Toyota RAV4 News

  • brabus smart fortwo electric drive 003

    It's often cited as an advantage of electric cars, but it's also one of the biggest potential danger zones: silence. It makes for peaceful - if somewhat eerie - cruising at speed, but it also poses a huge risk to pedestrians and other road users. So Brabus is doing something about it in the case of the Smart ForTwo Electric drive (ED). Lotus Engineering and a number of research and automotive firms and governmental entities have come up with solutions that offer realistic exhaust sounds to those outside the cabin, and it's not clear which solution Brabus is using, but it's able to replicate a...

  • Mitsubishi i-MiEV
    Mitsubishi reveals 2020 environmental roadmap

    Looking ahead to year 2020, the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the company, Mitsubishi today announced its new ‘Group Environmental Vision 2020’ roadmap for its future environmental and sustainable motoring policies. The new environmental roadmap directs Mitsubishi’s...

  • 2008 nissan nuvu concept 001
    Nissan could be first to get DOE's advanced car funds with $1.1B loan

    It's a rare thing to remark on the government's hesitation to spend money these days, but that's precisely the case of the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program. The government set aside $25 billion to fund the program last year, but to date...

  • BMW Munich headquarters
    BMW wants to develop its EV technology completely in-house

    Since the release of BMW’s official strategy back in September 2007, media sources around the world have speculated about the carmaker looking to either launch its own new brand or acquire one to help its expansion. Instead, BMW established a new environmental think-tank dubbed 'Project i'...

  • 2008 Nissan Nuvu electric vehicle concept
    Nissan’s first EV will be unmistakable on the roads

    Nissan may be releasing a new all-electric vehicle next year, but the styling of the car has yet to be finalized, which makes speculation about its appearance rather difficult. To help us out, Nissan's chief designer Shiro Nakamura has come out and provided some clues about the new EV's styling...

  • Chrysler Auburn Hills headquarters
    Report: Fiat picks 3 directors for restructured Chrysler

    Only yesterday it was announced that former Chairman of Borden Chemical and of Duracell International, Robert Kidder, would preside over a restructured Chrysler as its new CEO, but already reports have emerged claiming Fiat has appointed three new directors for the struggling carmaker. In the lead...

  • C. Robert Kidder to head Chrysler

    Nearly three weeks into Chrysler's bankruptcy and the global strategic alliance between Fiat and Chrysler comes news today that C. Robert Kidder - not Sergio Marchionne - will play the role of CEO for Chrysler after the bankruptcy. The news, which comes directly from Chrysler, contradicts a statement previously made by spokesman for Fiat indicating that Marchionne would take the top job. "Marchionne will be the new chief executive of Chrysler after the procedure," a Fiat spokesman told to the Associated Press about a week ago, referring to bankruptcy protection for Chrysler and clearance by a...

  • Better Place battery switch station at work
    Better Place shows off its automated EV battery switching station

    Shai Agassi's ambitious Better Place project has been rolling out plans for test-market EVs around the world for over a year now, and today the project took a huge leap forward with the demonstration of its first automated battery swapping station. The proof-of-concept facility was demonstrated in...

  • Renault Kangoo be bop ZE
    Renault unveils the Kangoo be bop ZE electric demonstrator

    The Internet is awash with electric vehicle demonstration vehicles, but few have as much oddball spark as the new Kangoo be bop ZE. Based around the standard be bop, but with zero emissions (hence the ZE) capabilities, the car is to be used as a test vehicle to show off what its EV platform can do...

  • nissan zev prototype 002
    More details on Nissan's compact electric car, due in U.S. by late 2010

    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. That didn't stop Nissan's product planning director Mark Perry from confirming a 2010 U.S. launch for a five-seat electric car back in...

  • Chrysler Auburn Hills headquarters
    Government preparing for possible Chrysler bankruptcy

    As the April 30 deadline for Chrysler to restructure its business looms closer, the Treasury department has begun to prepare a bankruptcy filing for the struggling carmaker. The news highlights the severity of Chrysler's situation should it fail to enact a deal with Italian auto giant Fiat, but the...

  • Chrysler Auburn Hills headquarters
    Chrysler creditors offer to swap debt for equity

    Chrysler's race to turn its debts into equity took a major turn for the better today, with an offer from a group of banks and hedge funds that hold almost $7 billion in debt. The group is proposing to exchange around $2.5 billion of Chrysler's debt, but only in exchange for close to 40% of the...

