Sedans
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Who knew? Turns out Americans just needed a little nudge to visit their car dealers, but the promise of an extra $3,500 or more in incentives was enough to push car buyers over the hump and get them to trade in their clunkers. And how. As we reported Friday on our sister site TheCarConnection.com, the Car Allowance Rebate Systems (CARS) program, usually called "Cash for Clunkers," has been so successful that it may have run through its allocated $1 billion in funds in just one week. That led the US House of Representatives to vote to transfer $2 billion to the CARS program from an energy-loan...
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BMW To Launch Its First Two Hybrids Next MonthLike many European brands that rely on diesels, BMW has been late to the party in introducing electric-drive cars. That's a risky strategy for North America, where it has had to add incentives on diesels and try to tie them to the Cash-for-Clunkers program. Now it's making up for lost time, not...
John Voelcker -
New 2010 Suzuki Kizashi: Suprising Source For AWD Sports SedanNear where we spend our weekends, in the hilly terrain of upstate New York, there are three Subaru dealers. For several years, the largest one has paired strong-selling Subarus with the Suzuki lineup of all-wheel-drive entries and small, relatively green cars. When we got the word about the...
John Voelcker -
Electric-Car Startup Coda Gets More Cash Plus Hank Paulson As AdvisorNow that Tesla isn't the only electric-car startup in town, the news keeps coming. Today's updates are from Coda Automotive, based in Santa Monica, California. We've written before about their 2011 Coda Sedan all-electric car, which will beat Tesla, Nissan, and others to market when it launches...
John Voelcker -
BMW Adds More Cash To Convince You To Buy Their DieselsDespite IRS tax credits and superior gas mileage figures, BMW is reportedly having a tough time selling its new diesels, the 2009 BMW 335d sports sedan and the 2009 BMW X5 xDrive35d (yes, that's really its name). We've thought from the beginning that Volkswagen would be the big winner in selling...
John Voelcker -
2010 Lexus HS250h Pricing Starts at Exactly $35,000The 2010 Lexus HS250h is an interesting beast. We've covered it quite a lot because, among other interesting traits, it pioneers a new market segment: the dedicated luxury hybrid sedan. We did an initial Drive Report and then, more recently, a full review, and now Lexus has completed the last piece...
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We write about a lot of advanced technologies here, including hybrids, diesels, electric cars, and even natural-gas vehicles. But the hard truth is that all of those added together will be only a small fraction of cars sold in the US, even 10 years from now. Most of the green cars of tomorrow will be powered by gasoline, though they will use less of it than before. Within 18 months, both General Motors and Ford will offer us their best global compact contenders: GM will launch the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze next year, followed several months later by the completely redesigned 2012 Ford Focus. We...
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2010 Lexus HS250h Pricing Slots Neatly Above 2010 Toyota PriusFrom our first Drive Report to our recent full review, we've covered the 2010 Lexus HS250h quite a lot here at AllAboutPrius.com. Now the other shoe has dropped: Lexus has released the pricing. And, surprise, surprise, the 2010 HS250h slots very neatly just above the highest-spec model of the 2010...
John Voelcker -
Fisker Stays On Schedule; Plug-In Hybrid Deliveries Start Next MayWhen you think of startup companies planning to build luxury sedans with advanced electric powertrains, one name springs instantly to mind: Tesla Motors. Among the executive battles, government loans, and launch hoopla around the electric 2012 Tesla Model S sports sedan, the company gets rafts of...
John Voelcker -
2010 Lexus HS250h: Your Reference GuideAs we've said before, we cover the 2010 Lexus HS250h hybrid sedan more than any other car on this site--except, of course, the new 2010 Toyota Prius. We've now put up our review of the Lexus HS over on GreenCarReports.com, but we wanted to bring together for our AllAboutPrius.com users everything...
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Review: 2010 Lexus HS250hWhen we first drove the 2010 Lexus HS250h, we were puzzled by it. Neither fish nor fowl, it seemed an uneasy marriage of Lexus lines and luxury with a Toyota Prius-like dedicated hybrid shape and powertrain. We've just spent a four-day weekend with a glossy black 2010 HS250h, the Premium model with...
