Union of Concerned Scientists Releases 2011 Hybrid Scorecard: Prius = Good, Touareg Hybrid = Bad

The Union of Concerned Scientist, a non-profit science advocacy group in the U.S., has released its second annual Hybrid Scorecard. The organisation criticised hybrid car manufacturers for not delivering on the technology’s promise, for placing performance above fuel efficiency and environmental benefit and burdening hybrids with features that put them out of the price range of average Americans.

A total of 34 hybrid vehicles from the 2011 to 2012 model year were tested for their fuel efficiency, environmental impact, value-for-money and their so-called “forced-feature premium”. The latter is features that don’t improve fuel efficiency but probably make the cars more appealing to money-conscious consumers.

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CNN Says Toyota Prius Plug-in will Top Chevy Volt, 12 Months before the Former Goes On Sale

If you are a GM diehard or a Chevy Volt fanboy, I suggest you cover your ears and start humming loudly to yourselves. CNN Money recently featured an article from Fortune magazine’s Motorworld declaring the upcoming Toyota Prius Plug-in hybrid a better buy and a better car than Chevy’s range-extended electric vehicle. Shock, gasp, horror, blasphemy etc.

To quote Motorworld senior editor Alex Taylor III: “[The Prius Plug-in is] more efficient and less expensive than the Volt, and Toyota actually stands the possibility of making a profit on it -- something General Motors concedes it can't do with the Volt.”

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Toyota Says Prius US Sales Will Outperform 2010 despite Earthquake Setback

In spite of the earthquake and Tsunami that devastated Japan last March and which deeply affected the country’s automobile production capabilities, Toyota remains confident that US sales of the Prius will outperform those of 2010.

The lack of inventory, with many dealers reporting as little as one day’s worth of Prius cars on their lots, led to a whopping 61% drop in July sales in the US, which is the lowest since 2004. And that’s significant because the US accounts for almost half of the all Prius models sold worldwide, which makes it Toyota’s most important market for its compact hybrid.

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Toyota Sports Up Prius with new PLUS Package from TRD

At last year’s Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas, Toyota displayed a lightly modified version of the Prius Hybrid to inaugurate its new line of accessories under the PLUS moniker.

Now it’s time for the Japanese automaker to release the production version of its modestly sported up Prius with the commercial launch of the PLUS Performance Package that will be available for order in July in limited numbers.

The package features styling and performance upgrades, and is optionally available on all Prius models with pricing set at $3,699 for the Prius Two, Three, and Four trim levels and $2,999 for the Prius Five.

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Robocarpocalypse Begins: Nevada Asks DoT to Draw Up Legislation for Driverless Cars

I can’t remember if there were self-driving cars in the third Terminator movie, though frankly I can’t remember anything other than that red leather and vinyl outfit Kristanna Loken was wearing. What were we talking about? Oh, yes, the robocarpocalypse.

With the passing of Assembly Bill 511 in the Nevada Senate, the U.S. Department of Transport will now have to draw up rules governing autonomous vehicles on the state’s roads.

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Google Goes Electric, Sets Up 70 Charging Stations at its California Headquarters

Internet-giant Google has just adopted the largest workplace charging installation for electric vehicles in the U.S. with the completion of 70 “ChargePoint” stations at its Mountain View, California headquarters.

The new charging infrastructure will support both employee-owned EVs and “GFleet” plug-in vehicles such as the Chevy Volt and Nissan LEAF. And there are 250 more charging stations on the way, with the goal of making Google’s HQ parking facilities 5% EV-ready.

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Eric Leong’s Radical 2015 Toyota Prius Design Study

As part of last year’s Toyota Design Internship, industrial designer Eric Leong produced this interesting take on the fourth-generation Toyota Prius for the year 2015.

By acknowledging that wind resistance is one of the key factors in improving vehicle economy, Leong’s Prius III hybrid is extremely slippery. Described by the designer as moving, “through [the wind], not into it”, this design study channels air over its surface through a series of vanes.

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Toyota Recalling 106,000 Prius Hybrids Globally Over Steering Wheel Issue

The newest Toyota recall affects approximately 106,000 Prius hybrids globally built from 2001 to 2003 for a fault with the electric power steering system. The Japanese automaker said the voluntary action affects around 52,000 Prius models sold in the United States.

“If the steering wheel is repeatedly and strongly turned to the full-lock position, there is a possibility the nuts securing the pinion shaft in the steering gear box assembly may become loose,” Toyota said in a statement. The company added that if the owner leaves the condition uncorrected, over time they will gradually notice significant increased steering effort when making a left turn.

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Toyota Mulling a Larger Hybrid Minivan than the Prius V with Seating for Seven

The all-new Prius V five-seater minivan isn’t due to arrive in U.S. showrooms until this fall, yet Toyota is already looking into the development of a larger model capable of seating seven passengers as well as carrying their luggage, according to Bob Carter, Toyota Division general manager. The larger Prius won’t be based on the Japanese market Prius Alpha nor the European specification Prius+, both of which pack a retractable third row of seats into the Prius V’s cargo area.

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Viva Las Vegas: Google Lobbies to Legalize Self-Driving Cars in Nevada

Internet and software bigwig Google has begun lobbying the state of Nevada to legalize driverless cars. The move comes on the heels of some very promising results in California, where Google had mapped out the terrain and sent a couple of its autonomous Toyota Priuses (Prii? Priora?) on an epic jaunt from Mountain View to Santa Monica.

The California-based company is keen to point out the claimed benefits of self-driving cars over their human-driven counterparts including better safety, improved fuel efficient and greater environmental friendliness.

