Autoblog

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The upcoming Paris Motor Show is going to show us some very nice green rides. To wit: the new Honda Insight, aka Prius-fighter (alternate name: the Prius-lookalike), the Mazda Kiyora concept and the Hyundai i20 i-blue. What's your top pick from the City of Lights?

• Confirmed: Volt will debut at GM's Centennial party
• Paris Preview: Honda Insight concept to be new global hybrid
• GM Hybrid sales slowly picking up some steam: 1,629 deliveries in August
• Detroit Electric goes Dutch with Europe Electric cars and Proton
• Paris Preview: Hyundai will show new 59 mpg i20 i-blue concept
• Gale Banks talks about developing high performance diesel engines
• Paris Preview: Hyundai Santa Fe hybird
• EPA to NHTSA: Go higher on new CAFE standards!
• Citroën to debut new Hypnos hybrid 'ute in Paris
• Paris Preview: "Clean and Pure" Mazda Kiyora concept
• Latest ploy to get people to leave the car at home: free showers
• Carticipate: meet friendly carpooling strangers on your iPhone
• New CO₂ limits for 2015 instead?
• Our Renewable Nation: just a simple family road trip to electric car companies across the U.S.
• Hawaii's Big Island gets new biomass power plant
• Aptera hires Paul Wilbur as new president and CEO, looking to build new plant

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Well, here's a good chance to get a few people riled up: bicyclists in the UK say that Range Rover drivers are the worst. Now, if you don't feel offended, then see if you made the list of the drivers who came in close to the top (BMW lovers, we're looking at you). Over in China, BYD has decided that the new F0 should be sold cheaply. So cheaply, in fact, that the company will only make $146 in profit on each car. Ouch.

• Cyclists: Range Rover drivers worst on the road
• Ford hybrid gets Fringe treatment on TV this fall
• Transformers 2 Volt's secret identity revealed!
• GM makes 9 of the 10 most efficient American cars
• Chrysler dealers to get preview of three new EVs this month
• Consumer Reports says that some hybrids do pay off - quickly
• Official leakage: The new Mégane III
• Hyper-miling couple going for trans-continental mileage record
• Smart Fortwo a good fit for Tall Persons Club member
• Audi R10 TDI clinches American Le Mans Series P1 championship
• This isn't the first scooter boom in the U.S.
• Spain will offer carpoolers lower toll booth costs
• BYD ready to sell the F0 for a whopping $146 in profit
• Lutz calls for crash test break so small cars can be brought to U.S.
• Ten years and all Smart can find is five dozen photos? Pshaw
• Inaugural VW Jetta TDI cup season half-way home
• Some politicians want to mandate 100% flex fuel capability

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Are the Chevy Volt's batteries like diamonds? According to GM's Bob Lutz, the answer seems to be yes. For Zipcar, all the people saying "yes" to car sharing doesn't necessarily mean profits are rolling in. But what about that huge Hummer? Well, it's quite the bummer.

• Lutz says Volt's batteries are "flawless"
• Smart ED test is in full swing in Islington, UK
• Free hybrid alert: win a Lexus RX 400h SUV for a year
• Holden emboldened by lack of Chrysler success, offers cheap gas
• Bummer Hummer burns at Burning Man 2008
• Dubai public transportation to be all hybrid by 2012
• Toyota to start leasing fuel cell vehicle in Japan
• Profits absent as Zipcar grows
• European parliament scales back CO₂ emissions limits
• Honda to debut Prius-fighter concept this Thursday
• Ener1 CEO paints rosy future for li-ion battery technology
• Toyota reportedly prepping hybrid version of new iQ mini
• Darryl Hannah converting "Kill Bill" Trans Am to EV
• BMW slashing production of big engines, shifting to four cylinders
• Bosch-Samsung JV, SB LiMotive Co. Ltd officially starts operations

If there's one vehicle that's leading the pack for "Car of the Future, Today," it's the Toyota Prius. The world's most popular hybrid will have it's own plug-in version sooner than expected, but the competition isn't waiting to try and take its hybrid crown. Honda's "Prius fighter" has been talked about for what seems like ages (spy shots here) and we're getting awfully close to seeing the real deal. We already know it'll look something like the fuel cell-driven FCX Clarity, but details beyond that are scarce. We had been told the reveal would happen at the Paris Motor Show next month, but word from Honda is that we'll now see it in just 48 hours when the concept version is revealed on Thursday, Sept. 4th. After that we can view the concept in person at the Paris show, and then the production version is expect to bow at the Detroit Auto Show in January.

