Green technologies and programs are being introduced in NASCAR, Formula One, Formula Three, Champ Car, and Le Mans. The entries include ethanol-burning hybrids, veggie-based speed machines, and sedate gas-electric family sedans setting the pace.
Toyota is probably preparing to roll out an advertising campaign to promote the new 2010 Toyota Prius. But based on our retrospective of the coolest, most outrageous and sometimes offensive Prius ads—real and spoofed—Toyota will have a tough time outdoing past commercials.
On January 12, 2009, Toyota unveiled the 2010 Toyota Prius to journalists at the Detroit Auto Show. That night, Toyota threw a party for 50 of the world's biggest Prius fans, who took their first look at the third-generation 2010 Toyota Prius. The Prius fans literally threw themselves at the vehicle, testing each feature, crawling underneath, and heaping praise on the new design.
The New York Times reported that worshipers in Detroit churches held services yesterday to pray for a bailout of the US automobile industry. At Greater Grace Temple, an 8,000-member Pentecostal church in northwest Detroit, Pentecostal Bishop Charles H. Ellis III gave his sermon, titled “A Hybrid Hope.” As a backdrop to the sermon, three SUVs were on stage: a Chevrolet Tahoe, Ford Escape and Chrysler Aspen—all gas-electric hybrids.
The number of hybrid car sales in North America will double in the next three years, according to a new forecast presented by R.L. Polk & Company, a leading auto industry market research firm. The rate of growth in Western Europe will be even more dramatic—from one-half percent this year to 5 percent in 2012.
Nobody has questioned the importance of high gas prices to the rise of green cars, but one has to wonder: Just how many car shoppers out there are concerned enough about the environment that it factors into a purchase decision? According to a study by Kelley Blue Book's market research division, the answer is "quite a few."
If the US automobile industry ramps up its efforts to produce eco-friendly vehicles for the mass market, it could cut the nation’s gas consumption by 30 to 50 percent by 2035. That’s according to a new study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But the study also asserts that the mentality of car consumers will need to change.
Now that gas prices are sliding back down, one national survey found that car buyers already are rethinking their new obsession with high-mileage little cars. Edmunds.com research found that in July truck owners dramatically reduced the extent to which they cross-shopped in the other major vehicle segments—cars, crossovers and hybrids—compared with June. SUV owners were also fickle, but to a lesser extent.
If you were to visualize the most enthusiastic supporter of the much-touted Chevrolet Volt—someone who rallies thousands on its behalf, who blogs daily, whose influence and prestige garners invites to speak with top GM brass—what would that person look like? Probably not Lyle Dennis, a mild-mannered suburban neurologist from New Jersey.
Lotus, the British performance carmaker, Lotus, has introduced a new device that makes hybrid cars louder. Since hybrid cars first hit the market, concerns have been raised about the potential risk who may not hear hybrids in a cross-walk.
