Zoomi Life

As promised, the CR-Z, the car Honda says is the world’s first series-production sports hybrid car from a major OEM, is in its 2009 incarnation and is the likely prototype to be what the 2010 production will look like. The new car is slated to go on sale in 2010 as a 2011 model.

Read More: Honda CR-Z Concept Hybrid Sports Car Slated For 2010 Production

Volkswagen introduced their L1 diesel hybrid car in Frankfurt last week. It appeared amidst fanfare, lots of lighting, and a group of dancers that appeared to be straight off the set of West Side Story or Lipstick. When I see that kind of pomp around a car, I immediately assume it’s a pile of crap being over-promoted to save some executive’s reputation. Sort of like the Chevy Volt.

Read More: VW’s 170mpg Diesel Hybrid Debuts With the Dancers From West Side Story

Kia Motors introduced three new hybrid models at the Frankfurt Motor Show last week. These are the Cee’d prototype, the Sorento prototype, and the Forte LPI Hybrid for Europe (it hit Korea in July). Kia also introduced their EcoDynamics sub-brand for their new hybrid line of vehicles.

Read More: Kia Introduces Three New Hybrids at Frankfurt Motor Show

If you’ve ever played a game from the 1990s whose graphics are all vector-based, then you’ll see exactly what the title above is talking about when you look at Hyundai’s new concept. That doesn’t mean it’s not cool, that’s just the first thing I thought of when I looked at it. The ix-Metro is a miniature crossover hybrid. Now in VGA!

Read More: Hyundai’s New ix-Metro Concept Looks Like a 1990s Video Game

Mercedes, whose new E Class sedan has a coefficient of drag (Cd) of 0.24–better than both the Prius and the Insight. When we reported on this in early May, it was a complete shock to us that Mercedes was the current leader. Especially with such a classy-looking vehicle like this E-class.

Read More: Mercedes Plans to Have Coefficient of Drag Down to 0.20 By 2014

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.

Read More: The XR3 Motors PHEV Kit Car Goes Into Production

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