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First Drive Impressions: 2010 Lexus HS250hWe've devoted more space on AllAboutPrius.com to the 2010 Lexus HS250h hybrid than to most other cars. That's because it can be considered a half-brother to the 2010 Toyota Prius: A fancier, pricier, more powerful sedan sibling to the practical, plain-Jane Prius. Lexus still hasn't released pricing...
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Setting aside our questions about whether the 2010 Lexus HS250h can create a new "luxury hybrid" niche, we spent much of Wednesday driving two of them through the rolling suburban hills of Westchester County, New York. Overall, we think the HS is a bit of a puzzlement, neither fish nor fowl. We're left with the impression it may have been the product of a one-night stand between a 2009 Lexus ES350 midsize luxury sedan and the 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid. We'll be spending a long weekend with a 2010 Lexus HS250h very soon, so we'll have an update on these first impressions then. Meanwhile, here's...
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2010 Lexus HS250h: Right For Our Times Or Not?We've just returned from driving the 2010 Lexus HS250h through the manicured suburbs of New York's Westchester County. We'll post our full impressions tomorrow, following up the first drive of the Lexus HS by our colleague Bengt Halvorson. But at the end of the day, we're left just slightly...
John Voelcker -
Advanced Auto-Tech Loans Go To Tesla, Ford, and NissanUS Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the first three loans to be granted under the government's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. The lucky winners, totaling $8 billion worth of low-interest loans from the US Department of Energy: Ford, Nissan, and Tesla. FORD Amount...
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FIRST RIDE: 2011 Coda Sedan Electric CarIt's not every day that the CEO of a car company takes you for a ride. Especially if it's through the move-it-or-lose-it traffic of midtown Manhattan. In the rain. But Kevin Czinger seemed to enjoy it. We covered the 2011 Coda Sedan all-electric car when it launched three weeks ago. Now we've had a...
John Voelcker -
2010 Toyota Camry Hybrid: Nipped And TuckedUntil this spring, the Toyota Camry Hybrid was the only mass-market, four-door full hybrid sedan sold in the US. Then Ford introduced the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, and reporters have been comparing the two ever since. Perhaps to keep up with a newer, younger, hotter rival, the 2010 Toyota Camry...
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2010 Lexus HS250h Goal: One-Seventh The Sales of 2010 Toyota PriusNow that the 2010 Toyota Prius is available at most Toyota dealers, at least for test drives, we're waiting for its half-brother--the 2010 Lexus HS250h--to appear at Lexus stores around Labor Day. We've wondered for awhile what kind of sales Lexus expected, and now Automotive News reports that the...
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A gas-electric version of Jaguar's big sedan is in the works--and owes something to the Chevrolet Volt.
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Five Questions: Kevin Czinger, CEO, Coda AutomotiveOn Wednesday, we covered the news that Coda Automotive will offer a $45,000 all-electric four-door sedan for sale in California, starting in the autumn of 2010. The car project and the company were formerly part of Miles Automotive, which sells small, slow, plastic neighborhood electric vehicles...
John Voelcker -
2009 Toyota Yaris: 41 MPG Without a Hybrid or Hypermiling!Small, simple, inexpensive cars can return mileage almost as good as a hybrid--and may cost you less overall
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$45K Coda Electric Sedan Will Beat Volt, Tesla, Etc, To MarketThe Chinese-built Coda sedan will arrive in autumn 2010--ahead of the Chevrolet Volt
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Business Week on 2010 Toyota Prius: We Like It. We Really Like It!Reviewer lauds fuel economy, peppy driving, and spacious interior, even if it drives
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Driving the 2010 Lexus HS250h--The Fancier Sibling of the 2010 Toyota PriusIt's fancier, heavier, quicker, and a bit less fuel-efficient, but the 2010 Lexus HS250h shares a lot under the skin with the 2010 Toyota Prius
John Voelcker