hybrid car

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Forget Hybrids: Just Drive Like Your Grandma

Americans can save gas just by driving differently: Ball

(Newser) - Driving like a grandma can save more gas than fancy hybrid technology, Jeffrey Ball writes in the Wall Street Journal. Accelerating slowly, shifting gears early, and coasting to avoid stop-and-go driving can bump gas efficiency of even the largest gas guzzlers. The catch? "I've been honked at. I've been...

Mileage Be Damned, SUV Remains American Darling

(Newser) - Despite predictions of its demise, the SUV is alive and well at the New York auto show this year, Dan Carney writes for MSNBC. Sure, more fuel-efficient models of classic 4x4s make up the majority of the cars on display, but reports that the gas guzzler is passé, emanating from...

China, Nissan Strike Electric Car Deal

Nissan will create fleet, charging station network in Wuhan

(Newser) - China has tapped Nissan to set up an electric-car program in the city of Wuhan, relying on the automaker to set up a fleet of electric vehicles and charging stations, the Wall Street Journal reports. Beijing plans to produce 500,000 “new energy” vehicles by 2011, and recently selected...

China Plans to Lead Way in Electric Cars

(Newser) - As US automakers continue their late push into the market for hybrids and electric cars, they may soon have a major new competitor to worry about: China. Beijing, which barely registers in the auto world today, has begun a major investment push and plans to join the world leaders in...

Price War Heats Up Hybrid Market
Price War
Heats Up
Hybrid Market

Price War Heats Up Hybrid Market

Toyota and Honda square off with dueling technologies, too

(Newser) - Toyota and Honda have begun waging battle in the hybrid market, and a price war is bound to speed conversion by consumers—the Prius is expected to dip below $21,000 in order to compete with the $19,000 Insight in Japan. But the two aren't just versions of the...

AT&T Will Spend $565M to Green its Vehicle Fleet

(Newser) - AT&T pledged to spend $565 million to replace its current vehicle fleet with models that run on alternative fuels, the Detroit Free Press reports. The firm will buy over 15,000 hybrid and natural-gas-powered cars, mainly from Ford. AT&T billed the move as not only environmentally responsible but...

Honda's New Hybrid Will Sell for $20K

Prius rival Insight will be cheapest hybrid on market

(Newser) - Honda's much-anticipated 2010 Insight hybrid car will sell for a base price of just $19,800, the Los Angeles Times reports. The recession-friendly price tag makes the Insight the cheapest hybrid in the country at $2,200 less expensive than the Toyota Prius. The company aims to lure buyers who...

Obama's Auto Team Drives Foreign Cars

Just 2 of task force's 8 members own domestic models

(Newser) - Detroit’s Big Three might be in worse trouble than they thought: Of the eight people on the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry, and the 10 policy aides assisting them, just two own cars built by American-owned manufacturers, the Detroit News reports. The co-chairs—Timothy Geithner and Lawrence...

Toyota's Losses Will Triple
Toyota's Losses Will Triple  

Toyota's Losses Will Triple

First loss in seven decades multiplies as market deteriorates

(Newser) - Toyota now expects its full-year operating loss to be three times larger than the $1.6 billion it forecast in December, the New York Times reports. The company expects to lose $5 billion for the fiscal year through March 31 as world automobile demand deteriorates. Toyota, which last year overtook...

Road to Electric Cars Runs Through Bolivia

Nationalism, socialism may make its lithium supply hard to tap

(Newser) - Are we about to replace our dependence on foreign oil with a dependence on foreign lithium? Almost half the world’s supply of the mineral—essential for the light, rechargeable batteries electric cars need—is found in Bolivia, where nationalist sentiment is running high, the New York Times reports. Evo...

