| Toyota Hybrid Sales Gaining Ground in Europe |
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Jan 27, 2012 - 3:41 PM - by xcel
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 400,000th Toyota Hybrid sold in the UK.
Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Jan 27, 2012
A Brit built Auris Hybrid from Toyota’s Burnaston plant in Derbyshire was the 400,000th hybrid delivered in Europe. The vehicle was handed over to Valentine Nkwocha, a company car driver for a Belgian IT company.
The Auris Hybrid is Toyota’s first to be built in Europe and has been manufactured at Burnaston since 2010.
European’s are embracing Toyota’s hybrid technology to the tune of 10% of the company’s total overall vehicle sales across the entire continent.
Tony Walker, Deputy Managing Director of Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK:
... [Read More]
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1 Reply | 146 Views
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| Ford Reports Its Best Year Since 1998! |
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Jan 27, 2012 - 9:32 AM - by xcel
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 Strong F-Series sales in North America overwhelmed higher commodity costs and losses in both Europe and Asia.
Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Jan 27, 2012
Ford’s Blue Oval – An Icon that is back on its feet and in fighting form.
Ford this morning reported its 2011 financial results with a blockbuster performance. Ford’s full year pre-tax operating profit reached $8.8 billion or $1.51 per year, an increase of $463 million from a year ago. The highlight is this is the Blue Oval’s third consecutive year of profits leaving the recession of 2008/2009 in the rear view mirror.
Full year 2011 net income was $20.2 billion, or $4.94 per share, an increase... [Read More]
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3 Replies | 197 Views
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| NADA Director States FE Rule Will Cost Consumers Dearly. What a Crock of … |
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Jan 26, 2012 - 9:12 PM - by xcel
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A few $’s up front to save thousands over the life of the vehicle must be to much right?
Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Jan 26, 2012
2012 Kia Rio – The most fuel efficient < $15,000 USD car available in North America and it just so happens to be rated at 45.77 mpgUS unadjusted combined.
The real story.
The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) director Forrest McConnell in testimony before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in San Francisco said, “More than 7 million Americans would no longer be able to afford to buy a new car or truck in 2025 if the most... [Read More]
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23 Replies | 618 Views
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| 2011 United Kingdom Diesel Market Share Hits Record 51% |
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Jan 26, 2012 - 7:04 PM - by seftonm
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Average new car CO2 emissions fell to a new low of 138.1g/km in 2011, down 4.2% from the 2010 level.
Paul Riegler - THEDIESELDRIVER - Jan 25, 2012
Pictured: 2012 Ford Focus ECOnetic – Europe’s most fuel efficient compact car at 67.2 mpgUS combined on the NEDC or approximately 55 mpgUS combined on our own 08 EPA.
While the market share for diesel in the U.S. is roughly 3% and Germany’s is 49%, there is at least one country where more buyers choose diesel than anything else.
According to figures provided by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the... [Read More]
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7 Replies | 259 Views
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| It's Not Easy Being Green: Solar Windows 1, Prius 0 |
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Jan 25, 2012 - 9:07 PM - by seftonm
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Patron’s case apparently isn’t the first one, either. In fact, the problem is widespread enough that the National Association of Home Builders is looking into it.
Kurt Ernst - GREENCARREPORTS - Jan 25, 2012
Plausible? Time to call Mythbusters! --Ed.
As if inattentive drivers, potholes, vandalism and acid rain weren’t enough to worry about, it now seems that urban motorists have one more thing to raise their insurance rates.
As one southern California resident recently found out, high-thermal-efficiency windows can reflect a significant amount of heat back into the environment.
... [Read More]
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13 Replies | 558 Views
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| The LEAF in Japanese Winter |
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Jan 25, 2012 - 12:51 AM - by xcel
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Some fluff to promote the LEAF 
Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Jan 24, 2012
2012 Nissan LEAF – $35,200 to start and provides an EPA rated 73 miles All-Electric Range (AER).
Currently one of the world’s first affordable all-electric cars and far more versatile than the slightly more affordable iMiEV, the 90 cu. ft. passenger volume makes it a small mid-size according to the EPA. Its 22 cu. ft. of cargo cap make it the size of a small CUV while... [Read More]
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16 Replies | 514 Views
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| Charge your Volt Renewably? Sort of. |
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Jan 24, 2012 - 10:52 PM - by xcel
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A percentage of the grid is renewable and OnStar or a future mobile app will tell you how much is.
Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Jan 24, 2012
2012 Chevrolet Volt - $39,995 to start and 35 miles AER – 37 mpgUS combined when “On the gas.”
The Volt’s 1.4L gas engine out of the Cruze minus the Turbo extends the range up to an additional 344 miles for a total of 379 miles when at the EPA fuel/energy economy.
OnStar’s addition
OnStar receives a signal from the PJM Interconnection that shows the percentage of available renewable energy on the grid and data from this forecast is uploaded to the OnStar cloud, or Advanced Telematics... [Read More]
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1 Reply | 276 Views
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| Toyota’s North American Production Down 13.9% in 2011 |
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Jan 24, 2012 - 9:43 PM - by xcel
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Not a good year with 2012 promising to change all of that.
Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Jan 24, 2012
Toyota's recent past and hopeful future begins in 2012.
