Will 2018 Hyundai Accent be limited to Canada, or come to U.S. too?

2018 Hyundai AccentIn a U.S. where all the new-vehicle buzz seems to be about light trucks—especially crossover utilities and SUVs—is there even a place for a new subcompact sedan? That's the question posed by the launch of the 2018 Hyundai Accent, the latest generation of the Korean maker's smallest North American vehicle. It was unveiled last week at...

2017 Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid: first drive review

2017 Hyundai Ioniq HybridThe 2017 Hyundai Ioniq isn't one car but three, with a unique choice of powertrains. The volume seller will be the Ioniq Hybrid, a dedicated hybrid (as is the Toyota Prius) with a 58-mpg combined EPA fuel-economy rating for its base model. But you can also get it as a battery-electric car (starting in April, in California) and late this year, as a...

Volkswagen e-Golf to end when ID electric hatchback launches?

Volkswagen I.D. electric car conceptThe Volkswagen e-Golf will arrive in dealerships this spring with a higher-capacity battery pack that gives the electric car an EPA-rated 124 miles of range. The number equals the rating of the 2017 Hyundai Ioniq, and is the highest range offered by any electric car that's not a Chevy Bolt EV or a Tesla. Whether this boosts the allure of the...

Wind energy capacity in Europe now exceeds total coal output

wind farmWhile homeowners are more familiar with photovoltaic solar panels, large-scale wind power is an increasingly important part of the growth in renewable energy. For the first time, the total installed capacity of wind energy in Europe now exceeds the total output of electric powerplants fueled with coal. And that imbalance is likely to grow as more...

GM’s Maven car-sharing adds Chevy Bolt EV electric cars (in LA)

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car in Maven car-sharing fleet, Los Angeles [photo: Dan MacMedan foWith the 238-mile Chevy Bolt EV electric car now in its third month of sales and rolling out to additional states every month, the industry is focused on its sales numbers. Retail buyers have asked to what degree GM's plans to dedicate a number of the early Bolt EVs to its Maven car-sharing service might affect availability. If yesterday's...

2017 Ford Escape AWD 1.5-liter gas mileage review

2017 Ford Escape Titanium 4WD, Kingston, NY, Feb 2017Smaller engines with turbochargers have spread throughout new vehicles as a way to meet the increasingly stringent fuel-efficiency rules that started in 2012. But no maker has been as forward about marketing that technology as Ford, which now offers a range of downsized and boosted engines under the EcoBoost brand. We'd tested a couple of Ford...

Plug-in hybrids to catch on more quickly than electrics: Toyota

2017 Toyota Prius Prime PremiumToyota has been by far the most reluctant of recent converts to the idea that battery-electric vehicles might be practical and desirable. Only within the last year has the company moved past its decade-long insistence that all-electric cars were only suitable for tiny, low-range urban uses. Still, old habits die hard, and the company continues to...

All-electric Kia Niro EV to come in 2018, says Kia exec

2017 Kia Niro, San Antonio, Texas, Dec 2016South Korean carmakers Hyundai and Kia often share the underpinnings of their vehicles, though there's no "badge engineering" and the two brands compete in the marketplace. The recent Kia Niro hybrid wagon and the Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid hatchback, for instance, share the same powertrain, platform, and other hidden components. But while the 2017...

Chevy Cruze Diesel lawsuit to move into discovery phase

2014 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel, test drive in Hell, MichiganShock waves from Volkswagen's admission that it had installed "defeat device" software on its so-called clean diesels to cheat on emission tests continue to reverberate around the auto industry. The diesel-emission scandal that emerged in September 2015 has already cost VW Group more than $20 billion, and dozens of investigations around the world...