Porsche Gets All Excited About the New Panamera S E-Hybrid

Only a very limited number of alternatively powered cars even come remotely close conjuring up an emotional response from their driver, as they are usually compromised in some annoying way that spoils the entire experience. Read more »

Mazda Confirms Sedan and Hybrid Versions of New Mazda3, Plus HD Gallery and Videos

You didn't think it we were done with the all-new generation of the Mazda3 hatchback after the leaked photos and official details on the North American specification model, did you?

What we have to share with you now is fresh information along with high-resolution photographs and videos on the series following the official release of the car in Europe and Japan. Talking about Mazda's home market, the automaker confirmed plans to release a sedan version of the new "3" sporting a hybrid electric powertrain in Japan. Mazda did not say if and when it will offer the hybrid in other markets.

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New Honda Accord Hybrid Rated at 47 MPG Combined, Goes on Sale this October

Honda announced today that the new Accord Hybrid will arrive in dealerships across the U.S. this October. As you would expect, the hybrid sedan features the same styling found on the regular Accord, but comes with added elements such as a unique hybrid badging, blue-accented grille and light lenses, LED daytime running lights, a dedicated wheel design and a decklid spoiler. Read more »

Jay Leno Drives the Cadillac ELR, Says It’s a Different Kind of Fun

While the Cadillac ELR uses the Chevrolet Volt’s front-wheel drive platform and Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) hybrid powertrain, GM hates it when the ELR is compared to the more mundane Volt.

More luxurious, more powerful and more beautiful than the Volt (personal opinion here), the Cadillac ELR will also be much more expensive when in launches in 2014, with analysts estimating the ELR’s starting price between $60,000 and $70,000 – roughly double the Volt’s price.

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Nissan Announces Intention to "Electrify Le Mans" with Race Car Teaser

Electrification has begun to seep into motor racing, and for some particular races, an EV presents genuine advantages over an internal-combustion-powered vehicle – Pikes Peak, for instance. There’s even an all-electric series called Formula E, which is already stirring up a bit of interest.

However, even the classic forms of motorsport have been affected, and the 2014 Le Mans race will be featuring an entry from Nissan, which is preparing its electrified race car as we speak – they are set to reveal it on June 21.

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Seat Unveils Leon Verde Plug-In Hybrid Prototype

Seat has presented a plug-in hybrid prototype based on the latest Leon compact hatchback as part of the Cenit Verde public-private project, which is devoted to the study and development of the technologies designed to facilitate the introduction of the electric vehicle in Spain. Read more »

Scoop: 2015 Toyota Prius Hybrid Looks the Same on the Outside, Different Inside, or is it?

The Prius isn't Toyota's best-selling (yet) or oldest nameplate, but it's a car that crafted a new niche in its segment and single-handedly made hybrids popular all over the world, forcing many other carmakers to follow the Japanese brand's lead.

Every generation of the Prius (there have been three up until now), improves upon the previous and increases its market share, and we don't expect anything less from the new model that should arrive by 2015.

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VW XL1 Hybrid Falls Close to 40 Percent Short of Economy Claims in Automobile Mag Test

Volkswagen made big claims about the efficiency of their purpose-built XL1 diesel-hybrid. They claimed the car was good for 261 mpg US, which equates to 0.9 l/100km in the Metric system.  However, at a recent test drive event organized by VW, a handful of journalists were given the chance to drive the mid-engined XL1, so that they could share their thoughts.

Automobile Magazine was also represented at the event, and their own test reveals something very interesting about the XL1. Sure, it’s very efficient, because it was specifically built with that purpose in mind, but it’s not as near as efficient as the lab tests would have you believe.

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Toyota Issues Recall for 242,000 Prius and Lexus HS 250h Hybrids Over Brake Glitch

Japan's Toyota group said on Wednesday that it will conduct a worldwide voluntary safety recall of around 242,000 Toyota Prius and Lexus HS 250h hybrid vehicles made between March and October 2009 (2010MY), including approximately 87,000 cars in the United States. Read more »

Chevy Volt Owner Tells Scary Story of Unintended Acceleration…

An owner of a 2013 model-year Chevrolet Volt made a forum post last week with the grim title “An Open Letter to GM - Fix this before someone dies!”. He describes his own unfortunate experience at the wheel of the range-extender hybrid, when it accelerated on its own and required some effort to bring to a halt safely.

We will let Gm-volt.com member "lsteiner" tell his story, first:

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Ford Hybrid Sales in the First Five Months of 2013 Beat 2010 Full-Year Record

Ford announced it has surpassed its previous full-year hybrid sales record set in 2010 of 35,496 vehicles in the first five months of 2013. Through May, Ford is projected to sell around 37,000 hybrid vehicles, accounting for an increase of around 375 percent over the same period last year. Read more »

First Pre-Production Cadillac ELR Comes to Life at GM's Detroit Plant

General Motor as well as AOL Autos (the latter on its Facebook page - we don't know the hows and whys) have shared photos of the first Cadillac ELR range-extended electric coupe as it was rolling off the line at General Motors’ Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant this week.

