Hybrids


Long-Term Thinking: "Cost to Own" mindset grabs hold?

So many things are changing in the new automotive reality, it's hard to know where to start. Everything from the kind of hose we connect to our cars (liquid filled? electric?) to the sounds the vehicles make is different now than it used to be. What else needs to change? How about how we think about the costs to own and operate a car. Naturally, it's always been possible to estimate this cost, but NADAguides.com has just released a "Cost To Own" calculator for new cars, so you can factor in fuel prices in your region into the cost of the ... Read more →

NHTSA study indicates hybrids have higher pedestrian crash rates Jeremy Korzeniewski

A recent study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finds that hybrid vehicles are more likely to be involved in accidents with pedestrians and bicyclists under certain scenarios. ...

Coming Soon: Downloadable ringtones for your silent electric car? Jeremy Korzeniewski

Like to download new ringtones for your phone so that you don't sound like everybody else in the world that opts for the free cell phones from their chosen service provider? The same kind of thing ...

Debate rages over whether to extend HOV-lane exemptions for hybrids in CA Frank Filipponio

Besides the potential feeling of environmental superiority, one of the great benefits to having a hybrid in California has been the availability of a magic little sticker set for a vehicle's rear ...

Mercedes-Benz now shipping the S400 Hybrid to US dealers Sam Abuelsamid

Mercedes-Benz has apparently begun shipping the new S400 BlueHybrid sedan to its US dealer network, as one of our readers spotted one and grabbed a photo of the window sticker. The S400 is ...

China pondering hoarding precious metals used in hybrids and EVs by banning exportation? 3 months ago on Autoblog

Ever hear of neodymium? How about dysprosium or yttrium? Thulium or lutetium? These are just some of the metals that China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is considering either banning the exportation of, or at least severely limiting the amount that it will let leave the ...

STUDY: Despite insurance breaks, hybrids driven more, cost more to fix, and get more tickets 5 months ago on Autoblog

Conventional wisdom is that hybrid vehicles reduce our dependence on foreign oil and emit fewer environment hurting CO2 emissions. When comparing a hybrid to a conventional gasoline-powered model on a mile-by-mile basis, there's some logic to this argument provided the pricing disparity between ...

EDITORIAL: Attention Wall Street Journal - Ford does not use Toyota's hybrid system! 5 months ago on Autoblog

In a recent op-ed piece published in The Wall Street Journal, Alan Reynolds of the Cato Institute starts by making a few decent points about fuel taxation and fuel economy rules. Unfortunately, he undermines himself with some blatant errors and misinformation. In discussing how Detroit ...

REPORT: Japan could require hybrids to emit sound 5 months ago on Autoblog

Now that hybrid cars have taken the top sales spots in Japan for the last few months, that country's Transport Ministry is reportedly launching an investigation to determine whether it's wise to require hybrid automobiles to emit an artificial sound when operating with the internal combustion ...

Lamborghini adding solar power to factory, vows to cut range CO2 35% by 2015 6 months ago on Autoblog

In the grand scheme of things, the facilities and products of Lamborghini don't really amount to a hill of beans. After all, the company only has one main factory that produces a few thousand cars a year. While those cars are high-powered and consume a lot of fuel per mile driven, Lamborghini ...

Study: 20% of all vehicles sold in U.S. to be hybrids by 2020 [w/POLL] 6 months ago on Autoblog

According to a recent study conducted by JPMorgan, hybrid sales are about to take off. Last year, there were some 480,000 total hybrid vehicles sold around the world, which represents less than 1% of global sales. By 2020, though, JPMorgan predicts that 11.28 million hybrids will be sold ...

Hybrids take priority over performance for Toyota in the U.S. 9 months ago on Autoblog

It wasn't that long ago that Toyota stood for more than just reliable, appliance-like transport. With roots that include the delectable 2000GT, the Celica all-trac and three generations of both the Supra and MR2, Toyota had – until recently – carved out a nice niche for itself ...

