Sub-Compacts & Mini’s

  • Chevy Spark concept

    In an atypically cryptic press release, General Motors today announced that it will be building a new small car at an unnamed idled UAW-staffed assembly plant here in the U.S. The new vehicle will be in addition to the already-planned 2011 Chevrolet Volt and Cruze, but it's not yet known which small car it will be. When the new small car will go into production also hasn't been disclosed, though with the Volt set to enter production late in 2010 and the Cruze aiming for an early 2010 release, it could be timed to fit between them, sometime in summer 2010. One small car candidate is the...

  • Volkswagen
    Report: VW working on Polo-based coupe

    Volkswagen may already be in the midst of preparing a new three-door version of its 2010 Polo hatchback, but a rumored coupe version due late next year promises to be even more attractive. The car would slot into VW’s lineup as a smaller sibling to the Scirocco coupe, with which it will share...

  • The Chevy Aveo is already built in Mexico
    Small car, hybrid sales taking a long drive off a short pier

    The short-sightedness of the car-buying public is breathtaking. It was just months ago that fears over $4 gas prices had people scurrying about, dumping loaded SUVs for a fraction of their purchase price and replacing them with smaller, more efficient vehicles. But today, with fuel well under $2...

  • 2010 Volkswagen Polo
    VW will sell sedan and hatch versions of Polo compact in U.S.

    The small-car surge in the U.S. was cut short last year when once-high fuel prices dropped as suddenly as they'd risen, but the future of the market seems clear: prices will rise again, and small cars will be the best solution. To that end, Volkswagen is planning to bring its 2010 Polo compact car...

  • Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion
    Volkswagen shows off 71mpg Polo BlueMotion concept car

    Volkswagen is set to expand its BlueMotion range of fuel misers with the launch of a new version based on the recently revealed fifth-generation Polo hatchback. While the Polo BlueMotion isn’t due to hit the streets until next year, a concept version of the car has made an appearance at...

  • Chevy Spark concept
    More photos of Chevrolet Spark revealed en route to Geneva Motor Show debut

    At last month’s Detroit Auto Show, General Motors confirmed that its all-new Chevrolet Spark minicar would go on sale in the United States by 2011 but apart from the release of a single teaser image no other details were revealed. GM has today released a set of new images of the upcoming...

  • 2008 audi a1 live paris 018

    Depending who you're talking to, Americans are either SUV-loving small-car haters or clamoring for more Euro-hatches to be brought to U.S. streets. Audi of America president Johan de Nysschen thinks most Americans fall into the former camp, saying that the country's car-buying populace just isn't ready for the A1 premium subcompact, despite statements to the contrary by global Audi personnel. The judgment comes from polling Audi's U.S. dealers, who apparently returned a resounding refusal to sell the A1 at a price tag around $25,500, reports Automotive News. "They said: 'This is impossible...

  • Ford Powershift transmission
    Ford launching dual-clutch transmission in U.S. in 2010

    In the never-ending pursuit of efficiency, performance and smooth power delivery, the next step forward for many carmakers is the adoption of the dual-clutch transmission. Once the province of high-end performance cars, dual-clutch units have been finding their way into everyday vehicles from...

  • The new Mazda3 hatchback
    Mazda-Ford relationship strained, weakening

    The tight and mutually beneficial relationship between Ford and Mazda has been an exemplar of symbiosis in the auto industry, but now that Ford has sold off its controlling interest in Mazda, that cooperation may be difficult or impossible due to legal roadblocks. Already the two companies are...

  • VW Polo BlueMotion at Geneva, 2007
    Report: Volkswagen considering sale of Polo in U.S.

    The small-car surge in the U.S. was cut short in 2008 when once-high fuel prices dropped as suddenly as they'd risen, but the future of the market seems clear: prices will rise again, and small cars will be the best solution. To that end, Volkswagen now appears to be contemplating bringing the Polo...

