrolet Volt. I hopped into a Titanium Glow (think beige) 2017 Prius Prime for a...
Andrew Ganz -
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 -
1946 Chevy pickup truck is world's oldest Prius hybrid. Really.There are countless tales of classic cars and trucks receiving new life via parts from a completely different automobile. Whether it's an engine swap, a new platform, or a mix of a few different vehicles, project cars make for some of the greatest stories. This 1946 Chevrolet pickup truck is...
Sean Szymkowski -
How does the heat pump work in a Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid?The challenge of reducing the energy used by traditional heating systems in battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars is one automakers still grapple with today. Reduced battery range in cold temperatures, combined with batteries working overtime to heat the cabin, can produce drastic declines in...
Sean Szymkowski -
Toyota Prius One: stripped-down hybrid added at lower priceIt hasn't been the greatest of years for the Toyota Prius hybrid, the Japanese carmaker's flagship product. The fourth generation hybrid hatchback debuted as a 2016 model into the teeth of continued low gasoline prices, and its radical design language apparently turned off at least some potential...
John Voelcker