We knew the auto industry was in bad shape and it didn't take long to extend its poisoned-tipped tentacles into the world's automotive juggernaut. In August came news that the Japanese automaker had cut its sales forecast for 2008 from 10.4 million vehicles to 9.7 million. A Japanese newspaper, though, says it expects Toyota to only sell 8.3 million for the year. If true, it would be the company's first year o
Simply put, the U.S. economy is in the crapper. Stocks are yoyoing and our mortgages are a fraction of what they were even a year ago. For all that's fiscally wrong here in the States, there is one pleasant side effect: the price of a barrel of oil is dropping faster than Kimbo Slice against a two bit hack. Oil dropped 6% in trading on Monday, bringing down the price of a barrel of crude to $87.81. Black Gold has been on a Chris Shunk
Click above for a high-res gallery of the Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart
Kia's will have at least two new tricks at the Paris Motor Show, one of them being the Kia Soul. The other will be a Kia cee'd gas-electric hybrid. Already available in coupe, 5-door hatch, and Jonathon Ramsey
With American drivers nervously eying $4 gallons of gas, another group of people is getting that sinking feeling in the stomach as well: car dealers. Automotive News (subs req'd) says that Chrysler co-President Jim Press set the stage for 2008 car sales by saying, "This year is going to be a pretty severe year."
Perhaps this story has more to do with the proliferation of the Internet than it does about green car trends, but here we go anyway. We all know that you can check fueleconomy.gov to find out what the fuel mileage of current and past cars is or was. Anybody who carries an internet-capable cell phone in their pockets also knows that navigating site
The economy appears to be swooning, and before we land softly (or crash hard), company's have begun to circle their wagons and reduce unnecessary spending. This often translates directly into reducing advertising budgets. It's tough for an automaker to skimp on engineering and we've all seen what happens when beancounters design an interior. Advertising, however, is low-hanging budgetary fruit. Hyundai's concern over the U.S. economy is a motivating factor in the automaker's move to reconsider i
Detroit's sharp intake of breath over the very real possibility of increased federal fuel economy standards apparently doesn't include Chrysler's voice. CEO Robert Nardelli has told The Car Connection that rather than waste lots of time and energy opposing the likely increase to a 35 mpg fleet average, Chrysler will put its head down and get it done. Attaining the goal will not be without pain, however. Cuts will be made, and the books are still in the red.
A Senate panel has approved a plan to increase CAFE standards to 35 mpg by 2020, with a 4% increase every year until 2030. That's almost 40% higher than today's standard for cars, which is 27.5 mpg . Currently, vans and trucks must get at least 22.2 mpg.
Over the last few years fuel prices, and by extension vehicle economy, have come into focus as a major factor for a lot of household's budgets. Think about for a moment what percentage of your weekly budget disappears into the tank. Now, would you like some of that back? Its easier than you think if you follow some simple rules that don't include driving everywhere at 30 mph.
In a move similar to London's push to charge for parking on a sliding scale related to vehicle emissions, employees at BP's Alternative Energy facility in Houston receive free parking if they drive the very greenest vehicles. BP pays for its employees parking based on their vehicle's emission l
Alternative-fuel engines of different sorts all suffer from one major drawback or another: poor range, hard-to-find filling stations, high cost, poor performance. EEStore is out to change all that with a revolutionary new kind of "battery". We put "battery" in quotation marks because the unit doesn't store power in a chemical capsule like a conventional battery, but instead uses some kind of glass- and aluminum-coated ceramics. The inventors are understandably tight
Just as Americans continue to get fatter, so do our cars. According to the EPA, the average weight of a new vehicle in 2006 is a whopping 4,142 lbs - that's up a quarter-ton from ten years ago, and is the heaviest yet since the EPA began tracking the statistic in 1975. Not only does weight hurt fuel economy, but it also drags down performance. Adding additional horsepower is easy nowadays, but that of course hits economy a second time. The end result is that fuel ec