  • 2010 Chevrolet Spark
    Chevrolet Spark and Orlando confirmed for U.S. in 2011

    Chevrolet has confirmed today at the Detroit Auto Show that it will bring a new compact car called the Spark to the United States by 2011. This will be joined by a seven-seater compact MPV dubbed the Orlando at the same time in an effort to boost Chevrolet’s fuel efficiency ratings. More...

  • 2009 kia soul concept teaser 001
    Kia releases teaser for new Soul concept

    Kia has released a teaser image for an all new concept based on its Soul hatchback, despite details for the production version, due next year, already being released. Kia has announced that it will be showing the all new Soul concept to compliment the trio of concepts seen earlier this year at the...

  • Suzuki SX-4

    We've all heard the argument for why someone drives that big SUV instead of a fuel-sipping mini-car on their epic two-hour commute: crash safety. And while there's a good bit of sense to that point, at least from the SUV driver's perspective, small cars are improving their safety marks according to the latest round of Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) testing. Only one of the cars tested scored poorly, and though none did well enough to secure the IIHS 'Top Safety Pick' award, most did surprisingly well. The testing involves frontal and side impacts plus whiplash testing on the...

  • An artist's rendering of the new Topolino
    Fiat may launch family of new cars under 'Topolino' name

    Talk of the revival of the Topolino nameplate has been circulating for nearly a year, and in April Fiat took a positive step in the process of building a new B-segment car by buying a former Zastava plant in Serbia, and now new details reveal that the new car will be targeting newcomers like the...

  • 2009 Honda Fit Sport
    Honda may build Fit in U.S. to meet spiking demand

    The vagaries of the automotive market in the current economic situation are such that while some models, and even entire brands, sell poorly, some individual cars are going gangbusters. Thanks to its solid positioning as a functional, cute, inexpensive and efficient hatchback plus Honda's...

  • The Dodge Trazo Concept
    Chrysler unveils new Dodge Trazo compact car for Latin America

    Chrysler LLC launched into a new segment in Latin America today, with the introduction of the new Dodge Trazo at the São Paulo Motor Show. The Dodge Trazo C1.8 will be offered as a low-cost four-door sedan focused on fuel efficiency in select Latin American markets, including Brazil, Argentina...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Cruze
    General Motors looking at hatch and wagon variants for Cruze

    Despite the economic reality that smaller cars may end up costing their owners as much as larger cars, the small and mid-size segment is an incredibly important volume leader, and the Chevrolet Cruze is shaping up to be General Motors' prime entrant. As the Cruze progresses through its lifecycle...

  • 2009 John Cooper Works Mini Cooper
    Small car fuel savings offset by higher insurance costs

    Savings at the pump may be a false economy for small cars, as higher insurance costs offset the financial benefits of higher fuel efficiency. For many popular models, the difference in insurance costs can exceed $500, wiping out the savings of a car that gets 35mpg on average over one that gets...

  • Ford to produce B-Max for Europe, U.S. could be in the cards as well

    Small cars are the next step forward for better fuel economy and functional urban transport, and Ford has already announced it will be building six new models in Europe, and using them to broaden the U.S. lineup. One of those six is thought to be the all-new B-Max, designed to fit between the Fiesta and the C-Max. Though some Romanian news outlets have pegged the B-Max as the successor to the Euro-market Fusion, sources in Germany indicate the car is its own niche, and will actually be marketed at a space below the C-Max, reports Auto Motor & Sport. It's not being considered a follow-up to...

  • 2009 mitsubishi colt official photos 002
    Mitsubishi's new Colt does away with diesel, gains Ralliart edition

    Late last week Mitsubishi revealed details about its planned lineup for next month’s Paris Motor Show, announcing the debut of three new vehicles including one never-before-seen model. The lineup was to include the upcoming Lancer Sportback, first revealed back in June, the new Racing Lancer...

  • hyundai i10 main 630 1
    Small cars still too small for U.S.?

    The floor dropped out of the market for SUVs and pickups this year, and Americans were supposedly replacing them with small cars. But what's small in America isn't what's small in the rest of the world, and truly small cars appear to continue to get short shrift. The latest evidence of this fact is...

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