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Toyota Rolls Out Online Ordering Site for Upcoming Prius Plug-In Hybrid

In preparation for the 2012 market launch of its new Prius Plug-in hybrid (PHV), Toyota's U.S. division announced the introduction of a new online order system that will kick off later this year.

Customers who are interested in the Prius Plug-in hybrid are invited to register on Toyota's website in order to have first access to the online order system when it becomes available later in the year. Appropriately, the first phase of the online order program, called Priority Registration, will launch on Earth Day, April 22, 2011.

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Google Scientist Says its Driverless Cars Could Save a Million Lives each Year

Sebastian Thrun, leader of Google's driverless car project, talked about the technology of self-driven cars at TED Talks, claiming it could save one million lives each year if it would replace human driving.

Google's test cars have so far covered over 140,000 miles (225,300 km) in all types of driving conditions without a single fault. “People didn't even notice” Google's cars were not driven by humans, said Thrun, who lost his best friend to a car accident when he was 18. The Stanford professor of computer science said that moment made him decide dedicating his life to saving one million people every year.

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Toyota Sells One-Millionth Prius Hybrid in the States

The Toyota Prius, a car that is often credited for bringing hybrid-electric technology to the masses, has managed to rack up its one-millionth sale in the USA. The announcement comes shortly after Toyota achieved two more milestones that started with global Prius sales topping the two million mark in October 2010 and overall global Toyota hybrid sales passing three million last month.

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Analysts Predict Expensive Fuel and Factory Shortages Could See Prius Price Rise

There’s an old saying that goes, “One man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity,” that I think is particularly apt in describing this latest story. With the civil war in Libya nudging petrol prices skyward and with the growing fear that Japan’s earthquake crisis will slow production of Toyota’s ubiquitous Prius hybrid, American consumers are flocking to their nearest dealership to snatch one up.

Tammy Darvish, the owner of four Toyota dealerships around Washington D.C. explains: “A lot of customers are convinced that prices will be going up and that availability [of the Prius] will be a little short.”

A Texas Toyota dealer is reporting that his sales have doubled in the last six weeks due to steadily increasing fuel prices. And with no U.S. factory producing the popular hybrid five-door, it’s not like there’s a backup supply if things become more pear shaped in the land of the rising sun.

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Toyota Postpones Prius V Launch in Japan after Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Crisis

The latest victim of the ongoing crisis in Japan is the new minivan version of the Prius as Toyota announced today that it has decided to postpone launch of the car at its home market. “No decision has been made at this time on when the launch will be rescheduled,” Toyota said in a statement.

Despite the delay in Japan, Toyota said that the North American version of the Prius V, which is scheduled to launch at the end of summer 2011, remains on track. “No decision has been made in regards to a possible need to change the launch timing,” Toyota said.

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VIDEO: 2012 Toyota Prius V Minivan Presentation and Driving Footage

In a move that was more expected than surprising given the success of the Prius over the years, Toyota launched the first addition to the Prius family, the V-branded minivan, and announced an upcoming compact hatchback, previewed by the Prius C concept study, at the 2011 Detroit Motor Show. The two models will join the regular Prius hatchback and its forthcoming plug-in version in the North American market.

The production Prius V seen in the videos after the jump, is a practical five-seat minivan based off the hatchback version of Toyota's popular hybrid model. It uses the same 1.8-litre petrol engine and Hybrid Synergy Drive tech offering 50% more luggage space than its smaller counterpart, while returning an estimated 42 mpg city, 38 mpg highway and 40 mpg combined. The Prius V will go on sale in North America in late summer 2011 as a 2012 model year.

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Toyota Prius C Hybrid Concept will Spawn a Production Model in 2012

Along with the new Prius V minivan, the Detroit Show also welcomed the world premiere of the Prius C Concept, which will provide the inspiration for the next Prius Family member that Toyota plans to launch in the first half of next year.

The Japanese automaker said that the production version of the Prius C will be smaller, more affordable and with even greater fuel efficiency than the regular Prius. According to Toyota's claims, the Prius C will deliver the highest mpg of any available hybrid model without a plug in North America.

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2011 Detroit Show: All-New Toyota Prius V Minivan Hybrid

Toyota is expanding its family of Prius models with the presentation of the all-new Prius V minivan that will join the current, third-generation Prius as well as the forthcoming Prius Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (PHV), starting from late summer 2011.

The Prius V shares the same platform and hybrid drivetrain as the regular, five-door model, however, Toyota claims the minivan will feature over 50-percent more interior cargo space than the current Prius.

According to the Japanese automaker, the new model "has been designed from the ground up, with a shape that evolved from Prius rather than being an elongated version."

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Toyota Prius Tops Corolla's 1990 Record as Japan's Best Selling Model in 2010

The Toyota Prius has set a new sales record in Japan as the automaker delivered more than 315,000 units (final figures will be released by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association in mid-January). of the gas-electric hybrid model in 2010, overtaking the Corolla for the first time in two decades. The previous annual record was held by the Corolla which sold around 300,000 units in 1990.

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BREAKING: Toyota to Debut Prius Concept Alongside New Prius Minivan at Detroit Show

[Updated] It's going to be all about the Prius hybrid family at Toyota's 2011 Detroit Motor Show stand, as the Japanese automaker revealed today that in addition to the current third-generation Prius and Prius Plug-in vehicle (PHV), the first all-new addition to the Prius range, the as-of-yet unnamed compact minivan seen in the teaser above, will debut along with a new Prius-branded concept model.

The company is keeping details on the prototype model under wraps for now, but with the Detroit Show just around the corner, it won't be long before we find out what it's all about. In the meantime, hit the break to check out two new teaser photos of the Prius MPV's dashboard and interior space.

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