Honda will begin selling the car early next year and word is that it will be affordable. While the official MSRP is still a long way off, Honda's UK environmental manager John Kingston told Just-Auto (sub. req'd) that it should not cost more than "traditional cars from rival manufacturers." Hybrid premium, what hybrid premium? On the technical front, the size of the car's revised Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid system has been reduced and the lighter powerplant will help push up its MPG numbers. What those are remains a mystery, but Honda is expecting to sell around 200,000 of these puppies a year, with half of those being bought in the U.S. Sounds good, now can we just see the thing already?

[Source: Just-Auto via CarScoop]

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Don't we all wish this were true.

• Ener1: Lithium ion battery prices may be cut in half
• Carpooling online: will Facebook app make Zimride work?
• Pininfarina / Bollore electric car project stays on the road
• Proton beefs up GEN-2 with dual-fuel capability
• Detroit Electric turns to Europe for investment, technology
• VIDEO: Larry Nitz talks about the plug-in Saturn Vue hybrid
• GM holds biofuels summit at Detroit Grand Prix

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Yes, there is news about the world's cheapest car, the Tata Nano. Yes, it looks like we will have plug-in Priuses earlier than expected. Yes, the Miles XS500 got some good news. But really, the only thing we'd like you to focus on is this: electric landspeeder.

• Watch out for Sand People: Electric Landspeeder replica
• Fleet tests of plug-in Prius moved up to early 2009, no retail timetable yet
• Nano's future less clear thanks to plant siege
• Fisker planning four hybrids by 2012?
• Rendered Speculation: Honda's dedicated hybrid
• Toyota notices electric car bandwagon, jumps on
• Boston taxi fleet to be hybrid by 2015
• Taking an in-depth look at the Obama energy proposals including a VC fund
• Ethanol takes a stage at Republican National Convention
• Financial Times confirms Tesla to supply batteries for electric Smart
• Corsa Motorsports to debut hybrid LMP1 car at Petit Le Mans
• Is Mazda working on an extended range electric vehicle?
• Hafei Saibao EV passes crash test; good news for Miles' XS500

More headlines after the break.

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Is this leaked shot of the interior of the Chevy Volt real? We'll find out soon enough, but whatever is is, it sure is sleek. For some real, on-the-road reports, check out the review of the Toyota iQ and the new Ford Fiesta. These aren't marquee models, but for now this is how people will be able to have private cars and lowered fuel use without breaking the bank.

• Spy Shot: Production interior of Chevy Volt (maybe)
• NICE: big automakers won't bring us electric cars
• IRC: lightweight cars = higher injury claim costs
• Last Vespa PX has rolled down the line
• Cost of Kentucky Zap plant more than doubles to $184 million
• BMW has biggest reduction in CO₂ of any major automaker
• More than 120 teams ready to compete in Auto X Prize
• Vauxhall launches the Astra ecoFlex
• Electric car from Audi to be a Volkswagen up!?
• Splinter supercar gets its wooden debut
• First road test of the new Ford Fiesta
• Spy Shots: Chevy Tacuma mini-MPV spotted testing
• Chrysler's bipartisan bailout "partnership for technology transformation" effort
• Toyota IQ passes the Edmunds road test
• Japanese firms to build solar-powered car ship
• Ford's got tips that can reduce fuel use by 24 percent
• Two new manufacturers may join ALMS to participate in Green Challenge
• VIDEO: Mitsubishi boss talks about electric car plans

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If you've ever wanted to drive coast-to-coast in an electric car, you're not alone. Hopefully you can make the trip in a slightly less expensive manner, though, as $150,000 is a bit much for that car. Speaking of pricey, is the Viper too much these days? If you think so, take a look at the new Fiesta. Sane, practical, frugal. Would you get one?

