Toyota sold more Prius V hybrid wagons in the U.S. during the model’s first 10 weeks of availability than General Motors sold of its Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in hybrid all last year, Bloomberg News reported, citing Toyota spokeswoman Carly Schaffner.

Toyota sold about 8,400 of the hybrid wagons since late October. That’s roughly 700 more than the number of Volts sold in 2011, even though a GM spokesman told Bloomberg that comparing sales of the Prius V to the Volt was “ridiculous” because of the different drivetrain technologies. Plus, the Prius V’s base price is about $13,000 less than the Volt’s $39,145 pricetag, though most Volt buyers can get a $7,500 tax credit.

Toyota’s looking to boost U.S. sales of the Prius, by far the world’s most popular line of hybrids, by about 60 percent this year to 220,000 vehicles with the flagship sedan – now called the Liftback – as well as with the Prius V and the C compact and plug-in versions that are set to debut later this year. U.S. Prius sales dropped 3.2 percent – to about 136,500 vehicles – last year, in large part to supply issues stemming from the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan last March. Want to know what it’s like behind the wheel? Check out our first-drive impressions of the Prius V here.

Toyota sells 8,400 Prius V wagons in U.S. during first 10 weeks originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

View full post on AutoblogGreen

Toyota launched a total of 13 recall campaigns in 2011 covering over 3.5 million vehicles. Those figures put the Japanese automaker at the top of the most-recalled list for the third year in a row, according to Ward’s Auto. Between 2009 and 2010, Toyota recalled nearly 11.5 million vehicles in North America for a variety of reasons, including troublesome floor mats and sticky accelerators tied to the company’s unintended acceleration woes. The company says that around 85 percent of vehicles involved in the pedal recall have been fixed, with lower volume models continuing to trickle into dealers.

But Toyota wasn’t the only automaker with recall woes in 2011. Ford found itself in second place for the number of vehicles recalled this year with 10 campaigns covering 3.2 million vehicles. For its part, General Motors issued a total of 21 recalls, but the fixes involved far fewer vehicles: 455,901. All told, Ward’s says automakers issued 130 recalls in 2011, down from 136 campaigns in the U.S. last year.

*Update: The expanded Honda airbag recall pushed the automaker past Toyota for the greatest number of recalled vehicles in 2011. Head to our followup post for more information.

Toyota tops recall list again in 2011, overall number of U.S. recalls down *UPDATE originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

View full post on Autoblog Recalls

While Rhys Millen’s been having smoking-rubber fun at Hyundai’s old headquarters, plans continue apace on the new building that will replace it. The $150-million cost is the largest Hyundai has ever spent on an office building in the U.S., and for that money, the LEED-certified, Gensler-designed structure will be 419,000 square feet, featuring four stories of glass above a two-story pedestal entrance. A show of Hyundai models will be visible from the freeway, a feature you see rather often in Europe.

Follow the jump for a press release with more details on the command center that Hyundai says “represents Hyundai’s vision for the future and reflects the innovation and creativity that our brand has come to represent.”

Continue reading Hyundai reveals details about new U.S. headquarters

Hyundai reveals details about new U.S. headquarters originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

View full post on Autoblog

Toyota launched a total of 13 recall campaigns in 2011 covering over 3.5 million vehicles. Those figures put the Japanese automaker at the top of the most-recalled list for the third year in a row, according to Ward’s Auto. Between 2009 and 2010, Toyota recalled nearly 11.5 million vehicles in North America for a variety of reasons, including troublesome floor mats and sticky accelerators tied to the company’s unintended acceleration woes. The company says that around 85 percent of vehicles involved in the pedal recall have been fixed, with lower volume models continuing to trickle into dealers.

But Toyota wasn’t the only automaker with recall woes in 2011. Ford found itself in second place for the number of vehicles recalled this year with 10 campaigns covering 3.2 million vehicles. For its part, General Motors issued a total of 21 recalls, but the fixes involved far fewer vehicles: 455,901. All told, Ward’s says automakers issued 130 recalls in 2011, down from 136 campaigns in the U.S. last year.