Last week, Toyota released its 2011 North American vehicle production totals with some eye opening results.
What was supposed to be a continuing recovery from the depths of the 2008/2009 recession turned into anything but when last April, a massive earthquake with an 8.9 magnitude struck the island of Japan. In its aftermath, a tsunami of biblical proportions swept across the northeast coast with a wall of water that in some locations was over 50’ high!
Not only were there over 20,000 recorded... [Read More]
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0 Replies | 297 Views
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| Toyota Does the Unthinkable Down Under As It Sets Up For First Layoffs |
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Jan 24, 2012 - 1:11 AM - by xcel
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 Economic realities including an almost 37% fall in sales leads to a 7.5% reduction in workforce.
Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Jan 24, 2012
2012 Toyota Camry – Already in production, volumes do not appear to be accelerating enough to maintain current Australian workforce.
Toyota Australia announced that is currently in the process a thorough business review to manage an unprecedented local sales slump that is placing significant pressure on its profitability.
In a statement released yesterday, Toyota Australia will immediately begin a workforce reduction action at its manufacturing plant in Altona, Victoria, with plans to reduce... [Read More]
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3 Replies | 401 Views
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| 2012 Hyundai Elantra Earns an Overall 4 Stars on the NHTSA Crash Tests |
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Jan 23, 2012 - 10:31 PM - by xcel
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Small passengers took away the chance for 5 stars.
Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Jan 23, 2012
2012 Hyundai Elantra - $15,345 to start and a 29/40 mpgUS city/highway rating.
Fresh off its win as the 2012 North American Car of the Year, the first chink in the Elantra’s substantial armor arrives in the form of the 2011 NHTSA crash test ratings.
While the 2012 Hyundai Elantra has already earned an IIHS Top Safety Pick, it has just received an overall four-star crash test rating under the... [Read More]
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4 Replies | 482 Views
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| U.S. Oil Production to Surge |
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Jan 23, 2012 - 4:25 PM - by ALS
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U.S. oil imports are expected to drop to 36 percent of total consumption by 2035, down from 49 percent in 2010
Ayesha Rasco - THEFISCALTIMES - January 23, 2012
A boom in shale oil production will raise U.S. domestic crude output by a fifth over the next decade, helping to slash the country's dependence on foreign oil imports, the Energy Information Administration said on Monday.
Growing shale production as well as Gulf of Mexico development will push U.S. crude oil production to 6.7 million barrels per day in 2020, up 20 percent and 11 percent higher than the previous forecast, the EIA said in its annual... [Read More]
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10 Replies | 482 Views
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| Energy-Saving Software Turns Factories into Power Plants |
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Jan 23, 2012 - 3:37 PM - by ALS
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Viridity doesn’t charge for its software; it takes a cut of any revenue its customers make by selling to the grid.
Nick Leiber - BLOOMBERG - January 23, 2012
Audrey Zibelman spent two years in the Peace Corps in the late 1970s, working in a village in Chad which had no electricity. She was struck by how the lack of power exacerbated poverty. “For these people I was living with, about 80 to 90 percent of their day was spent just on staying alive,” she recalls.
Today Zibelman, 54, heads a Philadelphia startup backed by $24 million in venture capital that she hopes will eventually help... [Read More]
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2 Replies | 383 Views
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| Supreme Court rules warrant needed for GPS tracking |
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Jan 23, 2012 - 2:09 PM - by ALS
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Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that when police attached a GPS device it "constitutes a search."
Joan Biskupic - USATODAY - January 23, 2012
In its first ever review of GPS tracking, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that police need a warrant before attaching a GPS device to a person's car.
The opinion was unanimous, although the justices split in their views of how the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures applies to such high-tech tracking.
The case, which during November oral arguments had prompted justices' references to George Orwell's... [Read More]
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12 Replies | 485 Views
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| 2013 Fit EV Hits the Streets |
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Jan 22, 2012 - 11:53 PM - by xcel
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Torrance city employees will be the first to drive Honda’s latest Super Green entry.
Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Jan 22, 2012
At the 2011 LA Auto Show, Honda revealed the long awaited 2013 Fit EV with a 76 mile all-electric range.
Honda will begin leasing the Fit EV to customers in select California and Oregon markets this summer, and will expand to six East Coast markets in early 2013. The Fit EV's MSRP is $36,625 with an estimated lease priced at $399 a month. Honda will monitor market acceptance, but expects volume at this early stage of production to be approximately 1,100 Fit EV's over the next three years.
The Fit EV is powered by a 20 kWh... [Read More]
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26 Replies | 918 Views
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| Electric car parking: Perk or privilege ? |
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Jan 21, 2012 - 9:44 PM - by ALS
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In any case, many of the EV drivers actually would prefer that chargers be located in the back of the lot or somewhere else desirable.
John Brandon - FOXNEWS - January 21, 2012
They drive whisper-quiet cars, zing past you in the parking lot, and use dedicated charging stations just a few steps from the front entrance. Electric car owners enjoy many perks, and there’s a growing frustration among owners of conventional cars about the charging stations popping up at places like Ikea, Whole Foods, Walgreens, and other stores -- especially when the spots in front of them are empty.
“This makes... [Read More]
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13 Replies | 782 Views
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