  • 2009 Alfa Romeo MiTo GTA

    Negotiations between Chrysler and Fiat regarding an alliance have now turned to production capabilities, and an anonymous source has revealed that three Chrysler plants are under consideration for possible re-tooling, at which point they will build Fiat vehicles, as well as Chrysler-badged vehicles built on Fiat platforms. The three production plants being considered include Chrysler's Canadian MPV plant in Windsor, Ontario, across the river from Detroit, as well as a plant in the U.S. and Mexico. The Windsor plant in Canada currently builds the Chrysler Town & Country, as well as the Dodge...

  • Nissan Cube EV prototype
    Arizona joins growing list of states for Renault-Nissan EV pilot program

    Nissan's electric vehicle (EV) involvement in Project Better Place programs in Denmark and Israel, plus test fleets in its home market of Japan will be joined by a new agreement with the state of Arizona. The deal will have cars hitting the streets of Phoenix late next year, and will see...

  • Nice Mycar EV
    UK promises hybrid and electric car subsidies of up to $7,500

    The British government is the latest body to offer subsidies for hybrid and electric cars as part of a greater effort to increase the vehicles’ popularity and help encourage motorists to purchase more environmentally-friendly vehicles. The subsidies will range from about $3,000 to $4,000 but...

  • Tesla Roadster
    Tesla roadster goes 241 miles on a single charge - while rallying

    One of the biggest criticisms of electric vehicles is the limited driving range they offer when compared with conventional diesel and petrol powered cars. However, the belief that driving an electric vehicle will leave you stranded after a couple dozen miles is starting to lose credibility, fast...

  • EV Innovations Wave
    EV Innovations preps Wave EV for $7.5 million X Prize

    Picture it: 200mi on a single charge, 80mph top speed and a purchase price of just $30,000 - not a recipe for success for a standard combustion engine car, but a very reasonable proposition for a mass-market electric car. And that's exactly what EV Innovations is proposing with its Wave electric...

  • 2009 i miev prototype 001
    Mitsubishi confirms i-MiEV for U.S.

    Already angling for sales in excess of 20,000 units annually, Mitsubishi took the opportunity of the New York Auto Show to announce it will be selling the i-MiEV electric car in the U.S. and other global markets. The car is already in testing in California, Oregon, Tucson and elsewhere, but the...

  • Fiat and Chrysler logos

    At the end of March the President's task force on the industry put a 30-day window on Chrysler and Fiat reaching an alliance agreement. Just hours later Chrysler announced the two companies had signed off on the deal. That turned out to be premature, but the deal is still being developed, with new details of how it will be structured emerging today. A series of benchmark targets for Fiat and Chrysler cooperation would gradually increase Fiat's stake in Chrysler, allowing it to grow the initial 20% stake that has been previously confirmed as the starting point of a Chrysler-Fiat alliance...

  • Mitsubishi i-MiEV
    Mitsubishi shooting for 20,000 iMiEV electrics per year by 2011

    The industry is in pain, but it's still planning for the future. Today that's clear nowhere more so than at Mitsubishi, which has just announced it will be upping its production target of the iMiEV to 20,000 units annually by 2012 up 200% on previous goals of 10,000 per year. Output targets for...

  • Nissan Denki cube concept car
    U.S. consumers may be able to buy Nissan EVs by next year

    It's not often that major automakers push production dates ahead in time rather than back, especially with the current economic conditions, but Nissan might be doing just that with its electric vehicle program. While earlier Nissan was claiming that its first mass-produced electric vehicle would...

  • nissan zev prototype 003
    Nissan to show off new-generation zero-emissions vehicle in San Diego

    As the traditional car industry struggles against a lack of consumer credit, economic instability and its own growing pains, several of the major players are forging ahead with next-generation vehicle programs, including all-electric zero emissions vehicles (ZEVs). Nissan has been at the forefront...

  • Fiat Panda Cross
    Jeep’s future will likely include compact Fiat Panda Cross

    Following the announcement of the proposed alliance between Fiat and Chrysler in January, the question on everybody’s lips was which European top-sellers were finally going to come to North America. Stylish compact cars like the Fiat 500 and Bravo were suddenly a very real possibility for...

  • President Barack Obama
    Obama approves $2.4 billion in electric vehicle funding

    Calling the U.S. federal government's expenditures under the end of President Bush's tenure and the beginning of President Obama's a 'spending spree' is to beggar the term understatement. But in many instances, there hasn't been a valid alternative aside from letting parts of the economy wither and...

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