fuel efficiency

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US Can't Have Ford's 65-MPG Car
US Can't Have Ford's
65-MPG Car

US Can't Have Ford's 65-MPG Car

US shuns hyper-efficient diesel vehicle

(Newser) - Ford may be best-known for its fuel-guzzling trucks and SUVs, but this November it’s releasing the Fiesta ECOnetic, a sporty subcompact that gets an astonishing 65 miles-per-gallon, BusinessWeek reports. There’s just one catch: It’s not being sold in the US. “We know it’s an awesome...

GM Plans New Chevy Compact
 GM Plans New Chevy Compact 

GM Plans New Chevy Compact

(Newser) - General Motors will invest $500 million to build its new compact car in the US, the Detroit News reports. The Chevrolet Cruze, expected to get about 45mpg, will go into production in 2010 in Lordstown, Ohio. The ailing automaker, once heavily reliant on SUVs, continues to alter its production line...

Small Dips in Gas Prices Send Drivers Back to SUVs

Consumers viewing fuel efficiency as 'one factor' again

(Newser) - Oil prices have been falling since mid-June, and though it’s debatable whether speculators or market fundamentals drove the boom (and now possible bust), it is clear that $4 a gallon gas crimped demand. But for how long? With prices now again below that psychological threshold but still $1.19...

The 15 Most Fuel Efficient Cars
 The 15 Most Fuel Efficient Cars

The 15 Most Fuel Efficient Cars

(Newser) - Toyota’s Prius may hold the crown for fuel-efficiency, but that doesn’t mean it’s lonely at the top. BusinessWeek takes a look at the 15 cars with the best mileage—30 mpg combined city and highway or better.
  • Mercury’s 2009 Mariner Hybrid offers mileage better than the
...

Tire Gauge Joke Is on GOP, Not Obama
Tire Gauge Joke Is on GOP,
Not Obama
Opinion

Tire Gauge Joke Is on GOP, Not Obama

Gag ignores hard facts of energy dependence, vehicle maintenance

(Newser) - Republicans are laughing at Barack Obama’s suggestion that if Americans drove on properly inflated tires and had their vehicles tuned up regularly, they could save as much gas as offshore drilling would produce. The RNC is distributing tire gauges labeled “Barack Obama’s Energy Plan” and cackling with...

Honda Profits Jump 8% on Fuel-Efficient Lineup
Honda Profits Jump 8%
on Fuel-Efficient Lineup
earnings

Honda Profits Jump 8% on Fuel-Efficient Lineup

The gas tank is half empty, as the company cuts global outlook

(Newser) - Honda announced an 8.1% gain in net profit yesterday for the quarter ending June 30, riding demand for its fuel-efficient models and beating analysts’ estimates, the Wall Street Journal reports. Honda has been hurt less by falling demand than rivals Toyota and Nissan because it's the least invested in...

In Need of Big Ideas, Ford Thinks Small

Company may move some production of small cars to US

(Newser) - Ford Motor Company will be repurposing some of its US plants to manufacture smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, the Wall Street Journal reports. As rising gas prices drive falling sales of behemoths like the F-150, insiders say the company will move toward making more of the passenger cars, like the Mondeo,...

Smart Car Scores Big on Cute
 Smart Car Scores Big on Cute 

Smart Car Scores Big on Cute

Tiny rides now trendy, even for big car people

(Newser) - Mercedes’ Smart cars are selling brilliantly—the US waiting list is 30,000 long—and the tiny two-seater's performance at the gas pump isn't the whole story. Yes, they’re the most fuel-efficient non-hybrids around, but only barely—some Hondas and Toyotas almost match their 33mpg. There's also the cute...

Drivers Order Big Extras for Small Cars

Downsizing buyers want jumbo comforts in smaller vehicles

(Newser) - American drivers are ditching their SUVs for smaller vehicles in droves—but they're cramming in all the extra comforts they can, reports the New York Times. Buyers are spending thousands on bonus features such as heated leather seats and top entertainment systems. The trend gives a rare glimmer of hope...

