Hybrids

German independent vehicle manufacturer Karmann shut its doors for the last time late last month as the company heads into bankruptcy but the move may not be final according to latest reports. Karmann has reportedly inked a $14 million deal with Volkswagen to help with the development and supply of...

While big brand automakers like Toyota and General Motors are still more than a year away from launching their respective plug-in hybrid vehicles, small start-ups such as California's Fisker Automotive intends on having its own plug-in hybrid on sale this November. The company today took a step...

When General Motors sells Saturn later this year, it will lose more than a quarter of its sales of hybrid vehicles. Saturn, with no V8 models, fullsize SUVs or pickups, is GM’s most fuel-efficient brand and is second only to Chevrolet for overall hybrid sales with its Vue and Aura mild-hybrid...

Tesla has announced that it is partnering with the Bank of America to offer a range of new financing packages for its all-electric Roadster in the hope to "significantly" expand the number of customers who can experience the groundbreaking Bank of America will directly finance, document, and...

It seems these days that a new electric sports car concept is announced almost every month but it's not often that we get to see the actual concept in the metal, so to speak, or in the case of the new E-Rod, in the carbon-fiber composite. The E-Rod electric roadster is the latest creation of German...

Hyundai is moving into the hybrid business quickly, with its first petrol-electric model expected to debut in South Korea this July and the U.S. by next year. A couple of years after that the automaker sees itself launching more advanced plug-in hybrid vehicles, with a sports car variant expected...

The new 2010 Buick Lacrosse has made waves with its attractive design and overall build quality since its unveiling at the Detroit Auto Show in January. Soon after that General Motors increased the appeal of the car by announcing that it will be available with not only a 3.0L and 3.6L V6, but also...

Although the relative silence of hybrid vehicles has made them the choice of TV gangsters for drive-by shootings, the rest of the world is less than enamored with the difficulty involved in hearing one coming - especially when trying to cross the street. This phenomenon has inspired companies like...

America’s Tesla Roadster is currently the electric car king when it comes to zero emissions performance cars but British car company Lightning is hard at work preparing a new 700hp (522kW) rival for the Tesla Roadster that it hopes to have in production next year. After that Lightning will...

Just ten days ago, General Motors denied a story that it was planning to license Toyota's hybrid Synergy Drive system, but today a new report has broken claiming Toyota could offer GM the Prius hybrid, to be re-branded as a GM product. Aside from being completely off the wall, the report doesn't...

It's easy to blame the economy or the consequent poor car market for the delay of diesels from Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Nissan and Toyota, but that hasn't kept the Germans at BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen from turning up the wick on oil-burners. In fact, it's quite the...

At first glance, there's very little to differentiate the main contenders for your hybrid sedan dollar - the new Insight looks remarkably like the Prius. For that matter, so does the upcoming Chevrolet Volt. Aerodynamic necessity is a harsh master. But General Motors is planning to set the Volt...

The RX line of SUVs has been Lexus' best-selling luxury utility vehicle since its launch in 1998, and the new generation takes the vehicle into a larger, more powerful realm, while at the same time adding new efficiency-enhancing measures in the hybrid model. Currently, the RX SUV range is...

Honda’s recent financial troubles may have claimed the NSX-replacement and the automaker’s F1 efforts but it won’t stop plans to launch a new hybrid sports car next year based on the 2007 CR-Z concept car. The new model is currently being designed and engineered in Europe, its...

In March of 2008 BMW first announced plans to establish a new research division called ‘Project i,’ whose task would be to develop a number of solutions for a vehicle designed for congested city motoring. The goal of Project i was never to exclusively develop one type of vehicle or...

Despite its small size, Tesla Motor Company, builder of the famed Roadster electric sports car, is as embattled as any major manufacturer these days. Between a lawsuit from a former CEO and materials costs far beyond the asking price of the Roadster, things haven't been going well lately. Things...

As the world's automakers go back to the drawing board on what they need to compete in today's market, both structurally and in terms of product, parts sharing and efficiency are increasingly becoming key concepts. The next-generation of the Mercedes Benz ML-Class SUV could embrace both concepts...

As automakers seek ways to create more efficient cars without compromising power or driveability, eyes are increasingly turning to new technologies and ideas. One of the leaders in this field is BMW, which has already shown off several innovative ideas such as using electricity generated by exhaust...

President Bush signed the $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program into life last year, but for the past 8 months, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has sat on the money, carefully evaluating applications to see which companies would make the best use of the funds...

Promises about electric vehicles are a dime a dozen, and so far no one - not even Tesla - has managed to deliver a real daily-driving production car in volume. Nissan has so far promised to deliver its first electric vehicle by 2010, although initially it will be available only to commercial fleet...