The upcoming production version of the Ford Verve will be the smallest Ford in the U.S. market (at least for now). However, over in Europe, Ford has an even smaller car called the Ka. The current Ka is based on the platform of the Fiesta which is…
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ZF improving mileage by shifting faster
German transmission manufacturer ZF Friedrichshafen AG introduced the first six speed automatic transmissions in 2001. Since then seven and even eight speed automatics have turned up in various vehicles like Mercedes and Lexus. Now ZF has developed a…
2011 Ford Explorer to get big MPG gains from new powertrains, technology
2011 Ford Explorer – Click above for high-res image gallery
Ford president of the Americas, Mark Fields, described the new 2011 Explorer as reinventing the SUV for the 21st century. It remains to be seen if the new unibody Explorer will meet customer…
Will VW's Polo come to the U.S. market?
The VW Polo BlueMotion is one of the most fuel efficient internal combustion vehicles available on the market in Europe with CO 2 emissions of just 99 g/km and consumption of 48/74 mpg on the European driving cycles. Volkswagen has never offered the…
Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid delayed to 2011
During the General Motors third quarter earnings (or lack thereof) conference call on Friday, company executives discussed the vehicle introduction schedule for 2009 and 2010. Several cars that had been expected to debut during 2009 have been pushed…
Congressman Rick Boucher trying to block state CO2 regulations
Congressman Rick Boucher of Virginia is trying to head off the EPA decision on granting a waiver to California so they can regulate greenhouse gases. At the same time as Congress is working on new fuel economy regulations, Boucher has drafted a bill…
Farmers Insurance Group of Companies Extends Hybrid Vehicle Discount to 37 States, Recognizes Toyota
After previously announcing their intention to offer discounts to owners of hybrid vehicles in Ohio, Farmers Insurance is now expanding the program to another 37 states. Customers of Farmers Insurance in all 41 states where they operate will be…
Thousand Oaks, CA to get two Ballard-powered fuel cell buses
The SunLine Transit Agency in Thousand Oaks, CA will be expanding its hydrogen fuel cell test program this year with two new buses. The buses with different chassis and powertrain configurations will both use fuel cell stacks from Ballard Power…
Report: Honda Canada discontinuing Insight and Civic hybrid
Honda Insight and Civic hybrid
It's no secret the revived 2010 Honda Insight has been a huge sales disappointment in North America. The once-robust sales of the Civic hybrid have also evaporated in the last two years. Apparently, things are far worse…
New wind turbine could dramatically increase generation efficiency
One of the primary reasons that current wind turbines have to be so large is that most of the energy is lost as the air flows off the end of the blades. That size increases the cost and reduces the density of turbines that can be installed. FloDesign…