Toyota tops recall list again in 2011, overall number of U.S. recalls down originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

View full post on Autoblog

As a graphic designer for nearly 20 years, Cameron Booth credits his deep and abiding love for transit maps to his dad’s obsession with trains. The Australian-born, Portland, Oregon-based artist has adapted the infographic aesthetic of subway maps to America’s road networks, creating some beautiful new artwork in the process.

We think Booth’s work serves well as both information and art, particularly his brand-new U.S. Routes map, which includes a number of thoughtful touches (e.g. historical roads hidden as thinner route lines “beneath” current main road networks.

Booth tells Autoblog that the experience of creating this map has been an enlightening one:

“Applying a transit map template to a road network makes us look at a familiar system in a new way: Instead of the familiarity and detail of a geographically accurate road map, we’re instead presented with simplified routes, connections and bright colors. It also could be interpreted as a reflection on America’s love affair with cars.”

The U.S Routes project was quite a challenge – far more than Booth’s previous maps, which includes the less involved but equally striking Interstate Highway graphic. Taking over a year to complete, Booth admits that this is probably his toughest-ever undertaking.

The artist is now taking prepaid orders for U.S. Routes prints in various sizes, but the holidays and a need to get a print run together will mean that those orders probably won’t be processed until some time in early January. Check out more detailed shots of U.S. Routes, as well as his work (including some great photography) at his website, www.cambooth.net, and if you’re interested in ordering one of his prints, click here.

New art reimagines U.S. road network system as a subway map originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

View full post on Autoblog

Why wait? That’s the question that Mitsubishi president Osamu Masuko doesn’t want Americans asking when it comes to purchasing a brand new Mitsubishi i. Thus, he has reportedly moved the nationwide on-sale date for the better-than-you-thought i in the U.S. from the end of 2012 to the middle of next year. The first examples of the car will start deliveries in four rollout states (California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii) in early 2012. The reason for the advanced roll-out schedule is that Mitsubishi dealers are clamoring for it, Masuko said during the Tokyo Motor Show. This is really no surprise, since Mitsubishi is promoting the car through Facebook and clever TV ads. Masuko also said that Mitsubishi will introduce a second small EV, this one based on the Mirage, to the U.S. in the middle of 2013.

Meanwhile, over in Norway, the round i-MiEV (as it is known overseas) is selling quite well, moving 1,000 units there. The minister of the environment (and development cooperation, he holds two posts), Erik Solheim said he believes that EVs offer a solution for “achieving a real reduction of emissions.” He also said that he wanted to make “an extra big thank you” to the customers that asked for and purchased the electric cars, since what they want is more important than what either politicians or companies promote (all quotes from Google Translate). While not as noticed as other EVs, the i-MiEV is being tested and sold around the world, from Estonia to Thailand.

Mitsubishi i sales plan moved up in U.S., Mirage EV coming in 2013 originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

View full post on AutoblogGreen

On Wednesday, the 2013 Chevrolet Spark will be unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The small hatchback has been tweaked for the North American market, and the hope is that the Spark takes off like wildfire with buyers. Chevrolet thinks the Spark will find favor with buyers living in cities, as well as first-time purchasers.

To that end, the entry-level Spark has been designed carefully. Obvious forethought went into the packaging of the virtually hidden rear passenger doors (not unlike its larger cousin, the five-door Sonic), and color choices with names like Salsa, Jalapeno, Denim, Lemonade, and Techno Pink are clearly aimed at a customer looking for something imaginative. Unique to our Spark will be a redesigned front fascia with distinct foglamp housings and airdam. The grille stretches further down the nose, too, and out back there are taillamps and bumper designs specific to the United States and Canadian markets.

Beyond the aesthetic alterations, important Spark details include a 1.2-liter dual-overhead cam four cylinder that spins 15-inch alloy wheels with 85 hp through a standard five-speed manual transmission or optional four-speed automatic. Chevrolet MyLink is available in the Spark with a seven-inch touchscreen. Mylink features Bluetooth phone integration, and Pandora or Stitcher can be piped through your smartphone and directly into Mylink. Standard air conditioning and power windows, along with a motorcycle-inspired gauge cluster (there’s that Sonic influence again) and color coordinated interior serve to spiff things up. It seems the message has sunk in that small cars don’t have to be brutally decontented.

Check out the press release after the jump, and stay tuned to our full-court-press coverage of the LA show, where we’ll get a chance to climb in and around the 2013 Chevrolet Spark and give you our firsthand impressions.

