Polestar will qualify for $7,500 electric-car credit separately from Volvo

Polestar 2The 2021 Polestar 2 will look and feel a lot like a Volvo, but federal and state regulators won't treat it like one in the U.S. when it comes to qualifying for various green-car incentives. The biggest incentive is the $7,500 offered as an Internal Revenue Service tax credit for the first 200,000 electric cars sold by an automaker. READ MORE: 2020...

2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid arrives, promises 34 mpg combined

2020 Toyota HighlanderFacing its first three-row hybrid rival, the 2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid that bowed Thursday at the 2019 New York auto show boasting one big number: 34 mpg combined, according to the automaker’s estimates. That’s 10 mpg higher than early estimates for the 2020 Ford Explorer Hybrid. MORE: Toyota shores up against electric-car threat...

Toyota Corolla hybrid will join Prius next year

Teaser for 2020 Toyota Corolla debuting on November 15, 2018The redesigned 2020 Toyota Corolla sedan will soon spawn a hybrid variant, the first gasoline-electric version of the automaker's popular compact car. Toyota made the announcement Thursday as it unveiled the Corolla sedan at simultaneous events in California and China, underscoring the model's global appeal. Toyota was mum on additional details...

2019 Audi e-tron prototype first ride: Soothingly familiar

2019 Audi e-tron prototype drive, Pikes PeakAt 5 o’clock in the morning, the only sound heard at the summit of Pikes Peak, 14,114 feet above sea level, is the ceaseless whipping of the wind. Inside the Audi e-tron electric crossover SUV prototype, I hear almost no sound at all. Silence, like the e-tron itself, is soothingly familiar. That’s something that can’t be said...

2018 Kia Niro hybrid nets top Safety Pick+ award, when properly equipped

2018 Kia Niro Plug-In HybridTick all the right boxes and the 2018 Kia Niro earns a Top Safety Pick+ award from the IIHS, the crash-testing agency said last week. To get to the highest-rated Niro, buyers need to opt for LED headlights and automatic emergency braking, features that can be paired together only on the Niro EX trim level with the optional Premium Package or the...

Kia to build electric cars in India by late 2019

2019 Kia Niro EVKia will spend $1 billion on a new assembly plant in southern India to build an electric car for that market by late 2019. The move comes just over a decade before India intends to ban the sale of fossil-fuel vehicles. Just what form an Indian-market electric Kia will take remains unknown, especially since the automaker doesn't currently sell cars...

South Korean government trims orders for Hyundai Nexo hydrogen-fuel cars

Hyundai Nexo self-driving prototypeNine months after announcing its intention to buy 10,000 Hyundai Nexo hydrogen-fueled cars, the South Korean government has halved its order. That's according to Business Korea, which said Tuesday that a report published by the government earlier this month indicated that the government plans to purchase 5,000 Nexo vehicles over the next two...

Chinese electric-car builder Byton says it raised $500 million

Byton SUV conceptA $500 million infusion from investors including an automaker and a major battery supplier could help Chinese electric-car startup Byton put its cars on the road by the end of next year, the company said Monday. Byton said that its big investors—Chinese state-owned automaker FAW Group, Chinese lithium-ion battery developer CATL, and Chinese...

2019 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid first drive

2019 Porsche Cayenne E-HybridElectrified cars are all too often about numbers: electric-only range, charging time, kilowatt-hours, and, of course, value. When it comes to an electrified luxury crossover like the 2019 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid, the default knee-jerk reaction is to throw out that last one. Except… don’t. READ THIS: 2019 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid: the...

2011 Volkswagen Jetta TDI SportWagen driven: Fixed, but does it matter?

Brown 2011 Volkswagen TDI Sportwagen listed for sale after emissions repairsThe gentle rumble under the brown station wagon’s hood brings back memories of not too long ago as I sneak its 6-speed manual through the gears. So, too, the way it accelerates down a highway on-ramp—like warm maple syrup, the brown wagon moves substantially with just enough verve. From the driver’s seat of this 2011 VW Golf TDI...

2019 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid: the subtly earthy type

2019 Porsche Cayenne E-HybridThe 2019 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid doesn't boast about its plug-in hybrid, eco-friendly credentials. Instead of a big charge port conspicuously placed on one front fender, the Cayenne has matching covers for fuel or electricity on either side of the vehicle. They're part of its dual-nature: one part a high-performance crossover SUV that's just a...

2018 Toyota Camry XLE Hybrid road-trip review: a case for high-mpg sedans

2018 Toyota Camry XLE HybridThe grim reaper might be coming for sedans, but the 2018 Toyota Camry isn’t ready to go. Today’s Toyota Camry suffers from multiple personality disorder, which, I discovered after 800 miles behind the wheel, might also be its biggest asset. Dressed up in Camry XSE trim, it wants to be a sports car. Slumming it with hubcaps, the Camry L...