Small, fuel efficient cars are proliferating like never before. Venerable oldies like the Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic are now facing stiff competition from the likes of the 2011 Chevy Cruze, the 2011 Hyundai Elantra, and the just released 2012 Ford Focus. In fact, the competition for small car crown is so hot right… Read More…

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In preparation for its official debut at the 2010 Paris Motor Show next month, Honda released some pics and a few details for the much anticipated Honda Fit Hybrid today (called the Jazz in Europe and Japan). The car will be the first modern subcompact parallel hybrid to reach consumers since the release of the original Honda Insight back in 1999—and it is rumored to cost between $16,500 and $18,600 when it goes on sale in Japan next year. At that price it would be the cheapest hybrid available on the market.

Yet, as the news fans out on the internet today, one bit of info buried rather vaguely in the press release that hasn’t been picked up elsewhere piqued my curiosity. Up till now, speculation about the expected fuel economy of the Fit Hybrid ranged anywhere from 60-70 mpg, but according to Honda, the Fit Hybrid will have about the same fuel economy as the current Insight.

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There are many things that General Motors has been incredibly forthcoming about as they’ve developed the Volt for all the world to see. Certainly no other vehicle has been the subject of so many videos and webchats detailing its trips through 2 feet of water or its visits to the arctic or some other form of vehicle torture.

But when it comes to the Volt’s real-world fuel efficiency, GM has methodically avoided comment. Now, thanks to the keen eyes of some web denizens, it appears that one video shot by a Volt test driver shows that the Volt achieves less than 30 mpg after the battery has been depleted—in what’s called charge-sustaining mode. Given that the Prius is capable of obtaining 50 mpg on average, the revelation is rather shocking.

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Although Peugeot’s frequent collaborator, Mini, has chosen to forgo the hybrid-diesel system in favor of improving engine fuel economy in more mundane manners, Peugeot is full steam ahead with their rather interesting take on hybrid technology.

The 3008 HYbrid4 won’t be making its official market debut until next spring, but as the world’s first mass-market diesel hybrid—and Peugeot’s first delve into the world of hybrids—the details that Peugeot unveiled yesterday reveal a company bent on staking a claim in the rapidly expanding hybrid market.

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Remember way back in December last year, when the rumors were swirling that the next generation of Nissan’s sports rocket, the GT-R, would be getting a hybrid drivetrain? Since then we’ve gotten subsequent confirmation that, indeed, Nissan was thinking about putting some kind of electric drivetrain into the GT-R—be it hybrid or fully electric.

And with the upcoming launch of the new Infiniti M35 hybrid at the LA Auto Show later this year, it seems that all the clues are falling into place—could the M35’s hybrid system be a portent of what’s to come for the GT-R?

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Although you might think a car like the Mini would be perfectly suited to getting incredible fuel economy from a hybrid system—especially one that combined an already efficient diesel engine with electric assist—according to Mini, you’d be wrong.

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Although it will be officially unveiled at the Paris Motor Show next month, Kia released a scant few details about its electric Pop concept car today, along with some pictures.

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What do seats and charging stations have in common? Very little, except that automotive seat supply giant, Lear, has been chosen by GM to supply the home charging stations and some key parts for the Chevrolet Volt.

Although Lear is best known as a car seat supplier, the Southfield, Michigan, based company says they’ve realized how important it is to get in on the electric car supply chain early on in the process. And, instead of GM going with an electronics supply company for the chargers and parts, GM chose to go with a company that may not have the electronics history, but does have a great deal of experience in the automotive realm.

To GM it seems that knowledge and experience in the auto world holds more water than a lengthy experience in electronics when it comes to the new world of plug-in vehicles.

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15 years; a lot can happen in that time. Think back to 1995. What’s changed in your life since then? 9/11. Afghanistan. Iraq. $4 per gallon gas. Economy. Hell, I was just entering college. 15 years can allow for some pretty momentous change.

So it’s easy to see why a company would set lofty goals for itself over the course of 15 years, especially if that company saw the writing on the wall and realized that to compete in the future, something drastic needs to happen. Which is exactly why Hyundai’s president and CEO of North American operations, John Krafcik, said yesterday that his company has set a target of an average of 50 mpg for their entire fleet of cars by 2025.

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Ever since the surprise debut of the Porsche 918 Spyder at the Geneva Auto Show this year, many of us have been salivating at the prospects of its eventual production… and for good reason. With a 0-60 time of around 3 seconds, a lithium-ion battery that can take the car 16 miles on battery power alone, a maximum fuel efficiency of about 78 mpg, and a combined 718 horsepower, this plug-in hybrid supercar seems to have it all.

Porsche has said in the past that all they needed was 1,000 firm orders to before they’d start production, and as of this week they have more than 2,000 non-binding submissions of interest. Yesterday Porsche’s Supervisory Board reportedly approved the vehicle for production as a way to show Porsche’s commitment to next generation vehicles and support the German economy.

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As part of a new campaign launched by Toyota of Sweden, the company is asking all drivers, regardless of their allegiance to the Toyota brand, to imagine that they have a cup of water on their dashboard when driving. In so doing, Toyota says you can lower your fuel consumption by 10%.

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Given the major shift in consumer attitude towards fuel economy over the last few years, and the fact that auto makers’ fleets will now have to average 35.5 mpg by 2016 due to new regulations, it isn’t surprising that a car company would want to introduce more and more competitive, high mileage vehicles. But there’s a difference between simply adding more of those vehicles to your fleet, and adding them in a way that makes it almost lunacy to not buy them—which is exactly what Ford has gone and done with their 2011 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid.

