Category: Autoblog

Here in the US people who buy hybrid vehicles can usually recover most of the cost premium of the extra hardware through a variety of tax breaks. Unfortunately government agencies gain no benefit from this and have to bear the full cost. Over in…

Click for a high-res gallery
GM product development guru Bob Lutz has become particularly enamored of electric drive vehicles recently. As one of the major internal corporate sponsors of the Chevy Volt within GM, Lutz has been even more vocal than…

Battery manufacturer Valence Technology has big plans to expand its manufacturing capacity. To help pay for the investment, the Austin, Texas-based company has applied for a $225 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy through the Electric…

Audi has released the official details on its new A1 Sportback concept that debuts at the Paris Motor Show. At 13.09 ft long, the A1 is a couple of inches longer than a MINI Clubman and features a hybrid drivetrain. Power comes from a 150 hp TFSI…

Bankrupt auto supplier Delphi continues divesting its low-margin operations, this time by unloading their catalyst business. Delphi is selling their original equipment and aftermarket catalytic converter businesses to Umicore for $66 million. The…

Ford's new Fiesta ecoNetic will be making its competition debut when three ecoNetic models run in the Monte Carlo Rally for Alternative Energy Vehicles. The third running of the “Monte” for AEVs kicks off this Friday, March 27, and runs three days.…

2012 Renault Fluence Z.E. – Click above for high-res image gallery
A few days ago, Renault announced it had finalized the production design of its first two electric vehicles and would start taking pre-reservations for the Kangoo Express Z.E. and…

With the incredible shrinking Detroit Auto Show just days away, we're already starting to get hints of what's coming the remaining shows of the season. The latest is this roadster you see here from Swiss design firm Protoscar that is coming to the…

By the way, it's not Zap!
Zap! doesn't actually manufacture any of the vehicles they sell. They are basically just a marketing organization for Chinese built three-wheelers. The Xebra and an assortment of other models are built by Shandong Jindalu…

Following on the heels of BMW and their Efficient Dynamics initiative, Audi seems ready to mimic their Bavarian rival. With some sort of mandatory European CO 2 limits almost certain to be passed, almost all manufacturers who do business on the…