Hybrid Car

We're believers in the scientific method here at Automotive.com. As people's opinions are as reliable as a politician's words, facts—especially repeatable ones—are as close as inviolable as possible in a world where belief denies global warming and vaccinations are viewed with suspicions. (Personally, we think believers of the latter should ...    Read more

During its first go around with Heather Peters small claims court over her 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid's dismal gas mileage, Honda skipped out on supplying subpoenaed information. But after the case ...    Read more

In 2006, Audi surprised the racing world—and pleased oil-burner fans everywhere—when it introduced its diesel-powered Audi R10 TDI at Le Mans. The move helped shift public perception of diesel vehicles as smoky, slow-moving obstacles to viable performance machines. Toyota may be hoping to do the same for hybrid vehicles ...    Read more

Chevrolet's upcoming Super Bowl commercial exemplifies the exuberance people feel for the brand and its vehicles, in this case a Chevy Camaro. But in the 33-second Youtube clip, "Morning in Hamtramck", General Motors shows a different, more somber but equally important, side to the bowtie brand. In the "Morning in ...    Read more

The past few years has seen major shakeups in the automotive industry, and it shows in a recent survey on brand perception conducted by Consumer Reports. Once dominant players Toyota, Honda, Ford, and Chevrolet remain on top, but each automaker has seen its points gap decrease compared to last year. ...    Read more

Burn the witch! Today, General Motors Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson went before the U.S. House Subcomittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Spending to answer committee members' concerns on the automaker's Chevrolet Volt hybrid electric vehicle. Specifically, the committee wanted to know more about the EV's battery fires, whose investigation ...    Read more

Harsh winters take a toll on cars, and electric and plug-in vehicles are no exception. As EVs and plug-in vehicles become more common, automakers are being tasked with creating cars that can function in and withstand varying environments. Cold temperatures are one of the toughest, because the chill can affect battery ...    Read more

Normally when you think of drag racing—or any racing for that matter—a hybrid vehicle doesn't come to mind. However, Infiniti thinks hybrids and racing can coexist, squaring off its M Hybrid against a Porsche Panamera S hybrid in the desert. In today's Video of the Day Infiniti shows off its ...    Read more

Two steps forward, one step back. Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officially closed its investigation on the Chevrolet Volt. As reported for months, the federal agency had been investigating the Volt's battery system, which could catch fire under certain circumstances, all of which occurred under test ...    Read more

Picture this: You're mid-conversation at a friend's fundraiser promoting the recycling of recycled napkins (completing the napkin cycle, as it were) when your phone lights up. An alert from OnStar notifies you that your husband's plug-in hybrid—which as it turns out just so happens to be at home and plugged ...    Read more

Hybrids aren’t as environmentally friendly as you may think. Take a Toyota Prius, for instance. The car is manufactured in Japan and shipped to the U.S. That takes a lot of fuel. But there’s more to it than that. The rare earth metals used in manufacturing the electric motor—neodymium and dysprosium—are ...    Read more

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a statement today that it has closed its investigation of battery fires in the 2012 Chevrolet Volt. The federal agency first became concerned late last year when one of its Chevy Volt test vehicles ignited at its Wisconsin testing facility. Subsequent testing revealed ...    Read more

“Comparing Volt to Prius v is apples to oranges,” said GM’s Rob Peterson in an email to Bloomberg. Not saying he’s wrong, but the 2012 Toyota Prius v, the tall-roof station wagon variant of the Prius hatchback, did outsell the Volt’s whole year of sales in a little more than ...    Read more

Following General Motors’ 2008 bankruptcy, it’s been a guessing game trying to figure out how much of “New GM” is actually new versus an idiosyncratic carryover from the bad ol’ days. It’s also been tough sorting out the good apples among that bushel of company leadership. But if his list of ...    Read more

Mass amounts of technology have made their way into cars, yet drivers are expected to keep our eyes on the road. It's as though you're taking a child trick-or-treating, yet you tell that child he or she can't have any of the day's candy conquests. But auto suppliers Delphi and Visteon ...    Read more

People like Hyundai. People really, really like Hyundai for things such as their ten-year warranty, a slew of new products, and Jeff Bridges’ soothing, whiskey-dipped voice. And people also really like Hyundai because, occasionally, the company does stuff like this: Expanding its warranty program to cover the batteries on the ...    Read more

Heather Peters wanted a court to decide whether Honda defrauded her into buying a Civic Hybrid that never achieved anything close to its rated fuel economy. Instead, all she got was a continuation. Scheduled to reconvene Jan. 25, Peters' case was extended by Commissioner Doug Carnahan because he felt there ...    Read more

Kia Motors took to Las Vegas this week instead of focusing its efforts in Detroit to introduce its second generation of its UVO voice-command infotainment system. In its newest iteration, it will feature in-car telematics and vehicle diagnostics services called eServices that is designed to integrate with a free smartphone ...    Read more

Late last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that one of its Chevrolet Volts had caught on fire during testing. The fire was later traced to the electric car's battery system. Neither the federal agency nor Chevy-owner General Motors issued any recall, both maintaining that the EV is ...    Read more

Lexus has graced us with more pictures of its LF-LC hybrid sports concept it plans to introduce this month at Detroit’s 2012 North American International Auto Show. This time, instead of pictures of the car in a dark setting, Lexus has given us the full monty with a side profile and ...    Read more

It wasn’t that hard to imagine myself sitting in as a jury member on the case of Heather Peters vs. Torrance, Calif.-based American Honda. In fact, I was sitting in the jurors’ box, listening to both sides state their cases. But it wasn’t some grand trial of the century, it was ...    Read more

Toyota’s plans for the Detroit Auto Show are wonderfully vague. To nobody’s surprise, it will showcase a plug-in hybrid to coincide with its ever-burgeoning Prius lineup. And to showcase—well, something, at least—Toyota has released this frankly bizarre video of the NS-4 concept, a car that’s been teased before, but ...    Read more

Volvo threw a curveball here at Automotive.com. As we and other enthusiasts pined away for the Europe-only Volvo V70 diesel plug-in hybrid station wagon—to adamant denials to our repeated "is it coming here" queries—Volvo instead announced it will debut a gasoline-powered plug-in hybrid concept of its XC60 mid-sized crossover at ...    Read more

Along with the cost of entry into new-fangled electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt, there's the additional price of an in-home wall-mounted quick charger system that speeds up the process of adding electrons back into the batteries. They generally cost around $2000, including buying the charger and ...    Read more

In 2011, Automotive.com’s staff size increased 600 percent. We started our own revitalization, staking out where we were and where we are yet to go. To close out the year, we put together our picks for the high and low points that made up the automotive year that was 2011. From ...    Read more