Hybrid sales slide 9.9% in 2008 10 months ago on Autoblog

Despite all the clamor about how hybrids are going to save the planet, cure cancer, facilitate the second coming, etc., sales of battery-pack-mobiles are down nearly ten percent for 2008. At the beginning of 2008, it looked like hybrids were going to have their best year ever, driven by high fuel ...

No, really: Toyota won't create seperate Prius brand 1 year ago on Autoblog

The idea of a separate brand for the Toyota Prius has gone from "seriously considering" to "not a 'go'" to, now, "Um, no." That's the word from Miguel Fonseca, Toyota's managing director in the UK, who says that there won't be a Prius sub-brand. However, Fonseca did say that the stork would be ...

GM CEO heading to Japan to talk with Toyota, expanding business partnership 1 year ago on Autoblog

var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/business_finance/Toyota_offers_GM_a_helping_hand_the_end_is_near'; According to a report by Japan's Kyodo News, General Motors' chief executive and chairman Rick Wagoner is considering visiting Toyota in Japan to discuss a myriad of issues, ranging from ...

Toyota seriously considering separate Prius brand 1 year ago on Autoblog

This isn't the first time we've heard that Toyota might spin off the Prius as a separate brand much like Scion. But we now have the most concrete news about the automaker's plans we've seen yet. Micheline Maynard of The New York Times talked with James E. Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales ...

Rumormill: Could Lexus become a hybrid-only brand? 1 year ago on Autoblog

This could be Japanese-only news, or just a case of bad translation, but Toyota Managing Officer Toshio Furutani has apparently told Japan's Nikkei Business News that Toyota wants every vehicle in the Lexus product line to offer a hybrid option, and that "in the medium to long term, Toyota was ...

Paris 2008: Honda Insight LIVE REVEAL 1 year ago on Autoblog

The Honda Insight concept took a hushed bow under the lights of Paris today. It's Prius-esque, but in person the car is less evocative of its Toyota challenger. The Insight's width and rather low height give it a substantial presence, and there's a bit of attitude out back with the hatch ...

Spawn of Volt: More details on more variants 1 year ago on Autoblog

GM is not going to let the Volt or its E-Flex powertrain get lonely. The first Volt -- the one due in late 2010 -- hasn't been finished yet, yet is so popular that GM is publicly theorizing about how far it can spread the technology through the empire. Ideas include a smaller car with a smaller ...

Carmakers try different ways to grow green 1 year ago on Autoblog

Now that making cars cleaner and more efficient is a mainstream proposition, the only questions are how each carmaker plans to do it. BMW's Efficient Dynamics has allowed it to lower it's CO2 emissions more than any other automaker. In a show of how seriously all automakers are taking the issue, ...

Inside the Volt, in video 1 year ago on Autoblog

ABC News recently did a segment on the Chevy Volt, calling it "the automotive equivalent of the moon shot." Most of it you've heard before -- GM's in trouble, if the Volt doesn't work then it means more doom, and "industry experts" don't believe the Volt will come out in time. But there was a ...

Used Prius prices higher than new model's 1 year ago on Autoblog

If vehicles could be sainted, stained-glass artists all over the U.S. would be busy figuring out the best colors for the Toyota Prius to shine in. Brand new examples of the motorized mollusk that everyone can't wait to buy spend just five days on dealer lots. Last year's model lasts just fifteen ...

Ferrari cutting CO2 output by 40%, hybrid sports car in the works 1 year ago on Autoblog

Mainstream automakers are faced with the reality of improving the efficiency and cleanliness of everyday vehicles, but companies like Porsche and Lamborghini say drastic change would effect the underlying character of their products. Ferrari apparently doesn't feel the same way, as the exotic ...

Mercedes outlines its "Road to the Future" 1 year ago on Autoblog

Mercedes-Benz has laid out a long Road to the Future, detailing its efforts to create "fuel-efficient and environmentally-sustainable premium automobiles without the need to forgo the characteristic brand features." That's fancy talk for having your German chocolate cake and eating it, too. The ...

Honda's next hybrid could revive Insight name 1 year ago on Autoblog

Click above for high-res gallery of the Honda CR-Z concept First Honda said it was going to press the reset button on its hybrid efforts and come out with something bolder than the Civic Hybrid. Then it laid out plans for a number of hybrids that would be priced considerably more aggressively than ...

