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LA Preview: Lexus Gets Serious About LF-Ch Hybrid for North America With Showing in Los Angeles
After initially announcing that the production version of the LF-Ch hybrid hatchback concept would be offered exclusively in Europe, Lexus has hinted that it may bring the model to other markets including North America. After creating a feedback page for the car on its website, Lexus has now made the biggest move towards an acknowledgment…
Report: Mercedes Launches Lease-Only ML450 Hybrid
Mercedes has just announced announced the ML450 Hybrid 4MATIC model is ready for purchase… sort of. The first complete product to use the two-mode hybrid system built by the joint General Motors, Daimler, BMW and Chrysler hybrid technology group will only be offered as a lease. The ML450 Hybrid will be made available for either…
Report: Next Impalla Will be Front-Drive With a Hybrid Option
Despite continued rumors to the contrary, the next iteration of the Chevrolet Impala will not be rear-wheel drive. In an interview with InsideLine, GM’s product boss Bob Lutz, definitively stated that the car will put power to the front wheels. Lutz would only give vague details about the car, which is probably all he has,…
Report: Finalists Chosen in Chevy Volt Color Contest
After 13,000 entries, Chevy has narrowed it down to three finalists in its Volt Color Contest. Among them are Devin McQuarrie of San Jose, CA, with the name EV-ergreen; Dave Thomas of Sanford, FL, with the name Viridian Joule; and Matthew Valbuena of Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, with environMINT. Chevy is now asking the public…
Report: Toyota Planning Larger Prius Variant
Toyota is preparing to launch a variant of the Prius and while the new hybrid would be a larger model, the exact type of vehicle is not known. According to a report in Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper, the new Prius variant would either be a crossover or a wagon. Back in 2007, Toyota did display a…
Report: Don’t Rule Out High-Performance Volt SS says GM Marketing Boss Bob Lutz
When it launches, the Chevrolet Volt is poised to become the next Toyota Prius, the poster boy for environmentally responsible motoring. And while it might be what mother earth and the Obama Administration want, you can be sure it’s not what the 77-year-old Camaro-loving head of GM’s marketing department wants. No, Bob Lutz wants high…
Breaking: GM Confirms Cadillac Converj Plug-In Hybrid Will See Production
First unveiled at the 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the seemingly futuristic Cadillac Converj is now well on its way to production. According to a report in The Detroit News, the Volt-like plug-in hybrid, has been given the green light, but won’t be offered for several more years. Similar in both look…
SEMA 2009: Modified Honda Insight Makes Sure Prius Isn’t the Only Tuned Hybrid at SEMA
Situated right across the isle from Honda’s official SEMA Show booth we found a modified Honda Insight at the ENEOS Oil booth. Owned by Insightcentral.net member Xtremeview, the car features a custom aero kit and a lowered suspension. Other modifications include a set of Rays wheels with Yokohama Parada tires, a Tanabe exhaust and some…
SEMA 2009: Five Axis Priuses Make Going Green Stylish… and Blue
Thanks to tuner Five Axis, the Toyota Prius has never looked this cool. Now in its third generation, the 2010 Prius has gotten considerably better looking over the years, but the two modified versions on display this week at the 2009 SEMA Show take green motoring to a stylish new level. Five Axis has built…
SEMA 2009: Toyota to Display Two Modified Priuses by Five Axis
For the SEMA Show, Toyota often calls on the Five Axis tuner shop to create wild and wacky Scions or Lexuses, but for the first time the custom fabricators have been called upon to modify a Prius. Actually, Five Axis has built two versions of the 2010 Prius, the first called the Prius Aerius (Latin…
Report: Top Chevy Volt Engineer Leaving GM for Opel
Frank Weber, the engineer that is currently running Chevy’s Volt project is parting ways with General Motors. Weber, will be returning to his homeland of Germany, where he will take up a senior management roll at Opel. GM is currently in the process of selling Opel to Canada’s Magna International and Opel is set to…
Report: Honda Planning Two-Mode Hybrid System for Larger Cars
Slowly, Honda appears to be learning how the hybrid marketplace works. In a recent interview Honda CEO Takanobu Ito said that the company is working on more powerful two-mode hybrid systems (like the one used by Toyota) that will allow for the car to operate using either gas, electricity or a combination of both. Currently,…
Report: Mitsubishi Bringing New Global Small Car to North America in 2012
Just last week Mitsubishi announced that it is planning to bring over a smaller Lancer-based crossover to North America and now comes word that the Japanese automaker has yet another new model to debut shortly thereafter. Based on a new global small car platform the car will be smaller than the Colt (shown above), which…
Report: Fisker Expected to Build New Affordable Plug-In Hybrids at Former GM Plant in Delaware
Having recently been awarded a $500 million loan by the U.S. government to build affordable pug-in hybrids, Fisker Automotive is expected to build those cars at a shuttered General Motors plant in Delaware. Vice President Joe Biden is expected to announce tomorrow that the California-based Fisker company will revive the Boxwood Road facility in Wilmington….
