Have your calculator and utility bill handy if you're keen on buying a Chevy Volt (or Nissan LEAF) and want to compare fuel costs with gasoline cars. The EPA is still grappling with how to provide consumers with ratings comparable to the familiar MPG labels.
GM has finally put a sticker price on its much anticipated plug-in electric hybrid. Granted, a hefty federal tax credit will defray the cost, but the Volt carries a premium price. GM's challenge now is convincing consumers the Volt is worth it.
Toyota, maker of the popular Prius hybrid, is preparing to move into other alternative-fuel technologies such as hydrogen fuel-cells and biofuels. Its recent large investment in Tesla Motors is just the first such partnership the world's largest automaker is pursuing.
After a series of recalls, Toyota is attracting fewer car owners who drive other brands, despite generous incentives and a massive media campaign to address concerns about quality. Nearly half of all new cars sold at Toyota dealerships this year included a Toyota trade-in, up from 42% in 2009.
A House committee continues to press Toyota about what it knew when regarding unintended acceleration in its vehicles. Lawmakers now suspect Toyota of being less than forthcoming about the "new" brake-override feature it's installing.
Driver error, and not a stuck gas pedal, caused a 2005 Toyota Prius hybrid sedan to strike a stone wall in suburban New York this month, local investigators said Monday. Information gathered from the vehicle's "black box" led police to the conclusion.
The driver of a runaway Prius in northern New York didn't apply the brakes, according to a statement released Thursday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Instead, the "throttle was fully open."
Toyota says James Sikes' story of unintended acceleration on a San Diego freeway last week is 'inconsistent' with its preliminary analysis, which found the accelerator pedal operates normally.
Embattled automaker Toyota has told its dealers that it's readying a fix for problems with the brake system of its Prius hybrid sedan. The Japanese carmaker also told dealers it's planning a public-relations campaign to deal with the fallout from the problems with its vehicles.
Toyota has told dealers it's preparing a plan to repair the brakes on thousands of hybrid Prius cars in the U.S., with more details to come soon. More than 100 drivers of 2010 Prius cars have complained that their brakes seemed to fail momentarily when they were driving on bumpy roads.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it will look into reports that the 2010 Toyota Prius suffers from momentary loss of braking power when encountering bumps, potholes or uneven road surfaces. The agency said it has received 124 complaints from consumers, including four involving crashes.
Toyota released earnings for its third quarter ending Dec. 31 and said it posted a profit for the period.
Toyota is accelerating payments to its 1,200 U.S. dealers for their efforts to help soothe rattled owners of some 2.3 million Toyota cars that have been recalled for unintended acceleration. The company's U.S. sales division will provide payments of $7,500 to $75,000 to help reimburse retailers for extended hours, car washes and other services.
Though the Transportation chief quickly backed down from his initial advice that owners of recalled cars "stop driving" them, Toyota can only chalk this up as one more disaster. Still, it's scrambling to get cars fixed and will have plenty of explaining to do when it reports earnings this week.
In another blow to the No. 1 car company, Toyota has been ordered to look into potential brake defects on the latest version of its hybrid Prius, one of its best-selling cars.
Two start-ups, biofuel maker Codexis and solar-energy firm Solyndra, recently filed, and others are rumored to be doing so, including sexy electric-car company Tesla Motors and smart-grid integrated-technology maker Silver Spring Networks.
