Syndicate

"Although we loaded the Volt with state-of-the-art safety features, we did not engineer the Volt to be a political punching bag. Sadly, that is what it's become." That's how General Motors CEO Dan Akerson described the furor surrounding the Chevrolet Volt battery fires. A pack demolished in NHTSA...

Ask about green cars and most buyers think only of gas mileage. But there are other ways to make vehicles greener, including the use of renewable materials to replace petroleum-derived synthetic components. For its all-new 2013 Escape crossover, Ford has created door bolsters from a plant called...

Automakers have long known there's a double standard for gas mileage. Cars have to meet higher goals, trucks have less stringent requirements. And the larger the vehicle, the lower the average fuel economy it has to deliver. The proposed fuel economy standards for 2017 through 2025 vehicles...

Ford has released 2013 Escape pricing, "for survey purposes only," on its dedicated Escape microsite.

It's pretty difficult to feel sorry for oil companies. Why should we? They're in control of a resource we all depend upon, one way or another, and can essentially charge whatever they like for it. As a result, they make massive profits every year. Nobody pities the rich guy. But maybe we feel a...

California has always led the nation in mandating reduction of tailpipe emissions and development of low- and zero-emission vehicles. For several years now, states have had the option of adopting stricter California vehicle-emissions regulations or sticking with the national standards. Roughly a...

For some time, German luxury automaker Audi has been one of the few automakers to offer clean diesel cars to the U.S. market. But until Audi announced plans back in March last year to offer diesel-engined options for every new Audi sold in the U.S. by 2015, the only diesel Audis you could buy were...

After a surprisingly perfunctory Detroit Auto Show launch of the 2012 Toyota Prius C small hybrid hatchback, Toyota unveiled an all-new plug-in hybrid concept car, known as the NS4. The company challenged multiple engineering teams to design an all-new mid-size sedan model for the global market in...

Unlike most cars, the current Ford Fusion is selling better now than it has at any time during its eight-year model run. That's a great lead-in for Ford, which is launching the all-new 2013 Ford Fusion at the Detroit Auto Show. With a sleeker design, a choice of three four-cylinder engines, plus...

Next week's Detroit Auto Show promises to be the busiest and most influential in several years. With the auto industry continuing to recover slowly from its 2008 meltdown and Chinese sales rising, both U.S. and overseas automakers will launch new models and show off gleaming concept cars. And green...

In the U.S. market, the vast majority of crossovers and sport-utility vehicles are compact or mid-size vehicles. That's about to change, as Ford continues to launch vehicles that can be sold globally, rather than developing individual cars for specific countries. Today, Ford unveiled its EcoSport...

When was the last time state tax dollars went toward telling you not to do something? Ads against drunk driving, certainly. Perhaps ads against smoking cigarettes. But now, California is embarking on a campaign to persuade its citizens not to change their oil so much. More modern motor oils, better...

While dreams of a "Hydrogen Highway" along the West Coast have languished, the states of Washington and Oregon are moving ahead on plans to make Interstate-5 the first "electric highway" in the nation. Yesterday, a small ground-breaking ceremony took place in the Sehome Village Shopping Center in...

It's a truism of new-car sales: Gas prices go up, buyers focus more on gas mileage. Gas prices go down again, people forget all about fuel efficiency. Well, here's a gentle reminder about why you may want to focus on cars with high EPA ratings for gas mileage. As The New York Times reported, on...

When the U.S. Congress adjourned for the holidays on Friday, December 23, its departure sealed the fate of subsidized ethanol production. During its session, the Congress did not renew a tax break for U.S. production of corn-based ethanol that had become increasingly unpopular across a wide area of...

Yep, it's almost the end of the year, which means reams of roundup stories from all your favorite auto websites. Nope, we're not that different: We've got one too. Here's our take on the five most important stories--or perhaps themes--of 2011 in the growing world of green cars. New fuel economy...

Earlier this year Daimler unveiled the third generation Smart Fortwo Electric Drive at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show. Offering much improved acceleration, range and charging capabilities on the previous generation Smart ForTwo Electric Drive, it has the potential to be the first truly...

The car won't reach Tesla Stores until at least next fall, but Tesla Motors has just released pricing and options for the various trim levels and models of its 2012 Model S all-electric sport sedan. Unlike various other plug-in cars, the base prices of the 2012 Tesla Model S have not risen. They...

The 2012 Chevy Sonic subcompact launched this year to largely favorable reviews, including our own (here and here). For next year, Chevy is upping the ante, with a turbocharged 2013 Sonic RS model that's meant to take the littlest U.S.-built Chevrolet into hot-hatch territory. The Sonic RS will be...

Price increases be damned, the 2012 Fisker Karma is finally here, and first examples are about to arrive in customers' driveways. Earlier in the week we posted our video driving impressions of the new four-door extended-range electric car from startup Fisker Automotive. Now it's time to expand on...