Report: Chevy Contest Asks You to Name the Volt’s Paint Color and Win a Test Drive
No doubt if you’ve ever looked at a picture of Chevy’s upcoming, revolutionary plug-in hybrid, the car has been painted sliver. But “silver” isn’t exactly the sort of name that helps to sell a car or to properly brand it. And besides, there’s more to the paint than silver, as it has a bit of…
Tokyo 2009: Honda CR-Z Hybrid Coming to North America Next Year
Honda announced a production version of its CR-Z hybrid concept will be introduced to North America in the second half of 2010. As the second version of the CR-Z concept was unveiled at the Tokyo Auto Show, Honda announced the production version will be a sporty 2-seat hybrid, the first hybrid car set up with…
Tokyo Preview: Toyota Sai Hybrid Debuts in Japan
If the all-new Toyota Sai Hybrid looks familiar – it should. The new Toyota hybrid model is based very closely on the new Lexus HS platform. Sold as a premium Lexus luxury car in North America, the same car will be down-graded somewhat for sale in its home market. Even the design is almost identical…
Report: Mitsubishi Lancer EVO XI Could Get Plug-In Hybrid Option Borrowed from PX-MiEV Concept
The next iteration of the amazing Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution could be offered as a plug-in hybrid. Due out in 2013, the EVO XI model could use the all-wheel drive plug-in hybrid setup that will officially be unveiled on Wednesday October 21st at the Tokyo Auto Show, reports the U.K.’s AutoCar. For the show, however, Mitsubishi…
Report: Ford Catching Honda In Hybrid Sales Race
Ford is closing in on its Japanese rivals in the hybrid sales race. So far in 2009 the American automaker has posted a 73 percent gain in its hybrid sales with a total of 26,016 vehicles sold. That number is roughly 4,000 short of Honda’s total hybrid sales at 29,958 units, but the percentage of…
Report: Volvo to Bring Diesel and Hybrid-Diesel Cars to North America
Volvo will bring diesel engines as well as diesel-hybrids to North America in the future says the company’s North American CEO. Doug Speck made the comments to Automotive News, as the automaker is faced with the same lofty corporate fuel economy standards as the rest of the industry, which will see automakers average 35.5 mpg…
Report: New Nissan Fuga/Infinti M to Debut at Tokyo Auto Show
Nissan has chosen the Tokyo Auto Show to debut the next generation of the company’s top-level Fuga luxury sedan. Sold in North America as the Infinti M, it’s not clear if Nissan plans to offer the same 3.7-liter V6 (M37) and 5.6-liter V8 (M56) engine choices. Nissan will, however, deliver a hybrid model, similar to…
Report: Infiniti Confirms Plans for M35 Hybrid in 2012
The 2011 Infiniti M luxury sedan hasn’t even made it’s debut yet and already Nissan’s luxury arm has announced that a hybrid version of the M will be offered. The new model will make use of the Infiniti 3.5-liter V6 engine, along with an electric motor and lithium-ion battery pack to deliver high levels of…
Tokyo Preview: Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybird Concept to Get Japanese Debut in Tokyo
Officially unveiled last month at the Frankfurt Auto Show in Germany, Toyota is now set to give the Prius plug-in hybrid concept an official unveiling in its native land and in front of a more welcoming audience. Toyota has said that the Prius PHV Concept will be able to travel up to 12 miles on…
Report: Hybrids, Not Electric Vehicles, Are the Future Says Toyota Europe R&D Boss
Hybrid cars and not electric vehicles, are the future of mass market environmentally-responsible transportation, says Toyota Europe’s R&D boss Masato Katsumata. Obviously we would expect any Toyota representative to toe this line, as competitors like Nissan are focusing on the future of electric cars – like the Leaf EV. Speaking at a conference in Cologne,…
