February 2, 2012 How does 41 city mpg/36 highway sound for a midsize luxury sedan that offers a long list of interior bells and whistles? If that grabbed your attention, then test drive the 2012 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid. Or, if you can wait until late fall, an all-new 2013 model ups the fuel economy numbers to an expected 47 city/44 highway.
February 1, 2012
Toyota has upped its fuel-efficiency projection for its Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (PHV), according to Bloomberg, which reports the automaker expects to top the Volt in its U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fuel economy rating.
Toyota’s U.S. Group Vice President Bob Carter, said the Plug-In Prius should manage 50 mpg in hybrid mode for combined city/ highway mileage, and earn 95 MPGe assuming its 4.4-kwh lithium-ion battery is recharged frequently.
“It’s still an estimate, but we are confident it’s going to be 95,” Carter said Tuesday. The EPA rating will be known “in a couple weeks,” he said.
February 1, 2012
When I called Toyota’s new Aqua / Prius C affordable compact hybrid first a “gamechanger,” then an “engineering feat,” this attracted the attention of self-styled jargon vigilantes. They demanded equal platitudes to be bestowed on domestic models. In the meantime, the Japanese game changer threatens to change Toyota’s best laid plans: It sells ten times better than expected.
January 31, 2012
In a unanimous ruling Friday, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) called for a steep ramping up of zero- or very low-emission vehicles sold in state from 2018-onward. The goal is for them to comprise 15.4 percent of all vehicles sold by 2025 – up from less than 1 percent today.
At the same time, the ruling called for a slashing of tailpipe emissions from the rest of the passenger vehicle population beginning sooner in 2015 and extending through 2025.
January 30, 2012
So, do you think you a lot about cars? What do you know about the monster car carriers that bring an imported car? As far as I am concerned, I knew nothing when I arrived this morning at Nissan’s dock in Oppama, where Japan’s second largest car company showed off a 2012 model car carrier, the Nichioh Maru. And would you believe that the blue and white monster is green?
