Review: 2024 BMW i5 electric sport sedan trounces gasoline sibling

2024 BMW i5Battery-electric 2024 BMW i5 models will make up roughly half the full range of the eighth-generation mid-size BMW 5-Series sport sedan that first debuted in 1972. As with its larger sibling, the BMW i7, the electric version—though all but identical on the outside—is clearly superior to its gasoline counterparts. Now, the higher-volume...

Review: 2024 Hyundai Kona Electric outshines gasoline versions

2024 Hyundai Kona ElectricThe 2024 Hyundai Kona is already reaching dealerships, while the Kona Electric version, Hyundai says, won’t arrive until late fall. You should wait, because the EV version of Hyundai’s small utility vehicle is hands-down the best of the bunch. We had two brief stints in a prototype Kona Electric in the rolling Maryland horse country...

2025 Volvo EX30: Next year’s most important EV comes from China?

2025 Volvo EX30What makes the 2025 Volvo EX30, in rear-wheel-drive form with a projected range rating of 275 miles, possible at its remarkable starting price of around $35,000—the price that tripped up Tesla some years ago? It’s undoubtedly the EX30’s manufacture in China, where labor costs are roughly akin to those in Mexico. The EX30...

Review: 2023 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid prioritizes low price, high mpg

2023 Toyota Corolla Cross HybridThe 2023 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid adds a second and more economical powertrain to the compact SUV that debuted last year. Dropping Toyota’s well-proven and fuel-efficient hybrid system into the Corolla Cross boosts fuel efficiency to an estimated 42 mpg combined, against the 30 mpg combined of the standard AWD model. All hybrid versions...

Review: 2023 Toyota Prius Prime plug-in reboots Volt formula

2023 Toyota Prius PrimeThe 2023 Toyota Prius Prime is a plug-in hybrid version of the conventional 2023 Prius hybrid launched earlier this year. It shares that car’s striking new shape, the one that wowed reviewers and shoppers. The Prime adds a much larger battery that can be plugged into the grid to recharge—giving it an estimated EPA combined electric...

Review: 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T plug-in hybrid puts performance first

2024 Dodge Hornet R/TThe 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T is a small, plug-in hybrid SUV with a mission that has little to do with running on grid electricity, lowering emissions, or saving fuel. Instead, this affordable model from Stellantis’ bad-boy brand soon to also launch a noise-making electric muscle car has a clear priority: performance. Think PHEV, and you may...

Genesis builds the Electrified GV70 in Alabama: Why that’s important

U.S. production of Genesis Electrified GV70 in AlabamaAs of last month, the 2023 Genesis GV70 is now built in the U.S.—but only one in one of its variants, a new battery-electric version dubbed Electrified GV70. Behind that debut lies a story. When President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act last August, building EVs in the United States became far more important than it was the day...

Review: 2023 Toyota Prius rethinks high-mpg hybrid for stunning style

2023 Toyota PriusThrow away what you think you know about the Toyota Prius, the ur-hybrid that was briefly Silicon Valley’s most tech-forward car before it was supplanted by Tesla and other electric cars. The 2023 Toyota Prius, which goes on sale early next year, is a stunner. The sleek, wedge-shaped form wasn’t easy to achieve while preserving the...

2023 Toyota Prius: How design became the priority over tech

2023 Toyota Prius LimitedThe 2023 Toyota Prius is the fifth generation of the world’s best-known hybrid vehicle. Since it first went on sale in Japan in 1997, the Prius has epitomized high fuel efficiency and the advanced technology of hybrid-electric powertrains. The current fourth-generation Prius arrived in 2016 and its styling and design were not well-received...

Porsche is moving fast into EVs: Lessons learned from Taycan

Porsche Taycan  -  Euro specIn 2013, German carmakers got their hands on Tesla Model S luxury four-door sport sedans and tore them apart. An industry insider in that country told us the Model S was a massive shock to Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz—but perhaps even more so to Porsche, which had been hugely successful with its fast, sporty Panamera four-door. The Porsche...