Toyota’s announcement to race a hybrid car at Le Mans 24 Hours raised of a lot enthusiasm, but also many questions. Sure, the Prius is a great car, praised the world over, but it’s a fine road car with average performance. Can the same technology be successful in racing? The Prius is great at part throttle, but in the famed 24 hours race, drivers are foot Continue reading
Made for Europe, the Opel Ampera is a sister model to the Chevrolet Volt. Its plug-in hybrid drive train is the same as the Volt, which meant that the Ampera had the problems the Volt had. Its deliveries were stopped. Now that GM has found a solution, and that NHTSA had closed its investigation, everything is back on the right track.
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Dr. Friedrich Nitschke, the president of BMW M GmbH (our picture), has officially announced that BMW will launch a new line of high performance automobiles. Some people may think that all BMW cars are high performance, but there’s quite a gap between the base 4-cylinder models and the hardcore M3 and M5. This is where these upcoming models will stand. Their name is hardly Continue reading
The Toyota Prius c got its American premiere last week in Detroit, but Europe won’t get it. What Europeans will get instead is a hybrid version of Toyota’s subcompact: the Yaris. That one is a popular model in Europe. It has the right size and the right price, with the added bonus of being locally built, in Northern France. Toyota’s idea is that a hybrid version of this well-known model Continue reading
The electric Volkswagen Golf, which goes by the name of Blue-e-Motion, is already undergoing many tests in Germany, the largest in Berlin. It won’t be available to the general public before late next year, but here’s a new test outside of Germany. Continue reading
Last May, Renault delivered a fleet of 15 electric Kangoo ZE (Zero Emission) to the German city of Hamburg, which was experimenting with electric mobility. Continue reading
To most Europeans, with climate change less and less of a doubt (2011 has been the warmest year on record), and gasoline being ever more expensive, it’s a shock that hundreds of thousands of Americans will buy a V8-powered gas-guzzler SUV this year. And most will drive them daily, regardless of the 15 mpg fuel economy (or worse), and the accordingly huge CO2 emissions.
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Diesel is the leading engine by far in Europe, and Renault knows it well. When unveiling the mid-life facelift of its best-selling Megane model, it didn’t forget to bring a new diesel. A 1.6 liter unit, it was introduced last year in the larger Scenic model. At 130 hp, this is the most powerful engine of its size. Fuel economy will be excellent, as it comes standard with a Stop & Start system, and a smart alternator which Continue reading
Electric cars should get a half-percent market share in 3 countries
The three leading countries for electric mobility should be France, Japan and the United States. In absolute terms though, sales will remain weak. Buying a new technology is an issue for many drivers (is it safe? Will it last?), and so is pricing. There may be Continue reading
Since 1997, the Öko Trend institute publishes a list of the greenest cars available on the German market. Many others do something similar in every country of the world, but the Öko Trend institute might have the most rigorous methodology. Thousands of factors are taken into account, such as fuel economy and toxic emissions. Those are the most obvious ones, but there’s also Continue reading