Nardelli: Chrysler open to more partnerships 1 year ago on Autoblog

Last month, a major announcement was made regarding an effort between Nissan and Chrysler to share products. Specifically, Nissan will build a small car for Chrysler and receive a large truck in return. It seems as if the Pentastar brand could use some more help when it comes to offering the types ...

The US according to Lutz: ethanol, yes, diesels, not so much 1 year ago on Autoblog

In the fuel economy and future tech debate, the hybrid vs. diesel vs. hydrogen fuel cells vs. smaller cars and smaller engines always provokes a fair bit of discussion among Autoblog commentators. At this point, no one yet knows what's going to win since nobody knows how the volatile mix of ...

Buick LaCrosse Hybrid debuts in China 1 year ago on Autoblog

Click image to enlarge Shanghai GM today introduced the first mainstream hybrid in China's upper-medium vehicle segment: the Buick LaCrosse Eco-Hybrid. The car is part of Shanghai GM's push to earn truly worthy green credentials -- the kind that surpass Chinese requirements and meet European ...

Canada plans new fuel economy standards at least as good as U.S. 1 year ago on Autoblog

Canada's response to America's latest energy legislation and CAFE standards: a resounding "Meh, whatever. Call us when you're serious." The land of the maple leaf has declared that the new U.S. standards simply don't go far enough. Said the nation's transport minister, "We welcome the U.S. goal, but ...

Says Rick Wagoner: Volt might come in 2010... or it might not 1 year ago on Autoblog

Bob Lutz has staked a fair amount of his and GM's reputation on the Volt. Even though he has said since the beginning that the Volt needs battery technology that isn't ready for the mass market yet, he also said that the Volt would go on sale by the end of 2010. Rick Wagoner, though, in a 50-minute ...

Porsche Cayenne Hybrid delayed until at least 2010 1 year ago on Autoblog

Porsche came out swinging at the LA Auto Show with a Cayenne Hybrid it said could do 75 MPH on battery power alone. Now the carmaker isn't sure it wants to fight that fight any more. Speaking of hybrid market share, Porsche's head of distribution said, "The most optimistic forecast still only calls ...

LA 2007 VIDEO: Alan Mulally delivers keynote 2 years ago on Autoblog

A little over a year ago, Alan Mulally's time was spent managing Boeing, and here in LA just 14 months later he's the keynote speaker for at an international auto show. He's a year older, and he also knows a heck of a lot more about cars than he did when he took the helm at Ford Motor Company. In ...

Mixed message: JD Power now reports hybrids will have record year 2 years ago on Autoblog

A couple weeks ago, J.D. Power released its Alternative Powertrain Study, which found that hybrid consideration among new car buyers is slipping, while interest in diesels is growing. Today J.D. Power released its 2007 U.S. Hybrid Vehicle Forecast Second Quarter Update, which projects that hybrid ...

Hyundai and Kia open $58M green tech center 2 years ago on Autoblog

Bolstering their green credentials and commitment to the environment, Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia have teamed up on a $50 million green tech R&D center. The purpose of the facility will be to "accelerate the commercialization of fuel-cell electric vehicles," and it is kitted out with a ...

Hyundai to build new engine plant in U.S. 2 years ago on Autoblog

Hyundai announced today its intention to build a new engine plant in the U.S. at its current lone production facility in Montgomery, Alabama. The new facility will cost Hyundai around $270 million and add an additional 520 jobs to the plant. Engines produced at the new facility, which will break ...

Lotus designs personal commuter for Chinese urban dwellers 2 years ago on Autoblog

UPDATE: The designer of the Camper Lotus, Patty Yuan, has contacted us with some corrections to our original post on her urban commuter. The design is actually her senior thesis project, and is simply a proposal to suggest what such a commuter vehicle might look like if it were designed by the ...

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Autoblog Podcast #157: Mike Levine trucks along with us.

Mike Levine from PickupTrucks.com joins Chris, Sam, and Dan this week and gets a chance to talk about cars, too! 

 
 

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