Suburbanites who haul themselves to work in the city, and haul stuff home from the hardware store, are the target buyers Toyota had in mind as it created the A-BAT hybrid pickup concept. The A-BAT will be one of Toyota’s two unveilings at the Detroit auto show in January.

The A-BAT is smaller than the Toyota Tacoma pickup and has a four-foot bed. But the concept uses tricks such as a sliding roof panel and fold-down mid-gate to be capable of carrying tall loads or the truck manliness standard of the four-by-eight-feet sheet of plywood.

For more storage, there are lockable drawers in the walls of the truck bed and a large drawer that slides out from underneath the truck bed.

continue reading "Toyota brings A-BAT pickup to Detroit: Concept is for work and play, in a green way"

Hyundai’s Genesis coupe will be available with turbo power when it debuts in the United States in the spring of 2009. The turbocharged engine will be the first offered by Hyundai in the United States, but it won’t be the last.

The four-cylinder turbo will come from Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance, Hyundai’s joint venture with Mitsubishi and Chrysler. It will be built at the joint venture’s plant in South Korea. The rear-drive coupe also will be available with a naturally aspirated V-6.

Turbos won’t be limited to the Genesis coupe, said John Krafcik, Hyundai Motor America’s vice president for product development.

continue reading "Blown Hyundai: Genesis coupe will get a turbo:"

American Honda Motor Co. plans to reveal a prototype of the next-generation Pilot midsize crossover at the Detroit auto show next month.

The prototype Pilot will feature a redesign, emphasizing “clever interior packaging,” as well as safety, fuel efficiency and convenience technologies, according to a press release.

Honda assembles the Pilot at its Lincoln, Ala., plant. Through November, the automaker produced 110,181 Pilots in Alabama, up from 80,824 made there during the same period of 2006. But overall Pilot production in North America is down by about 33,000 vehicles this year compared with 2006 because Honda ended production of the vehicle in Alliston, Ontario.

continue reading "Honda to show off next-generation Pilot:"

General Motors is moving quickly to get the Chevrolet Volt ready for production.

The gasoline-electric hybrid is expected to be in production by late 2010, assuming the final kinks are worked out of the carÂ’s lithium ion batteries. But that seems a mere formality now.

GM gave reporters a glimpse of the production-intent version of the car at a preview Monday of vehicles that will be displayed at next monthÂ’s Detroit auto show. But it is not clear if GM will show the production version of the Volt at the show.

The shape of the production car is very different than the concept version shown in January at the 2007 Detroit show. GM engineers and designers were forced to revisit the carÂ’s styling in order to improve aerodynamics. The more slippery the shape, the further it can travel on electric power before the engine starts and recharges the batteries.

continue reading "GM shows face of Chevy Volt:"

For buyers looking for maximum fuel economy in a $3-to-$4-per-gallon world, the 2008 GMC Yukon probably holds little promise. But General Motors is betting a big chunk of the farm that a lot of consumers don’t want to give up big-ute capability to get a reasonable increase in fuel mileage.

Against that backdrop, the Yukon Hybrid represents a solid entry in the green sweepstakes, coming close to living up to GM’s claim of a 50 percent improvement in city fuel economy over a two-wheel-drive 5.3-liter V8 Yukon rated at 14 mpg in the city. The truck’s combination of electric motors in the transmission, a 6.0-liter V8 with cylinder deactivation, lightweight components and more aerodynamic and lightweight sheetmetal produced a 19.8-mpg average during our week of mostly city driving. When the truck hits the market next month, the window sticker will read 21 mpg city/22 mpg highway for 2wd models, 20/20 for 4wd.

continue reading "2008 GMC Yukon hybrid: Welcome, alien: Gas-electric hybrid goes the distance, but at what price?"

Anticipating low supplies at launch for the hybrid version of the Chevy Malibu, Chevrolet will limit early distribution of the cars to only 11 key U.S. markets in the Northeast and the West Coast, with none in the Southeast, Deep South or Midwest.

“There will not be standard distribution,” of the gasoline-electric hybrid, said Jim Brown, Malibu product manager, at a press presentation for the redesigned 2008 Malibu in New York on Thursday.

“There is a limited number (of hybrids), we don’t want them in low-volume dealerships where they will sit for a long time,” he said.

continue reading "GM to limit Malibu hybrid to 11 markets:"

OUR TAKE: This is about as vanilla an example as you could order up: a base LS with greige paint, cloth interior, four-cylinder, automatic–your classic rent-a-car spec. And yet it’s better than that. For nearly spot-on $20,000 you get a fairly stylish, roomy midsize car with adequate power, a far nicer interior than the mess that was the old Malibu’s, and the Ecotec is either refined or better insulated here than in any other example we’ve encountered, possibly excepting the base Saturn Aura’s.

The Aura is the problem here–it set the bar higher than this for the platform. The steering on this car was sort of vague and needed multiple, if small, corrections through a long, sweeping highway turn where the Saturn does so well. It’s got to be in the tire or suspension setup or maybe steering assist–whatever, the Saturn would be a better choice for anyone really interested in driving.

continue reading "2008 Chevrolet Malibu 1LS:"

Posted: 9:44am, 22 November 2007

I see that Chrysler hasn??™t picked up on the 4×4 backlash yet??¦Indeed, but Chrysler is working hard to prove that it??™s not dead yet, and its latest offerings are three electric concept cars that will debut in Detroit at the start of 2008. And like nearly every concept these days all three are supposedly eco-friendly, with each car featuring a lithium-ion battery pack.

continue reading "Chrysler??™s electric car trio"

Posted: 12:23am, 23 November 2007

What’s this oddly attractive thing?Former Aston Martin designer Henrik Fisker is working on a turn-key hybrid sports car that will make its public debut at next year’s Detroit motor show in January. Fisker Coachbuild has hooked up with Quantum Technologies, the American producer of cutting-edge clean propulsion technologies, to create this slinky four-door four-seater.

Unlike the Fisker Tromonto which is based on a Mercedes SL55 AMG, the new four-door hybrid - priced below £60,000 – will be new from the ground up and will feature a �soft’ hybrid system – a petrol or diesel engine complemented by an electric motor that draws power from a raft of batteries. As well as being charged on-the-go using regenerative braking, the batteries can also draw power from the domestic mains – you simply plug in your car overnight so it’s ready to go fully electric for your commute to work the next day.

continue reading "Fisker Hybrid"

Posted: 12:23am, 23 November 2007

What’s this oddly attractive thing?Former Aston Martin designer Henrik Fisker is working on a turn-key hybrid sports car that will make its public debut at next year’s Detroit motor show in January. Fisker Coachbuild has hooked up with Quantum Technologies, the American producer of cutting-edge clean propulsion technologies, to create this slinky four-door four-seater.

Unlike the Fisker Tromonto which is based on a Mercedes SL55 AMG, the new four-door hybrid - priced below £60,000 – will be new from the ground up and will feature a �soft’ hybrid system – a petrol or diesel engine complemented by an electric motor that draws power from a raft of batteries. As well as being charged on-the-go using regenerative braking, the batteries can also draw power from the domestic mains – you simply plug in your car overnight so it’s ready to go fully electric for your commute to work the next day.

continue reading "Win Goodwood DVDs"