First Drive

Baby Of The Family Will Play A Big Role Toyota's new 2012 Prius C doesn't look like a math problem, but that's what it is. Hidden behind its attractive hatchback body and Toyota Synergy Drive hybrid powertrain, the Prius C is just a bunch of numbers. Numbers like the car's miles per gallon ...

VW Finally Rediscovers Its (Very) Small Car Roots Big old Volkswagen is back to thinking small, and it's finally doing it right. After two frankly awful attempts at supplying the rest of the world with cheap tin boxes called Fox and Lupo, company bosses have done some soul searching and this is ...

Would you buy a vehicle without driving, touching or even seeing it? We know we wouldn't, but that's exactly what Lisa Osborne of Ontario, Canada did in late September. The Windsor-area resident became one of the first Chevrolet Volt buyers in Canada after she drove all the way to a Toronto-area ...

A quick spin in the Laguna EV at the epicenter of the Better Place project Ask any addict why they don't quit, and they'll probably tell you it comes down to one sticking point. The addiction could be to caffeine or cocaine, but whatever the excuse – from work stress and social factors to ...

Appealing To Both The Fast And Frugal

It is time for enthusiasts to embrace hybrid powertrain technology. A few short years ago, the mention of "hybrid power" conjured up images of low displacement engines, tiny electric boost motors ...

PSA Peugeot-Citroen has turned to GS Yuasa for lithium-ion battery packs for the automakers' upcoming commercial electric vans. The batteries will be manufactured at a Ritto, Shiga Prefecture plant owned by Lithium Energy Japan, a joint venture between GS Yuasa and Mitsubishi Motors. This plant, ...

A Solid Electric CUV, For A Prototype Ahh, the joys of driving a prototype vehicle. During the annual Toyota Sustainable Mobility Seminar in San Diego, California this week, Toyota brought in a handful of all-electric RAV4 EVs for us to tool around in, but there were some caveats: The route was ...

Stop the presses! Fisker Automotive has confirmed Job One of its Karma plug-in hybrid. According to Ward's Auto, the lines at Valmet Automotive in Finland are a rollin' and production-spec Karmas are "coming down," says Roger Ormisher, a spokesman for the automaker. Ormisher told Ward's Auto ...

Apparently, the range anxiety meme isn't enough. The latest anti-electric vehicle (EV) topic to make a comeback is that EVs might give you cancer (previous post). Writing in Slate, Matthew DeBord calls back the potential threat posed by electromagnetic fields (EMF) in electric cars. The title of ...

Nissan has gone into a back room, pulled out its Ouija board and decided that the time is right to make a huge bet. The Japanese automaker, along with its partner Renault, wants to be the world leader in pure electric vehicles. Even ...