What the auto industry calls a "mid-cycle refresh" can range from indistinguishable to very evident. The 2018 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid falls into the latter category, with new front and rear styling, changes to the interior and dashboard, and numerous added safety and connectivity features. The hybrid Sonata follows the updated conventional gasoline... 2018 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, Plug-In Hybrid released at Chicago auto show
What the auto industry calls a "mid-cycle refresh" can range from indistinguishable to very evident. The 2018 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid falls into the latter category, with new front and rear styling, changes to the interior and dashboard, and numerous added safety and connectivity features. The hybrid Sonata follows the updated conventional gasoline... 
The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV helped the Canadian plug-in electric vehicle market to its first 1,000-unit January last month. The company sold 174 of its plug-in hybrid SUV in its first full month on sale, representing about 30 percent of overall Outlander sales. If that ratio holds, the Outlander PHEV could become Canada’s second... 
Media days at the huge and influential Geneva show are March 6 and March 7, and this year it looks like the show will offer a lot of news for plug-in electric car fans. Several significant new production cars powered entirely by batteries are expected to make their debuts. They'll be supplemented by technology presentations from other makers eager... ![Chevrolet Bolt EV being charged outside Go Forth electric-car showroom, Portland [photo: Forth]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/chevrolet-bolt-ev-being-charged-outside-go-forth-electric-car-showroom-portland-photo-forth_100606247_t.gif)
A recent study from the University of California, Davis suggested that awareness of available plug-in electric cars among potential buyers was no higher in 2017 than it had been in 2014. Worse, only California car owners were surveyed—and that's the state in which roughly half of all the battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in the... 
While 2017 saw higher U.S. sales of plug-in electric cars than any previous year, expectations for 2018 sales are running even higher. The Chevrolet Bolt EV will be available in all 50 states for a full year, the new 2018 Nissan Leaf with a 151-mile range is now on sale, and of course the Tesla Model 3 will be a factor. How much of a factor... 
Most highly fuel-efficient dedicated hybrids are compact five-door hatchbacks, the most popular vehicle segment globally. When Korean maker Kia was drawing up plans for its first dedicated hybrid vehicle, it took a different path. The wagon it came up with—it calls the Kia Niro a crossover, we disagree—has been a success in the U.S... 
Leases are a minority of overall car sales in the U.S., though the numbers soar for pricier luxury vehicles versus the less expensive, plain-Jane vehicles that serve as daily transport for most drivers. That rule flips for electric cars: Most pricey Teslas appear to be purchased outright, while smaller and less expensive electric cars are largely... 
As the auto industry plans more electric cars in higher volumes for the 2020s, one of the great debates is whether they will need to be designed from the ground up solely for battery power. Doing so allows designers to offer larger cabins due to the more compact drive motors and electronics. One of the best examples of that idea is the upcoming... 
Countries around the world—especially China, France, the U.K., and Norway—are aiming to phase out the sale of new fossil-fuel vehicles entirely between 2025 and 2040. So it's in automakers' best interests to begin planning and investing now in vehicle lineups that will comply with that regulatory environment when it comes. But the...