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2011 Gumball 3000 Rally Kicks Off in London [Video]
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![2011 Gumball 3000 Rally Kicks Off in London [Video]](/img/spacer.gif)
With the Gumball 3000 already underway (it started May 26), the folks in charge of the international parade of shenanigans has released a video showing the rally’s start in Covent Garden, London. The 19 minute video shows over 100 of the most magnificent and rare supercars in the world. Even the rain couldn’t stop the…
Porsche Denies Next 911 to Get KERS Hybrid Tech
It has been in the rumor-mill for a while that Porsche will be offering hybrid technology in their next-generation 911 models. Considering Porsche is using such technology in the 911 GT3 R Hybrid race car, it seems feasible that such technology will trickle down to the production road-going model, especially since this system has just…
GM Calls Out Nissan Over ‘Gas Powered Everything’ Ad
Aiming to build hype behind its all-electric Leaf, Nissan has released a new ad, imagining a world where tiny internal combustion engines power everything that currently runs on electricity. The bleak and dirty existence portrayed in the new ad spot then steps to a new level to prove Nissan’s point, showing the sullen protagonist gassing…
Cadillac SRX Plug-In Hybrid Canceled
General Motors has once again canceled plans to bring a plug-in hybrid crossover to market. The automaker axed two other efforts back in 2008 and 2009 and has now reportedly dropped its most recent effort to build the Volt-style plug-in vehicle. This most recent stab at the plug-in hybrid crossover was slated to be built…
New Chevrolet Impala To Borrow Cadillac’s XTS Platform
General Motors has recently revealed plans of a shift in production for the next-generation Chevrolet Impala. The new Impala will soon be produced in the Detroit-Hamtramck plant, rather than the Oshawa, Canada facility that currently builds the car. The next Impala will be based on Cadillac’s upcoming XTS sedan meaning the Impala will grow in…
2011 Lexus CT200h Receives IIHS Top Safety Pick Award
The Insurance Institute For Highway Safety today announced the all-new 2011 Lexus CT200h hybrid earned a “Top Safety Pick” award. The Lexus earned the award through enduring front, side, rollover, and rear impact evaluations and its standard electronic stability control. High-strength steel components are carefully located in the body structure to help ensure strength in key…
Volvo Engineering Flywheel KERS System that Adds Power, Saves Fuel [Video]
Volvo has announced plans to develop and test a new flywheel kinetic energy recovery system. Volvo says the KERS system (or FKERS as Volvo calls it) is “a light, cheap and very eco-efficient solution that makes a four-cylinder engine feel like a six at the same time as fuel consumption drops with up to 20 percent.”…
Honda’s North American Production Returns To 100 Percent In August
North American Honda production will return to normal in August, earlier than expected, the company announced in a statement today. The Japanese automaker has accelerated their recovery following the March 11th earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Every Honda model will resume regualar production in August, except the 2012 Civic. The company expects full production…
Hyundai-Kia Will Overtake Honda and Toyota In May
Hyundai–Kia will outsell Toyota and Honda in May sales, according to TrueCar. TrueCar expects Hyundai-Kia to sell 115,434 units in May. This number represents an increase of 43.4 percent over May 2010 making the Korean group a 10.9 percent market share putting it number three behind Ford and GM. Hyundai-Kia has gathered a momentum caused…
Updated Fuel Economy Window Sticker Unveiled: Video
An updated U.S fuel economy label was unveiled today aimed at reducing gasoline consumption and exhaust emissions. These new stickers will be required on all 2013 models, allowing consumers to quickly glance at fuel consumption. The sticker will also display estimates of fuel or electricity required to drive 100 miles as well as time needed…
57% Of Americans Won’t Buy EV’s Regardless Of Gas Prices: Survey
A poll has just been released asking Americans to rate their likelihood of making certain lifestyle changes based on different hypothetical gas prices. 57 percent of respondents refused to consider buying an “electric car that you could only drive for a limited number of miles at one time” no matter how high gas prices go. Instead, they are…
Car Buyers Willing To Pay For More Fuel Efficient Vehicles