Plush New Prius Will Hit 50mpg
 Plush New Prius Will Hit 50mpg 

Plush New Prius Will Hit 50mpg

As hybrid market goes mainstream, so does iconic car

(Newser) - Toyota's sleeker, more fuel-efficient update to its iconic Prius, already the most fuel-efficient vehicle on the market, offers a city-highway average of 50mpg—up from 46—and a bunch of new amenities. Unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show, the 2010 model comes with a more powerful engine, a moonroof, and...

Ford Buffs Green Image With Fusion
 Ford Buffs 
 Green Image 
 With Fusion 
OPINION

Ford Buffs Green Image With Fusion

The highly anticipated hybrid will start appearing at dealerships this spring

(Newser) - Ford’s 2010 Fusion hybrid will debut this spring with an EPA rating of 41mpg city and 36mpg highway, writes Joseph White in the Wall Street Journal, but reaching those underwhelming numbers could be a tough ride for most consumers. Complicating Ford's tough sell are anemic gas prices, writes White,...

Oregon Mulls Mileage, Not Gas, Tax

State worries about tax shortfall as vehicles get more efficient

(Newser) - Worried that the rise of fuel-efficient and hybrid cars will wipe out revenue for road repair, Oregon is considering taxing drivers by the mile instead of by the gallon, reports the AP. Lawmakers—aware that hiking gas tax is a political kiss of death—believe a mileage tax is the...

Toyota Working on Mass-Market Solar Car

Company believed to be trying to build first mass-market car running soley on sunshine

(Newser) - Toyota is trying to leapfrog rivals by developing a mass-market solar-powered car on the sly. The futuristic vehicle will get power from solar cells in the rooftop, providing enough energy to power only its accessories initially, reports Hybrid Cars News. The company is thought to be years away from creating...

Ford to Offer Self-Park Cars; Kerkorian Sells Stake

New Lincoln MKS models will park themselves in effort to woo car buyers

(Newser) - Ford plans to offer two models with a self-parking function at the Detroit auto show next month, the Wall Street Journal reports, in the continuing effort to woo buyers with new technology. But  the company's image among investors remains tarnished, as billionaire Kirk Kerkorian confirmed yesterday that he sold his...

US Tech Firms Get Together on Car Battery

14 companies want $1B from feds to help catch Asian rivals

(Newser) - Fourteen US technology companies are joining forces to speed development of electric car batteries, asking for $1 billion in federal aid to help catch up with Asian firms that have a long lead, reports the Wall Street Journal. Electric vehicles are now considered so important to help wean the US...

GM Boss Hopes Senate Gets a Charge From His Hybrid

This time, GM's Wagoner drives Volt to hearings

(Newser) - Last time they went before Congress rattling tin cups, the chief executives of the Big Three automakers made the mistake of flying to Washington in luxuriously tricked-out corporate jets. Today GM chief Rick Wagoner is driving a fuel-efficient hybrid Chevy Volt prototype to Senate hearings on the proposed bailout for...

Big 3 CEOs Head Back to DC—This Time by Car

CEOs of America's automakers will renew plea for bailout today

(Newser) - The Big Three CEOs are heading back to Washington this week, and this time two of them will be driving, the Wall Street Journal reports—Alan Mulally in a Ford Escape hybrid, and Rick Wagoner in a Chevrolet Malibu hybrid. The CEOs will attempt Thursday to persuade Congress to extend...

Finish My Fight With Big 3: Gore to Obama

We need urgent action, Gore warns

(Newser) - Al Gore doesn't want a White House job, but he does have advice for Barack Obama: Use the bailout plan to transform the Big Three automakers. As vice-president, Gore rolled out a billion-dollar program to pay for fuel-efficient Detroit vehicles—"but as soon as they felt they were...

Green Auto Industry at Odds With a Viable One

Car companies lose money for years on new technologies

(Newser) - Critics of Detroit complain that the stubborn Big Three are dying because they won’t make the energy-efficient cars people want. But it can take years for a new hybrid or plug-in model to become profitable, putting lawmakers' vision of a green auto industry at odds with their desire for...

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