found about 6 hours ago by Chuck Squatriglia on
Autopia
Tesla Motors won’t kill the Roadster next year as expected, and in fact is poised to start cranking out a lot more of them while Tesla expands its market to include Asia and Australia. The nugget of news comes from this month’s issue of the...
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Chinese battery maker and aspiring automaker BYD earned $215m in the fourth quarter of 2009, bringing its net profit for last year to $555.2m, reports Automotive News [sub]. BYD’s performance outstripped analyst estimates, which projected fourth...
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Volkswagen’s range of BlueMotion cars are their flagship “Look at us! We’re bluegreen!” vehicles. They employ techniques like a remapped engine, longer gear ratios and better aerodynamics to wring the last bit of mpg out of an ICU. Ford has...
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Just when you thought hydrogen was dead, Honda comes up with a system that allows you to make homemade hydrogen, using nothing but free sunshine. In the grand tradition of hydrogen cars, the sunny technology is just not quite there yet. You need to...
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The former GM-Toyota joint-venture known as New United Motor Manufacturing Inc (NUMMI) in Fremont, CA is a big plant. Its nearly 5,000 employees can churn out over 400,000 compact cars and pickups in a year when operating at full capacity, which...
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Well, here it is on a race track, that means it's sporty right? Ok, maybe not, but it's going way faster around Suzuka than a Prius ever could....
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In typical Carlos Ghosn style, the father of the Nissan EV throws down the gauntlet. gm-volt.com quotes him from a talk with reporters: “Frankly, I mean so far there is no competition. Let’s be serious. It’s not because someone is coming with...
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Financial Times calls “Volkswagen a long-time sceptic about hybrid and electric cars.” However, the pink sheet announces that Wolfsburg “has officially shifted gears.” That VW had been a sceptic is an understatement. Despite green...
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found 4 days ago by Tony Borroz on
Autopia
A mere 10 years from now Audi expects 5 percent of its sales will be electric vehicles. That’s not the wishful thinking of tree-huggers or even the fanciful projection of some think-tank. It is the bold prediction of Michael Dick, Audi’s...
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The biggest news at Hyundai's Geneva Motor Show booth is the world premiere of the i-Flow concept study. The sporty-looking mid-size sedan with the 'Cab-Forward' design is said to give Europeans a first look at the Sonata replacement (apparently the...
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found 5 days ago by Dave Eyvazzadeh on
Autopia
We are in the midst of an electric motorcycle revolution, and nowhere is that more obvious than on the racetrack. The new technology is not about tweaking the status quo. It’s about shattering it. And that’s just what Michael Czysz plans to do...
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Just what Toyota needed: a Prius that took off on its own, hit speeds up to 94 mph (I didn’t think they went that fast), and took a San Diego man for a harrowing 30-mile ride. It’s all over the news today because, in part, Toyota just finished...
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Another day, another story of an out of control Toyota. This time it was in San Diego and it involved a Prius. You can watch the news report after the jump, but the driver basically claimed that he pressed the gas to pass someone and...
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According to a recent report in Automotive News, Mercedes-Benz will see its current investment in green tech double over the next two years. The company will expand plug-ins and fuel-cell vehicles to every segment during this time, demonstrating...
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By the end of the year, Nissan will, a bit belatedly, introduce their total plug-in, not range extended, all electric Leaf. They will also open a huge data center. According to The Nikkei [sub], the location and other stats of the data center are...
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With the Chinese planning an electrical assault on Europe, with Nissan preparing their Leaf and with Renault charging-up Zoe, Peugeot-Citroen (PSA) is probably feeling a little exposed right now. Bad enough PSA failed to work out an agreement with...
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found 7 days ago by Sam Abuelsamid on
Autoblog
Apparently, we we missed at least one interesting machine from the recently concluded press days at the Geneva Motor Show. Kia showed off a battery electric version of its new Venga B-segment hatchback. Like the rest of Kia and Hyundai's hybrids and...
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A report in the trade journal Automotive News says that Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler will double its spending on development of various green technologies over the next two years. The company plans to spend $1.4 billion in...
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found 7 days ago by Tony Borroz on
Autopia
The postal service likes the Bright Idea and wonders if it would make a good delivery truck. The U.S. Postal Service has invited Bright Automotive to put an electric drivetrain in a standard-issue mail truck. Once the truck is ready to roll, the...
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A couple of weeks ago, TTAC reported how Dieter Zetsche was re-elected as CEO of Daimler for another 3 years. In that article we mentioned the many challenges that face him. Mainly, how to make Daimler sustainably profitable. Size matters in the...
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It really all comes down to simple arithmetic. Audi wants to add another subcompact model to its range. It already has the A1 supermini and the A3 compact hatch, so if you subtract 1 from 3, you get 2. Add an 'A' up front and voila; you have the...
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Even since Landwind crash test, and the Brilliance crash test, the reputation of Chinese cars in Europe has been a little, shall we say, challenging. Watching the bonnet of a car crumble like Professor Gilbert’s theory on Toyota’s UA tofu does...
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found 7 days ago by Chuck Squatriglia on
Autopia
Ford’s first mass-market electric vehicle isn’t a sexy sports car. It isn’t a sleek sedan. And it isn’t cool compact. It’s a van. A delivery van, to be exact, designed specifically for fleet use. It isn’t the sexiest way to break into...
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If you need further proof that the hybrid craze is sweeping across the automotive industry, consider that even Ferrari is planning to offer hybrid versions across its entire range of supercars within the next three to four years. The announcement...
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When the Lexus CT 200h was unveiled at the 2010 Geneva Auto Show on Tuesday, it wasn't a huge surprise to the European audience. Previewed in lightly disguised concept form last year, the smallish hybrid hatchback seemed like a natural...
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found 10 days ago by Jason Paur on
Autopia
It’s become clear Porsche is all in with hybrids. The company rolled into the Geneva Motor Show with the 918 plug-in hybrid supercar concept, which followed right on the bumper of the 911 GT3 R Hybrid slated to compete in the 24 hour race at the...
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We're scratching our heads over the camouflaged Saturn Vues our shooters have spotted putting around Michigan over the last week. They still have Saturn badging in the back, but what's with the taped over Chevrolet grille and Buick...
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Making its debut at the Swiss international auto show is the Audi A8 Hybrid. Even though its officially billed as a study, the gasoline-electric hybrid version of the 2011 A8, which itself just broke cover a few months ago, is scheduled to enter...
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Italdesign Giugiaro's latest design study is a three-car plug-in collection debuting under the name EMAS, which stands for Eco Mobility Advanced Solutions (Emas also means "gold" in Malay). Built in collaboration with Proton and Lotus Engineering,...
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According to a post on Allpar (via Jalopnik), Ram 1500 Two Mode Hybrid production is scheduled to start on November 16. General Motors is supplying Chrysler with the advanced Two Mode transmissions that will be used in the Ram. The electrically...
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