With the recent recession and high fuel prices, car buyers are placing a higher priority on fuel efficiency. To save at the pump, buyers are willing to sacrifice purchase, price, amenities and size but not safety, according to the Consumer Reports National Research Center. 1,764 random adult car owners were interviewed between April 28-May 2,…
2012 Toyota Camry to Bow This Fall
The most popular mid-size sedan in the North American market is the Toyota Camry, and later this year we should see an all-new model. The seventh generation model is set to debut this fall, as indicated by Toyota’s vice-president and general manager Bob Carter. Toyota sold 327,804 Camry’s last year, and while that would be…
Mazda RX-9 Could Get Hybrid Technology From Toyota
Here’s a fun question for your upcoming pub quiz: name the only hybrid rotary car ever produced. If you named the Mazda Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid, then congratulations! But next year you might be able to name the RX-8’s successor, the aptly-named RX-9, as another car that’s hybrid Wankelin’. According to Mazda’s Hiroshima headquarters, the…
Hyundai Plug-In Hybrid To Debut In 2013, Targeted At Toyota Prius
Hyundai will apparently launch a competitor to the Toyota Prius in 2013, but the new hybrid Hyundai will be a plug-in hybrid vehicle from the get-go, unlike its Japanese rival, which is slowly rolling out its own plug-in variant. While the news came from an anonymous source within Hyundai, the Korean automaker is making a…
Toyota Prius Family To Grow Even Larger
The Toyota Prius family could grow even larger as the automakers studies additional versions of the three row Prius. The Japanese automaker wants to sell 1 million hybrids a year and in early 2012, Toyota will launch two more Prius family members. The members will include the Prius C compact hybrid and the Prius plug-in…
Toyota to Launch 10 Hybrids in 20 Months; Six Will be All New
With the launch of the Prius v, Toyota has begun an unprecedented roll-out of new hybrid models as it looks to solidify its role as the leader in hybrid technology. At the new hybrid wagon’s press drive event last week Toyota’s U.S. sales boss Bob Carter revealed that the automaker plans to introduce 10 new…
2012 Toyota Prius v Gets Improved 42-MPG Average Fuel Economy
After first introducing the Prius v at the Detroit Auto Show in January, Toyota has now released complete specifications on the new hybrid wagon with one important change; the car’s fuel economy. Back at Detroit, execs said they expected the car to achieve a 42/38-mpg (city/highway) fuel economy rating with a combined 40-mpg number. Toyota…
Toyota In Need of Safety Management Changes
r Since the fall of 2009, Toyota has recalled more than 20 million vehicles. According to an advisory panel appointed by the company, Toyota has not adopted enough change to address the slew of safety problems that have arisen over the past decade. This issue lies within Toyota’s centralized decision-making that remains based in Japan, and a 60…
Honda Fit Shuttle Wagon to Launch This June
Honda has scheduled the June 16 release of its all new Fit Shuttle. The new station-wagon-like variant of the popular Fit subcompact will be offered with both a regular 4-cylinder engine or a hybrid version, the Nikkei business daily reported. Increased production at the Suzuka factory in Mie Prefecture began in early May and has progressed enough…
2012 Toyota Camry Coming This Fall, Expects Prius To Become Sales Leader
The current Camry was last redesigned in 2006 and Toyota is preparing for the next model due this fall, according to WardsAuto.com. Toyota faces fierce competition from the latest offerings out of Korea and the U.S, so the new model is of the utmost importance to the company. Toyota sold 327,084 Camrys in 2010 still leading midsize family…
Toyota Prius To Return to 70 Percent Normal Supply By Summer
The ever-popular Toyota Prius is on hold, due to supplier shortages from the Japan earthquake, but it could return to near-normal levels soon—as early as next month. Bob Carter, Toyota’s vice president for US sales, expects Prius supplies to return to 70 percent of its normal rate—i.e. before the earthquake. “If I had twice as many…
Chevrolet Volt Production Increasing By 1,000 Units Per Year
Chevrolet‘s popular Volt is getting a production boost—GM is increasing annual production from 15,000 to 16,000 per year. GM is gearing up to build the European version of the Volt: of this new 16,000-vehicle figure, approximately 3,500 will be sold in Europe as the Opel Ampera. About 2,500 jobs are expected to be added to the…
Honda CR-Z Goes Up On Two Wheels [Video]
If you think it’s not possible to have fun in a hybrid, then you need to take a good look at this Gymkhana-prepped Honda CR-Z out in Japan. It looks like this CR-Z was out competing at a Gymkhana event when its really stiff suspension was put to the ultimate test. From what we can…