Continue reading U.S. Chevy Spark revealed ahead of Los Angeles show

U.S. Chevy Spark revealed ahead of Los Angeles show originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

View full post on Autoblog

List price is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when considering the purchase of a new supercar. Never mind the premium you’re likely to pay a speculator to avoid long waiting lists, or astronomic insurance rates, for that matter. If you actually plan on driving your six-figure exotic, you’re going to be spending a whole lot on fuel, plus another chunk on gas-guzzler tax. Right?

Well, usually, but the latest intel suggests otherwise when it comes to no less a capable performance machine than the McLaren MP4-12C. While most supercars achieve dismal fuel economy figures – after all, that’s not why they’re bought in the first place – and are subsequently hit with the EPA’s fossil-gulping penalty, the MP4 has reportedly managed to avoid it with (relatively) respectable fuel economy figures of 15 city/22 highway miles per gallon.

That’s enough for the carbon-fiber wonder and its twin-turbo V8 to skip the extra tax, which just leaves more money for all the rubber you’re bound to burn through while gleefully sliding Britain’s finest around every corner in sight. It’ll undoubtedly come as good news by January when the buyers lining up for the 500 examples bound for the U.S. market will begin taking delivery. That’ll be taking place at a new network of dealerships, which will, incidentally, each display a vintage grand prix racer from the company’s illustrious racing heritage, and you can check ‘em out in the high-res image gallery below.

McLaren MP4-12C avoids gas-guzzler tax, U.S. deliveries commence in January originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 11 Nov 2011 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

View full post on AutoblogGreen

As the number of automakers selling diesel vehicles rise, the amount of motorists buying the oil-burning machines will increase, too, claims Jeff Breneman, executive director of the U.S. Coalition for Advanced Diesel Cars. That statement seems to be simple common sense, right? Well, not so much in recent times here in the U.S.

Automakers selling diesel vehicles in the U.S. have seen demand slowly rise but, Breneman claims, it’s the 2025 54.5 mpg CAFE standard that will truly fuel demand for diesels here in the States. Breneman says Mazda and Chevrolet are two of the next automakers that will offer diesel sedans in the U.S., with more to come:

Ford, Toyota or Honda haven’t got a diesel for the U.S. yet, but get ready for 2013-2014. That’s when we’re going to see a lot more diesels. And with the 54.5-mpg regulation coming in 2015, the auto makers have a 14-year window to invest the capital in diesels without U.S. regulations pulling the carpet out from under them.

CAFE regulations aren’t the only driving force behind the diesel insurgence. Breneman says infrastructure is key and, with 80,000 gas stations here now offering diesel, the U.S. is ready for oil-burning automobiles.

But will the diesel’s rise be a step in the right direction? Well, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently awarded $50 million for diesel projects designed to reduce harmful emissions, but diesel engines still emit 7.3 million tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and 333,000 tons of soot annually. And diesel pollution is linked to thousands of premature deaths, asthma attacks and lost work days. So, it’s unclear whether or not the diesels rise to fame will be as beneficial as thought.

We’ll see a “lot more diesels” in U.S. by 2014 originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sun, 23 Oct 2011 08:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

View full post on AutoblogGreen

Looks like there was a good reason General Motors dropped the “More car than electric” tagline for the Chevy Volt. That anti-EV phrase was always short-sighted, and the reason why could be on display later this morning in Detroit. Reports out now say that GM will announce a new U.S.-bound electric car today as part of Chevrolet’s upcoming centennial celebration. The car is likely to be the long-awaited Spark EV.

That GM is working on an all-electric Spark is no surprise; a version of the vehicle (also known as the Beat) was shown in India earlier this year and GM CEO Dan Akerson said at the Detroit Auto Show this past January that his company was working on an all-electric vehicle to be sold in the U.S. A Spark EV would fit the rumors that GM’s new electric car is small and designed for urban areas, particularly in California, where it would be used to meet the upcoming ZEV mandate changes.

Official details – like when and where this electric new car will go on sale and what brand it will be – should be forthcoming soon. We’ll update this post when this information become available.

GM will announce all-electric Spark city car for U.S. today originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 12 Oct 2011 07:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

View full post on AutoblogGreen