However, as pointed out by AOL-owned Autoblog.com, this is a pre-production version of the ELR not made for customers, but for GM engineers who will use these first examples for testing purposes alone. Series production of the ELR will begin towards the end of the year with sales to start in early 2014.

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AutoExpress Says New Lexus IS300 Hybrid is a Good Car, But Not a Game Changer

The new Lexus IS is a head-turning car, regardless if the looks you’ll get while driving it are filled with jealousy or accompanied by disapproving horizontal head motion - the styling stands out whether you like it or not. I think it looks good and different, but others criticize its design and call it too busy and immature, commenting that it may not age well... Read more »

Henrik Fisker Teams Up with Hong Kong Billionaire as a Last Effort to Save Company

While currently under the threat of bankruptcy, Fisker Automotive is not dead - yet. Who would you think is the person who wants to save the company the most? Why, of course, it’s the automaker's founder, Henrik Fisker, who resigned from his position at the helm of Fisker after not being able to resolve his differences with the members of the board, regarding strategy and future ambitions – or at least that's what we're told.

This renewed interest from Mr. Fisker is welcome, because sensing the start of decay from within, vultures began circling the company months ago, ever since it became known that not a single car had been built since July of 2012.

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New Photos of 2014 Toyota Corolla Sedan Leaked on the Web? [Updated]

Update: As pointed out by our readers, these two pictures of the 2014 Corolla aren't the real deal; they're renderings from Humster3d (see the second video after the jump)

While Toyota isn't hiding the fact that a new generation of the Corolla sedan is coming out this year having previewed the car through the Furia Concept at the Detroit Motor Show in January and even teased the production version via this picture last week, the company says it won't actually reveal the compact model until June 6.

As always, the interwebs have a different opinion, and besides these photos that were leaked online in February, we now have a new pair of images, purportedly of the production 2014 Corolla sedan, courtesy of Encontracarros.

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Ford Sued Again for its Hybrids’ Economy Figures

Ford has been selling its Fusion and C-Max hybrids in the US quite soundly, despite the fact that their image suffered a mild blow after being hit with lawsuits regarding their efficiency claims, three of which were quite major.

Now, Marianne Cibeu from Massachusetts adds to that number, with a new suit asking for $5-million in damages for herself and the rest of the Ford hybrid buyers in the state.

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Take a Closer Look at the New Porsche 918 Spyder in 33 Hi-Res Photos

Unlike Ferrari, which tried to keep its LaFerrari range-topper a secret until the very last minute, Porsche had a more laid-back approach with its upcoming 918 Spyder flagship supercar. The German carmaker kept us updated from the early development stages of the car, releasing revealing photos, although the 918 Spyder has never been shown without light camouflage gear or racing-inspired liveries.

We suspect that the car you see in these photos is not the final production version, or at least it doesn’t reveal all of its fine details. After all, visitors of the Frankfurt Auto Show in autumn – where the 918 Spyder will have its world premiere – will to be the first to see the final production version.

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Volvo Almost Doubles Production of the V60 Plug-in Hybrid to Keep Up with Demand

Volvo says it is increasing production of the V60 Plug-in Hybrid by 90 percent to keep up with the demand, originating mainly from Holland, Belgium and Italy. This means that production at Volvo Cars’ Torslanda plant in Sweden will be boosted from 150 to 282 units per week. For the entire 2013, Volvo Cars will produce 7,600 plug-in hybrids, with the 2014 target being 10,000 units. Read more »

Porsche Releases New Photos and Technical Details on the 918 Spyder

With the 918 Spyder undergoing the final stages of development, Porsche is keeping us updated with a new photo gallery and some interesting new technical details about its upcoming flagship "hypercar".

Porsche says the 918 Spyder benefits from the development of race cars for the 24 hours race in Le Mans in 2014. The rolling chassis is the core of the 918 Spyder and can be driven even without a body on top of it – a tradition inherited from Porsche racecars.

As we already know, the all-wheel drive concept of the 918 combines a gasoline engine with an electric motor on the rear axle and a second electric motor on the front axle. The powertrain is based on knowledge gained by Porsche during races with the 911 GT3 R Hybrid.

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Chris Harris Drives Porsche’s New 918 Spyder Hybrid

The 918 Spyder is on its way, and unlike other similar projects that are shrouded in secrecy from the moment they are announced up until the point when they are launched, Porsche’s hybrid hypercar has been out in the open from very early on in its development cycle.

Journalists have even been allowed to drive the car on several occasions, but being a work in progress vehicle, none have pushed it as hard as they would have wanted. Chris Harris’ latest Drive video is no exception, as he gets behind the wheel of a 918 that is currently about 80 percent done.

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