Nissan IMQ small SUV skips electric for hybrid power

Nissan IMQ electric SUV conceptAfter revealing a planned all-electric SUV last year in Tokyo and an electric sedan in Detroit this year, Nissan's debut at the Geneva auto show was a surprise: It's latest IM concept car, the IMQ small SUV isn't an electric car or even a plug-in hybrid. Nissan has been promising a small electric SUV for years now, but this isn't the further step...

Mitsubishi Engelberg SUV concept may preview Outlander PHEV replacement

Mitsubishi Engelberg Tourer conceptThe Mitsubishi Engelberg Tourer concept unveiled at the Geneva auto show on Tuesday looks a lot like the preview of a replacement for Mitsubishi's bestselling model, the Outlander. The Engelberg Tourer concept is a plug-in hybrid SUV similar in function if not in size to the Outlander PHEV, which was once the bestselling plug-in vehicle in Europe...

Honda plans all-electrified lineup for Europe by 2025

Honda e PrototypeAt the Geneva auto show on Tuesday, Honda announced plans to bring a fully-electrified lineup to Europe by 2025. That's different, of course, than selling only fully electric cars. The plan includes hybrids, such as the CR-V Hybrid that Honda sells in Europe now, as well as plug-in and fully electric cars. "Honda expects full hybrid technology to...

Audi Q4 e-tron previews brand’s first affordable electric SUV

Audi Q4 e-tron conceptAudi's plans to take on Tesla in the electric-car market aren't limited to the upcoming e-tron quattro electric SUV. Like Tesla, Audi has at least two electric SUVs in the works, and it previewed the second one at the Geneva auto show on Tuesday. The second model follows the established protocol of being smaller and more affordable than the...

All-electric BMW i4 to be production version of i Vision Dynamics concept

BMW i Vision Dynamics concept, 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show    [photo: Tom Moloughney]Very few automakers these days build concept cars just for fun, and only occasionally are they pure styling concepts intended to showcase future design language. So when the BMW i Vision Dynamics Concept emerged onto the auto-show circuit last fall, it seemed obvious it previewed a future production model. Especially since, as many observers...

Porsche execs on 2020 Mission E, more electric cars to follow

Porsche Mission E concept, 2015 Frankfurt Auto ShowAuto journalists often relish interviews and roundtable sessions with German executives and engineers. They usually haven't been beaten into submission and forced to stick to scripted talking points, as have too many of their U.S. counterparts. Most German auto executives also speak excellent English, so fewer translators are involved, removing a...

Mercedes-Benz EQ electric car Geneva debut was…a rebranded Smart car

2018 Smart EQ ForTwo CabrioUnveilings for several key new electric cars were expected during the media days for last week's Geneva auto show. The Jaguar I-Pace made its formal debut, and the Audi e-tron appeared in camouflage as a sort of full-size teaser display. But there had been word from Mercedes-Benz that it would introduce an EQ electric car as well. DON'T MISS...

2019 Toyota Corolla Hybrid hatchback debuts in Geneva for Europe

2019 Toyota Corolla hatchbackRemember hatchbacks? Actually, come to think of it ... remember passenger cars? You know, the sedans and wagons and hatchbacks that don't have all-wheel drive and aren't jacked up 6 to 9 inches off the ground? They used to roam this fair land of ours, but lately, they seem to have been routed by crossover utility vehicles and SUVs and trucks of...

Audi e-tron electric SUV appears in camouflage at Geneva show, on city roads

Camouflaged 2019 Audi e-tron electric SUV on stage at 2018 Geneva auto showThe Geneva auto show was expected to offer the first head-to-head comparison between the first two all-electric SUVs models from European luxury brands, both starting deliveries later this year. It didn't quite work out that way. The 2019 Jaguar I-Pace did indeed debut last Friday, before media days at the show, but the 2019 Audi e-tron didn't...

Mixed messages on future of diesel at Geneva auto show

Exhaust emissions from tailpipe [photo: Simone Ramella, 2005, used under Creative Commons 2.0]You can smell the diesel exhaust in any city in Europe, sometimes even before you hear the clatter from under the hood of every other passing vehicle. The Volkswagen diesel scandal that broke in September 2015 brought a laser focus to the software used in all diesel engines, and their inability to meet emission limits in real-world use. At the...

2019 Jaguar I-Pace electric crossover priced from $70,495 in U.S.

2019 Jaguar I-PaceThe 2019 Jaguar I-Pace, the brand's first-ever production electric car, made its debut last Thursday before the Geneva auto show. At that time, only U.K. pricing was given—but on Tuesday, Jaguar released the U.S. price for the electric crossover utility vehicle that goes on sale sometime this fall. The price will start at $70,495, including...

2019 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV updates for Europe to debut in Geneva

2019 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (European model), to debut at 2018 Geneva auto showThe Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has been a huge success in Europe, selling more than 100,000 copies there over several years. As the first and least expensive plug-in hybrid SUV, it received many incentives in different European countries and provided the first taste of plug-in electric driving for numerous families. Now, the plug-in hybrid...

Lexus UX smaller crossover teased before Geneva auto show

Teaser for 2019 Lexus UX debuting at 2018 Geneva auto showThe global new-vehicle market is moving toward crossover utility vehicles and SUVs, along with vehicles that look like them. Now the production version of another crossover, shown in concept form well over a year ago, has been confirmed to launch at the Geneva auto show with a teaser photo. The Lexus UX will be smaller than the current NX compact...

Volkswagen ID Vizzion large all-electric sedan teased before Geneva debut

Teaser for Volkswagen ID Vizzion concept debuting at 2018 Geneva auto showVolkswagen's first dedicated battery-electric vehicle will roll off the production lines in 21 months, but we won't see the compact hatchback ID model in North America. Instead, the first dedicated VW plug-in electric vehicle will be the production version of the ID Cross compact crossover that's appeared as a concept at several auto show. Next...

Hyundai Kona Electric crossover teased before Geneva auto show reveal

Teaser image for Hyundai Kona Electric to be introduced at 2018 Geneva auto showThe lack of plug-in electric crossover utility vehicles with all-wheel drive is a growing and obvious gap in the market. And where there's a gap, aggressive South Korean carmaker Hyundai may try to fill it. The company has now issued a teaser photo of the Hyundai Kona Electric small SUV it plans to unveil on February 27 before next month's Geneva...