• New Ford EcoBoost 3.5L V6 engine smiles for the camera
• Ethanol being blamed for small engine failures
• GM gets tax breaks from Flint for new Volt engine plant
• Luxury Electric announces full size electric car trans-continental trip at DNC
• Woodward 2009: NextCruise coming back for another go!
• Illinois will get eco-friendly BMW-MINI dealership
• USA National Gas Temperature Map
• Is Japan ready for the EV revolution? Sure looks like it
• Marauding electric scooter gang goes on college campus rampage
• Hey automaker! How's your CO₂ quota for the week?
• Chevy Tahoe hybrid gets all POTUS '08 in Denver
• Ford starts small car conversion with $75 million at Michigan truck plant
• Chrysler ready to put the bite on Viper
• New Fiesta debuting in the UK with lower prices, insurance and higher residuals

Promise people the sky and you're sure to get some attention. That's what the folks at FOSH automotive did and then turned around and suckered people into reading a pro-McCain, anti-abortion rant that, frankly, is pretty distasteful. Good thing we're going to remember just how low some people will stoop.

On the brighter side of things, we can at least dream of a Jaguar hybrid and a VW Polo in the U.S. while we wait for Daryl Hannah on the Daily Show. Really cleans the palette, doesn't it?

• Fosh Automotive = Hoax (and an anti-Barack Obama one at that)
• Spy Shots: First-ever Jaguar hybrid on its way?
• Tesla Roadsters reportedly experience glitches during Euro test drives
• Electric Vehicle Rolling Showcase brings Daryl Hannah to the Daily Show
• Electric Jeep DJ-5E undergoing restoration in Canada
• GM powertrain plans: high-tech, low weight
• Will VW's Polo come to the U.S. market?
• Big Ink's Prius fleet gets Ink-wrapped
• Video: Oil addiction and biofuel dangers simplified
• Market for heavy duty hybrids drives Eaton expansion
• Toyota offers up social site Heya, but there's no Outkast beat
• EnerDel ramping up battery production to supply Th!nk
• Miles EVs doing Mile High duty for Dems in Denver
• Toyota to crank up home market hybrid prices
• Getting mores MPG from the Jaguar XK-R
• Methane from landfills provides fuel for garbage trucks
• July gasoline sales in Minnesota down 9% while E85 jumps 16%
• Electric Vehicle Rolling Showcase brings Daryl Hannah to the Daily Show

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Design. It's certainly a cornerstone of the auto industry. And as cars get cleaner from a fuel/emissions perspective, the look often does, too. What should we make of the Hinterland 1 concept car, then? I think there might be clone troopers inside, while the exterior - and interior - of the new Ed Hardy® Smart is also a place where design runs wild. That should delight more than a few people. As for the design of the rumored Cadillac "Volt", well, we'll just have to wait and see.

• Looks of a aerotank, heart of a hybrid: the Hinterland 1 concept car
• Range-extended electric-vehicle to come from Cadillac?
• Mahindra puts trucks on holding pattern till late '09
• $84 million ZAP! plant for Kentucky to be announced today
• Three of the fastest EVs meet for lunch
• Will lithium battery costs ever come down?
• Tatoos and upgrades galore on limited edition Ed Hardy® Smart
• Cadillac to reportedly offer new smaller four cylinder sedan in 2010
• Volvo launching hybrid bus at Hanover
• BMW to focus on green tech, not supercars
• Next-gen Saturn Astra to be built in the U.S.
• Which cars would a President Obama or McCain promote?
• IndyCars expected to switch to down-sized turbocharged engines
• BYD getting Israeli partner to compete with Renault and Better Place
• Seat Ibiza Ecomotive gets "most ecological vehicle award" in Germany