small car

The Toyota Prius has put in its time as the benchmark for hybrids and fuel efficient vehicles on American roads. For Scott Burns, it's put in time as a family car as well, and one he's been incredibly happy with. Burns, writing in the Houston Chronicle, says owning a 2003 first-generation Toyota ...

Nissan is taking the careful approach as it brings out its second electric vehicle. To show off the car's practicality, Nissan gave seven moms in suburban Japan the chance to test drive the New Mobility Concept vehicle to see how it works transporting their kids, going shopping and running ...

General Motors is touting some numbers it has, showing that its venture into the low-priced, high mileage mini-car segment seems to be paying off by bringing in young and female buyers who've never owned a Chevrolet before. Since launching in the summer of 2012, the 2013 Chevrolet Spark has sold ...

The Brazilian Hyundai subsidiary has launched a Brazil-only flex-fuel model called the HB20. It will be manufactured at its new plant in Piracicaba, Brazil, which starts production September 20 ahead of an early October sales launch. Hyundai decided to bring its first Brazil-exclusive car to ...

Come 2013, Toyota will have launched a subcompact vehicle designed specifically for buyers in China. So says Nikkei, a Japanese news outlet. This subcompact will reportedly be powered by a 1.5-liter engine and will be slightly larger ...

Sure, there's an increased emphasis on small cars here in America and all around the rest of the world, with brands like Smart and Mini vying for customers that think it's a big deal to go small. But none ...

Finally, after years and years of stagnation and painfully slow sales, small cars are starting to grab a foothold in the United States. Or are they? While conventional wisdom makes us believe that Americans are ready to take the ...

Chrysler's international sales in both the minivan and pickup categories are strong, but the company lacks strong small vehicle sales outside of the U.S. In Canada, Chrysler may be fairing well in the light truck market, but is virtually non-existent in both the B-segment and the C-segment of ...

General Motors has given the green light to produce a new small sedan at its Uzbekistan YoAJ joint-venture facility. The sedan, expected to be slightly longer than the Spark pictured above, will be engineered in Brazil and ...

Despite rumors of Daimler and Renault collaborating on a four-door Smart model, no official tie-up between the two companies has been announced. That could change next year when Daimler will reportedly decide who its small-car partner will be. Daimler is getting even more heavily into the ...

The Tata Nano, the diminutive Indian four-door econobox rumored to eventually arrive in U.S. showrooms, has reportedly passed current European impact testing. According to Autocar, the offset front and side impact tests took place at the ...

in an op-ed piece published in the Wall Street Journal, Alan Reynolds of the Cato Institute starts by making a few decent points about fuel taxation and fuel economy rules. Unfortunately, he undermines himself with some blatant ...

When the new Mazda2 debuted at the 2007 Geneva Motor Show many of us were disappointed to learn that it probably would not be coming to the US market. Times have changed, though, and It now looks like the car might actually make it here in the second half of ...

A lot is lost in the transition from a Hummer to a smart. We tend to focus on the benefits: the lost fuel bills and reduced vehicular emissions, and that's not going to change any time soon, we being AutoblogGreen and all. Some people, though, are finding that they miss their larger fuel-guzzlers ...

Even though gasoline prices are down to almost $2 per gallon around here as election day approaches, Ford CEO Alan Mulally apparently doesn't think the current situation will last. Mulally told Automotive News that the Dearborn automaker is staying the course on its plan to introduce a half dozen ...

If your goal is to do nothing more than cutting down your petroleum usage for either political or environmental reasons, a small car or hybrid seems to be the way to go. If your desire is solely to save money, there are many more costs to factor into your decision. One of them is insurance, as a ...

Worried that the trend towards smaller cars in the United States is going to result in more injuries? It's a rational concern, especially for those who are used to driving in full-size cars, trucks and SUVs and are normally surrounded by two or more tons of metal. But, light weight does not ...

The General, along with the rest of the American automakers, has a long established history of making the most profits from the largest vehicles. Small cars from the Detroit 3 have therefore fallen way behind the imports when it comes to desirability. GM Global Design Chief Ed Welburn went so far ...

click above for high-res gallery of the 2008 MINI Cooper ClubmanDoes good fuel mileage necessarily equal poor performance? Must low emission regulations put an end to driving enjoyment? No, of course not. The days of fuel-sipping penalty boxes are long gone, as even today's crop of hybrid vehicles ...

click the Toyota iQ for high res galleryWith the rather healthy sales numbers currently being posted by the smart fortwo in the U.S., Toyota seems very excited about the prospect of offering its iQ here. Still, the tiny car will be launched first in Japan, followed by Europe at the beginning of ...