Over on the Open Road Blog, Toyota has a post about making the case for SUVs that was prompted by an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. They pretty much echo what has been said here before, mostly in the context of discussing hybrid SUVs like the…
Category: Autoblog
New York judge puts the brakes on hybrid taxi rules
New York City's attempt to mandate an all-hybrid cab fleet have been put on hold thanks to federal judge Paul Crotty. A city taxi regulation that was scheduled to take effect on November 1 would have phased in fuel economy rules for new cabs operated…
LA Preview: Volkswagen to unveil plug-version of the Up! mini
After unveiling their new Volkswagen up! mini-car at the Frankfurt Motor Show last month, VW is set to show two more variants in the next month and a half. The Tokyo Motor Show at the end of October should see a small five door mini-van based on the…
Video: Rhys vows to bring Pikes Peak record back to Millen family
The Millen family has quite a proud history at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, not quite up there with the Unsers, but certainly more than respectable. Rod Millen captured several class records at the Colorado mountain over the years, including an…
Mini debuts first roadside assistance app for iPhones [w/VIDEO]
OnStar is soooo 2007. Rather than building some kind of old school cell phone telematics system into its cars, Mini is going the hip, modern route for roadside assistance. Mini USA has collaborated with insurance company Allstate to create an Apple…
Cooling specialist Behr forms group to work on battery thermal management
One of the issues that automakers are going to have increasingly deal with in the coming years as vehicles get hybridized and electrified is thermal management of batteries. Currently, almost all hybrid vehicles are using air cooled battery packs…
Paris 2008: Video of Saab 9-X Air and designer Mark Adams
Click for a gallery of images of the Saab 9-X Air concept
You can check out a video of the Saab 9-X Air in action along with some discussion with GM Europe Design VP Mark Adams after the jump. Like the 9-X BioHybrid we saw at Geneva last spring, the…
Avis adding the Nissan Altima hybrids to their rental fleet
Click on the photo of the Altima for a high-res gallery suitable for wallpaper
If you are renting a car in California, Avis is now making a new option available in the form of the Nissan Altima Hybrid. Avis has already been offering the Toyota Prius…
Better Place expands Tokyo battery swap trials; taxis have changed packs 2,122 times already
After announcing the completion of a three-month field test of its battery swapping system, Better Place has decided to keep the program running until at least late November. Three converted Nissan Rogues have been operating as taxis in central…
VIDEO: Just because it has AWD, that doesn't make it an off-roader
Just because a vehicle has a high riding stance and all-wheel drive, that doesn't qualify it as an off-roader. That's why when BMW introduced the X5 it was labeled as a “Sports Activity Vehicle” not an SUV. BMW designed the X5 knowing full well that…