Honda has decided to release the upcoming Fit Hybrid in late 2010 instead of 2012. Due to the popularity of hybrids and the high sales enthusiasm for the Insight hybrid, Honda has decided to ramp up the release date for the Fit Hybrid by 18 months.
Read More: Honda Fit Hybrid to Release 18 Months Early (2010)
The British Army took delivery of fifty Toyota Prius early this month. The cars will be used by the White Fleet, which is the Army’s non-combat corps of administrators and officers. Sources say that they did test the Prius with a 30mm canon on it, but that the recoil crumpled the car’s roof, so the plan to field them as ultra-efficient combat vehicles was scrapped.
Read More: British Army Receives 50 Prius For Service
If you haven’t noticed, there’s a real popularity amongst 3-wheeled platforms for electric and hybrid electric cars. There’s a big reason for that: efficiency and the law. The XR3 is another of these 3-wheelers that is currently available as a kit model that can be built by tinkerers at home. Soon, it will go into production for limited sales nationally.
GM has announced that despite the pending sale of the Saturn brand, the 2-mode hybrid Saturn Vue that was to be released this summer will live. While it won’t be released this summer as planned, it will be released in 2011 along with it’s plug-in hybrid counterpart. The question is “under what brand?”
Read More: Saturn Vue 2-Mode Hybrid and PHEV Won’t Die, According to GM
John is a fuel economy technical expert at the Ford Motor Company and a member of the forums at EcoModder, good friends of Zoomilife. By day, he’s a Ford Engineer, by night… a HyperRocket building genius.
Read More: Ford Engineer Invents HyperRocket in Spare Time: 125mpg, 100+mph
Chrysler officially declared bankruptcy last week amongst cries from various political parties and pundits over the whys and hows of the deal. Despite billions in government bailouts and massive cutbacks by the company–even the restructuring of agreements with United Auto Workers and several of Chrysler’s debtors–the company could not avoid the inevitable.
Read More: Chrysler, Fiat, Bankruptcy and Renewal: Can Fiat Win U.S. Over?
Unimpressed with the marketing blitz of Honda and Toyota’s hypermiling challenges, Ford set out to hold one of its own. The 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid issued a 1,000 mile challenge. While I’m a big fan of the Insight and the great mileage it showed in real-world demonstrations, their hypermiling challenge was as rigged as the Toyota one was. Ford, on the other hand, seems to have been serious about making it realistic.
Read More: Fusion Hybrid Gets 81.5mpg in Hypermiling Challenge
Henry Ford’s great-great-granddaughter will be auctioning off a Ford Fusion Hybrid next month at a charity benefit for Heal the Bay. The environmental organization focuses on improving coastal water bodies in Southern California and is holding a fund-raising auction on May 28 during its Bring Back the Beach gala.
Read More: Elena Ford to Auction Fusion Hybrid to Benefit Heal the Bay
Hyundai showcased two hybrids at the Shanghai Auto Show this year: the Santa Fe and the Avante (aka Elantra). The popular gasoline versions of these vehicles will soon be available in hybrid versions. They expect to increase efficiency, fuel economy, and reduce emissions by up to 60% in each vehicle.
Mazda is famous for two things: fun cars and Wankel Rotary Engines. The company has two cars in its lineup right now it’s testing as hydrogen models: the Premacy and the RX-8. The Premacy is a mini-van and the RX-8 is a sport coupe and both use rotary engines.
Read More: Mazda’s Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid
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