Electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf and Toyota Prius Plug-In began 2013 with a sales slump. In the months ahead, automakers hope to boost sales with increased production and cheaper prices.
Toyota Prius
Hybrid-Car Competition Heats Up: Does the Toyota Prius Finally Have a Worthy Challenger?
In January, Ford sold five times as many hybrid vehicles as it did the year before. New hybrids from Volkswagen, Honda and pretty much every other automaker also mean that Toyota, which has dominated the market for years with its …
Foreign Auto Ambition: New Plans for Global Domination from Toyota, VW, Honda
These businesses sure do mean business. Honda says it’ll double sales within five years. Toyota plans to push the hybrid market—which it already dominates thanks to the Prius—into the next stratosphere. And Volkswagen has …
Once-Struggling Cars That Are Suddenly Hot Sellers
Fiat and Toyota, both of which had a rough sales year in 2011, can’t seem to produce cars fast enough for buyers lately. One much-hyped plug-in vehicle is also faring better in the marketplace in 2012. After struggling to attract …
Toyota Prius: Niche Car No More
Drivers around the globe purchased nearly a quarter million Toyota Priuses in the first quarter of 2012. That makes the Prius the world’s third best-selling car—and it firmly establishes the fact that this hybrid is not a fluke …
The Automaker with a Problem Most Businesses Would Envy
Not long ago, Hyundai had a less-than-stellar reputation for quality and had to resort to gimmicks to sell cars. During the Great Recession, the South Korean automaker’s fleet included the cheapest car sold in the U.S., and it …
Even Hybrid Owners Aren’t Likely to Buy Hybrids
Well, this doesn’t exactly bode well for the future of hybrids, now does it? Last year, when just 2.2% of all cars sold were hybrids, even the people who had previously decided to buy hybrids weren’t likely to purchase hybrids.
March Was a Record Month for Auto Sales
A struggling economy has translated into good business at auto repair shops, as Americans hung onto their old cars longer and occasionally needed expert assistance keeping them on the road. Well, business might be slowing down a …
Gas Prices Drop More Than 25¢ in a Month
If there’s one upside to the economy’s downward spiral, it’s that gas prices are steadily getting cheaper.
Here Come the (Sorta) Solar-Powered Cars
In terms of sustainability and environmental friendliness, hybrids and electric cars are good. But cars powered at least partly by the sun? That’s even better. Here are two steps in that direction.
Could Buying a Car Be a Good Investment?
Throw the conventional wisdom for buying and selling cars out the door. Right now, because the supply of new cars is limited, the prices of new and used cars alike are soaring, and decent gas mileage is increasingly more …
