NEWS ABOUT: hybrid car
hybrid car stories: 78 news briefs
Kansas City Star Jul 1, 09 3:00 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
As the US moves away from a gasoline-only auto culture, researchers and the government are investigating alternative taxes to fund road-building and maintenance, the Kansas City Star reports. The leading idea to supplant the gas tax is a by-the-mile approach endorsed by a federal commission. “If you’re committed to the system being improved then it was a no-brainer,” the chairman said.
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Owners suing Toyota over expensive repair
Advertising Age Jun 30, 09 5:38 PM CDT
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Toyota’s Prius, now in its third generation, remains the dominant hybrid car. But an increasing number of older Prius owners are finding that the autos have a potentially dangerous flaw—failing headlights. What's worse, the so-called high-intensity discharge lamps, which are optional ugrades, can cost more than $1,000 to fix. With a group of Prius owners suing Toyota, the issue threatens to be a customer-relations fiasco, reports Advertising Age .
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ANALYSIS
Even top exec fears hybrid will fail to herald new start for automaker
Washington Post Jun 7, 09 12:19 PM CDT
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Success has many fathers, and for the forthcoming Chevrolet Volt, paternity claims could stretch from Detroit to Washington. But if the GM hybrid turns out to be an orphan, it could be because many of its backers, including a top GM exec, are ambivalent about its potential to rejigger the company’s gas-guzzling image, Michael Leahy writes for the Washington Post.
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OPINION
Let's use their facilities to overhaul America's transit
Huffington Post Jun 1, 09 1:25 PM CDT
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The end of General Motors is an opportunity for an America that now owns 60% of the company, writes Michael Moore. Let’s take advantage of the death of a firm that built poor cars, battled environmental rules, and shipped jobs away by using its facilities to implement a new system of transportation in America. Moore presents nine suggestions to the president on HuffPo :
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Washington Post May 21, 09 12:12 PM CDT
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Many Republicans won’t touch fuel economy issues, but not Sen. Orrin Hatch. He’s been an advocate for alternative-fuel vehicles for a decade, and yesterday got behind the wheel of the most muscular hybrid ever, reports Dana Milbank of the Washington Post . A company from Hatch’s native Utah has created a plug-in Hummer that gets 100 mpg. Just two problems: General Motors is jettisoning the Hummer brand, and Hatch apparently can’t drive.
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AUTO REVIEW
Insight cheaper, simpler than Toyota's hybrid king
Wall Street Journal Apr 28, 09 7:31 AM CDT
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Honda is rolling out a fresh—and worthy—competitor to Toyota’s Prius, king of the hybrid market, writes Joseph P. White in the Wall Street Journal . The 2010 Insight will sell for just under $20,000, some $2,000 less than the most popular Prius model, and gets “minicar mileage” while offering enough room for a bike in the back seat. "Honda has already rattled the champ," writes White , "and the first round hasn't really begun."
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Americans can save gas just by driving differently: Ball
Wall Street Journal Apr 17, 09 9:29 AM CDT
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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 flipped off. I've been yelled at: 'Grandma,'" says one so-called eco-driver.
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ANALYSIS
MSNBC Apr 11, 09 5:48 AM CDT
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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 “literary critics, Broadway choreographers, and other practitioners of the bedrock industries that built this country” are greatly exaggerated. According to one website that tracks such things, half of Americans shopping for new cars are looking at crossovers and SUVs.
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Nissan will create fleet, charging station network in Wuhan
Wall Street Journal Apr 9, 09 8:20 AM CDT
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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 13 cities—including Beijing, Shanghai, and Chongqing—to collectively put 60,000 such vehicles on the road within four years.
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New York Times Apr 1, 09 7:43 PM CDT
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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 making electric vehicles in three years and pass them after that, the New York Times reports.
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Toyota and Honda square off with dueling technologies, too
Salon Mar 27, 09 10:40 AM CDT
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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 same new option, writes Salon . Different technology makes Toyota's offering both more expensive and more efficient for in-town driving, while Honda's is more efficient for highway driving.
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Detroit Free Press Mar 11, 09 3:45 PM CDT
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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 also as an act of economic stimulus—it estimates the move will save or create 1,000 jobs the next 5 years.
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Prius rival Insight
will be cheapest
hybrid on market
Los Angeles Times Mar 11, 09 1:35 AM CDT
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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 wouldn't have otherwise chosen a hybrid.
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Just 2 of task force's
8 members own domestic models
Detroit News Feb 23, 09 2:49 PM CST
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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 Summers—drive a Honda and a Mazda, respectively, even though Geithner’s grandfather was a Ford vice president.
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First loss in seven decades multiplies as market deteriorates
New York Times Feb 6, 09 8:29 AM CST
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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 GM as the world’s largest automaker, blamed declines in auto sales as well as gains by the yen.
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Nationalism, socialism may make its lithium supply hard to tap
New York Times Feb 3, 09 9:13 AM CST
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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 Morales’ government is closely controlling the supply, rebuffing Japanese and European efforts to tap it.
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As hybrid market goes mainstream, so does iconic car
Associated Press Jan 13, 09 12:36 PM CST
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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 a solar-powered ventilation system that can be remotely operated, so the car can be cooled while it's parked, and drivers can adjust the interior temperature before getting in.
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OPINION
The highly anticipated hybrid will start appearing at dealerships this spring
Wall Street Journal Jan 5, 09 8:34 AM CST
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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, but the Fusion represents the direction Ford—and other American automakers—will need to take to compete with foreign carmakers' more accelerated leap into the green segment.
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State worries about tax shortfall as vehicles get more efficient
Associated Press Jan 3, 09 9:57 AM CST
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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 way of the future, though critics have voiced privacy concerns and fears that the tax will kill the financial incentive to buy efficient cars.
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Company believed to be trying to build first mass-market car running soley on sunshine
Hybrid Cars News Jan 2, 09 7:20 AM CST
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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 a fully solar-powered car, notes the Japanese daily Nikkei .
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