Built to compete with the likes of other high end luxury brands such as Lexus, not only does the base model MKZ Hybrid come in at about $350 less than the Lexus HS 250h—which is a smaller,  less well-appointed, and, arguably, uglier car—as Ford announced today, the base MKZ Hybrid will also compete directly with its non-hybrid cousin because, at $35,180, it will cost exactly the same as the base V6 MKZ.

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In what has been a delicate dance over the last 9 months, Fisker has been getting closer and closer to actually finalizing the deal to purchase an old GM car manufacturing facility in Delaware. Today, Fisker sealed the deal and reached an agreement with Motors Liquidation Company, the holding company for old GM assets that were not sold to the new GM through during its bankruptcy reorganization.

Fisker plans on building their 2012 “Project Nina” vehicle—a more reasonably priced $48,000 “family” sedan and sister car to Fisker’s flagship $87,000 Karma—at the plant.

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Already one of Europe’s most popular cars, the diminutive and good-looking Fiat 500 just keeps getting better. It’s such a diverse platform—from the high performance, MINI-fighting Abarth edition to the recently released 50 mpg TwinAir Turbo, and there’s even hint of a fully electric version—that it seems hard to cram more options into it. But according to a report over at Auto Express, the 500 TwinAir is set to receive a hybrid electric drivetrain that will take it to an amazing 100 mpg fuel economy while reducing carbon emissions to a scant 70 g/km.

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Around the world Mitsubishi has announced initial prices for fleet purchasers of their subcompact i-MiEV electric car that range from about $53,000 in Japan to as high as $59,000 in Germany. Given the fact that Nissan will start selling the LEAF EV this fall for $32,780 in the US, it’s clear that Mitsubishi will have to find a way to bring their prices down before the smaller i-MiEV goes on sale to the mass market at the end of 2011.

Apparently Mitsubishi has been thinking about these issues as well: their director of electric-vehicle operations, Joe Delello, now says that Mitsubishi is aiming for a final price tag that could bring the i-MiEV below $30,000 when it hits showrooms.

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Having just finished up a round of validation and testing of the Chevy Volt’s battery pack—including dunking the thing in water—GM is set to start full battery production at their Brownstown, MI, battery manufacturing facility.

In honor of the event, tomorrow, July 14, GM will be discussing a “major consumer initiative” and discussing the details of Volt battery testing to date. After the announcement, Gas 2.0 will be hosting a GM webchat with global electric vehicle executive Doug Parks and Volt marketing director Tony DiSalle to answer your questions live.

So stop back here at 4 PM Eastern/1 PM Pacific tomorrow and check it out.

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As promised earlier this year, Fiat has officially adorned their beloved 500 with a brand new engine option: the 2-cylinder TwinAir.

The 85 HP, turbocharged 0.9 liter engine reportedly has the performance characteristics of a much larger 1.4 liter, 16-valve engine, but it consumes about 30% less fuel—resulting in a fuel economy of 57 mpg as rated on the combined Euro cycle. If it were sold in the U.S. and rated on the EPA cycle, that number would likely drop to around 50 mpg.

Unfortunately for now, there are no plans to sell the 85 HP TwinAir engine as an option on any of the Fiat 500’s that are rumored to be reaching U.S. shores by the end of this year.

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In the United States, Smith Electric Vehicles—headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri—is a relatively obscure commercial electric truck builder that’s only been around for a few years. But in Europe, Smith Electric Vehicles UK has been building electric vehicles for more than 80 years. In fact, they are currently the largest manufacturer of commercial electric vehicles in the world.

So it’s no surprise that a company with such a track record was chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy earlier this year to receive a $32 million dollar grant (as in never has to be paid back) to speed the deployment of demonstration commercial electric vehicles around the United States. And on Thursday (tomorrow), President Obama will be visiting the Smith Electric Vehicles plant to tout the benefits of plug-ins in our effort to wean ourselves off oil.

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Here’s one for the thinking-out-of-the-box crowd. A research team at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands have invented a type of paving material that can be mixed in with normal asphalt or concrete that actually removes some pollutants from the air as cars travel over the surface. The effect works well enough to remove some 25% to 45% of nitrogen oxides from vehicle emissions.

The best part: the material reportedly doesn’t even cost that much more than a normal roadway to construct.

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When the VW BlueSport was introduced as a concept car at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show over a year ago, the internet was abuzz with expectation that the car would see the light of day. It was clearly more than just another concept car and, unlike most concept cars, actually looked ready for production.

At the time, the car was being touted for having a 0-60 time of about 6 seconds (not bad!) and a combined fuel economy of around 40 mpg (on the Euro cycle, subtract about 15% for likely EPA ratings; ~35 mpg). And now, according to unnamed inside sources, VW has apparently had a change of heart about shelving the project due to the incredible success of VW TDIs in the U.S.

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Back in April we brought you news that BMW’s first full production (sadly the Mini E was just an experiment) electric car—the Megacity—will be hitting the market in 2013. The car will make extensive use of carbon fiber to decrease weight and increase structural rigidity. BMW also said it would be of a striking design, although at the time there were no pictures to back up this claim.

Well, now there are. BMW has released a teaser concept sketch of what the Megacity might look like… and man is it different than any BMW I’ve ever seen.

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