Toyota Will Make Prius in US
 Toyota Will Make Prius in US 

Toyota Will Make Prius in US

Swap at SUV plant shows how fast industry is adjusting to fuel costs, demand

(Newser) - Toyota plans to start producing its super-popular Prius hybrid in the US, Wired reports. With inventories overwhelmed by demand, the firm will move production lines to a Mississippi plant intended to produce SUVs. The factory won’t make its first Prius until 2010, but with no sign of abating gas...

Obama Meets With Top Automakers Amid Tension

Dem had criticized the Big Three, sat out Michigan's primary

(Newser) - Barack Obama is meeting with two of the Big Three in encounters the Wall Street Journal says “could thaw festering tension” between the Dem and America’s automakers. A year after Obama criticized the companies for fighting fuel-economy standards and rewarding “failure with lucrative bonuses for CEOs,”...

White House Ignored EPA Pollutants Email

Bush & Co. refused to open report mandated by Supreme Court

(Newser) - The White House didn’t like the findings in a Supreme Court-mandated report on pollutants from the EPA—so it simply refused to open the email, the New York Times reports. Instead, the administration has successfully pressured the agency into releasing a watered-down, recommendation-free report. Among the omitted sections: analysis...

McCain Offers $300M Prize in Assault on Car Batteries

Republican calls energy security 'the great national challenge of our time'

(Newser) - John McCain today offered a $300 million reward to the American who builds “a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.” He said government had wasted energy money on special interests and failed to punish...

What Europe Can Teach Us About Gas
What Europe Can Teach Us About Gas
Opinion

What Europe Can Teach Us About Gas

Dense, connected Berlin, not car-centric Atlanta, is better model

(Newser) - Gas costs more than $8 a gallon in Germany—a sum that might cause riots in the US but hardly ruffles most Europeans. Their secret is simple, Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times: They drive fuel-efficient cars, and they don’t drive very often. America can easily imitate...

Prius: 1M and Counting
 Prius: 1M and Counting 

Prius: 1M and Counting

Toyota hybrid's sales into seven digits, and company sees no slowdown

(Newser) - The Toyota Prius is a now 1 million units strong, and the landmark gas-electric hybrid, introduced in 1997, is poised to keep growing, the AP reports. Toyota said today it expects to be selling a million a year by sometime after 2010; what’s more, the company claims 4.5...

On Litmus Tests, McCain Won't Always Turn Green
On Litmus Tests, McCain Won't Always Turn Green
ANALYSIS

On Litmus Tests, McCain Won't Always Turn Green

GOP candidate trumpets interest in climate change, but votes can be 'erratic'

(Newser) - John McCain might trumpet his climate-change bona fides—and voters might be giving him credit—but the Republican candidate's true green colors are far more mixed, the Washington Post finds in a look at how he treats environmental issues. McCain wants a federal limit on greenhouse-gas emissions, but voted against...

GM's SUVs May Get Smaller
 GM's SUVs May Get Smaller 

GM's SUVs May Get Smaller

Firm considers switch to car chassis

(Newser) - General Motors has long used truck chassis as the foundation of its largest SUVs: the Escalades, Tahoes, and Yukons. But with fuel costs going nowhere but up and stricter fuel standards on the horizon, GM is considering switching those models to lighter car-sized underpinnings when they come up for redesign...

Motorists Brake for Fuel Prices

Drivers try to get savings any way they can, even if it means slowing down

(Newser) - It’s common knowledge that driving a little slower makes more efficient use of gas. And with fuel prices sky-high, some drivers are actually throttling back in hopes of feeling less pain at the pump, the AP reports. Vacation drivers and truckers alike are heeding experts’ advice that cars are...

Planes Slowing Down to Save on Fuel Costs

Airlines save millions by adding extra minutes to flights

(Newser) - As airlines feel the pain of higher energy prices, planes are slowing down to save fuel, the AP reports. Southwest, for instance, will save $42 million by adding a few minutes to each flight this year, and passengers are unlikely to notice. But it’s no cure-all: Labor costs go...

Small Is the New Big
 Small Is the New Big 

Small Is the New Big

Automakers turn attention to the subcompact, abroad and at home

(Newser) - Ever-increasing gas prices, environmental concerns and demand in developing countries are leading worldwide small-car sales past those of larger counterparts, Newsweek reports. With cars like India’s Tata Nano set to overhaul the auto industry by offering new mobility to millions, US automakers are scrambling to retool their businesses to...

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