Andrew Ganz, Senior Editor
Articles
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The 2021 Polestar 2 will look and feel a lot like a Volvo, but federal and state regulators won't treat it like one in the U.S. when it comes to qualifying for various green-car incentives.
The...
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How the 2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid 3-row crossover gets compact-car economyThe Highlander Hybrid is rated up to 34 mpg and can seat up to eight; that gas mileage beats any other three-row vehicle without a charge port.
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2019 Nissan Leaf Plus vs. 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV: Which electric car is best?We’re a long way from peak electric car, but we’ve finally left base camp. Big strides in battery capacity mean that picking between the 238-mile 2019 Chevy Bolt EV and the recently boosted 226-mile 2019 Nissan Leaf Plus comes down to a dozen miles of range. After a week behind the...
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2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid arrives, promises 34 mpg combined
Facing its first three-row hybrid rival, the 2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid that bowed Thursday at the 2019 New York auto show boasting one big number: 34 mpg combined, according to the automaker’s estimates. That’s 10 mpg higher than early estimates for the 2020 Ford Explorer Hybrid...
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Mountain hardware: Testing the 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV on a high-country day tripColorado, which is taking steps to adopt California’s EV mandate, has always had a different wildcard factor affecting road trips: altitude. The state has the highest portions of the Interstate highway system, including routes spanning past 11,000 feet and varying several thousand feet. Even...
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2019 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid first drive review: All the bits and pieces in placeThe 2019 RAV4 Hybrid is Toyota’s way of flexing its corporate might. It’s as if the automaker called on each of its departments to create the new hybrid crossover SUV. The folks from design coughed up some 4Runner and Tacoma cues to give it a butch look. The Lexus team chiseled the...
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The redesigned 2020 Toyota Corolla sedan will soon spawn a hybrid variant, the first gasoline-electric version of the automaker's popular compact car.
Toyota made the announcement Thursday as it...
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2019 Honda Insight review update: Putting the Civic on noticeThat sound you hear isn’t the 2019 Honda Insight’s hybrid powertrain whirring along. It’s the undertaker coming for the vaunted Honda Civic nameplate. The 2019 Insight isn’t just a better hybrid, it’s a better compact car. I spent a week moseying around in an Insight...
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2019 Audi e-tron prototype first ride: Soothingly familiarAt 5 o’clock in the morning, the only sound heard at the summit of Pikes Peak, 14,114 feet above sea level, is the ceaseless whipping of the wind. Inside the Audi e-tron electric crossover SUV prototype, I hear almost no sound at all. Silence, like the e-tron itself, is soothingly familiar...
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2018 Kia Niro hybrid nets top Safety Pick+ award, when properly equippedTick all the right boxes and the 2018 Kia Niro earns a Top Safety Pick+ award from the IIHS, the crash-testing agency said last week. To get to the highest-rated Niro, buyers need to opt for LED headlights and automatic emergency braking, features that can be paired together only on the Niro EX...
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Kia to build electric cars in India by late 2019Kia will spend $1 billion on a new assembly plant in southern India to build an electric car for that market by late 2019. The move comes just over a decade before India intends to ban the sale of fossil-fuel vehicles. Just what form an Indian-market electric Kia will take remains unknown...
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South Korean government trims orders for Hyundai Nexo hydrogen-fuel carsNine months after announcing its intention to buy 10,000 Hyundai Nexo hydrogen-fueled cars, the South Korean government has halved its order. That's according to Business Korea, which said Tuesday that a report published by the government earlier this month indicated that the government plans to...
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Chinese electric-car startup Byton reveals its second concept: a Level 4 self-driving sedan Andrew GanzJust months after debuting its first concept vehicle, Chinese electric-car startup Byton on Tuesday took the wraps off a second model that it says previews a production-intent self-driving electric...
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Automakers make plea to 9 state governors to help boost electric, zero-emissions car salesSeeking to kick-start electric car sales outside of California, the lobbying group that represents a dozen automakers said Monday that it sent letters to nine state governors urging them to help spur zero-emissions vehicle demand. In the letters, the automakers urge the state governors to boost...
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Chinese electric-car builder Byton says it raised $500 millionA $500 million infusion from investors including an automaker and a major battery supplier could help Chinese electric-car startup Byton put its cars on the road by the end of next year, the company said Monday. Byton said that its big investors—Chinese state-owned automaker FAW Group...
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2019 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid first driveElectrified cars are all too often about numbers: electric-only range, charging time, kilowatt-hours, and, of course, value. When it comes to an electrified luxury crossover like the 2019 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid, the default knee-jerk reaction is to throw out that last one. Except…...
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2011 Volkswagen Jetta TDI SportWagen driven: Fixed, but does it matter?The brown diesel wagon I’m driving spent last winter confined to a dusty parking lot south of Colorado Springs. Thousands of other TDIs, ranging from Beetles to luxurious Audi Q7 crossovers, remain captive in massive holding facilities across the U.S. Some are finally heading home, to used car...
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2018 Nissan Rogue Hybrid: late to the party, but at least it won't drink muchJust as most automakers gear up to announce their 2019 models, the 2018 Nissan Rogue Hybrid is arriving in showrooms scattered across select markets in the U.S. To mark the new year (is it still new?), the Rogue Hybrid's price is up about $800 over last year to $27,995 for the base SV trim level...
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The 2019 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid doesn't boast about its plug-in hybrid, eco-friendly credentials. Instead of a big charge port conspicuously placed on one front fender, the Cayenne has matching...
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2018 Toyota Camry XLE Hybrid road-trip review: a case for high-mpg sedansThough sedans might lack the high seating position of crossovers, the Camry remains proof that they’re more stable, quieter, and guzzle far less gas. They’re also cheaper.
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2018 Ford F-150 Power Stroke first drive: diesel, the not-so-efficient wayFord has a gem of a diesel engine under the hood of the 2018 F-150 Power Stroke—as long as drivers aren’t enamored with good fuel economy. Wait, what? After a day of driving F-150 diesels in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains near Boulder, Colorado, unladen, with beds loaded up with...
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In pictures: Volkswagen TDI diesels await their fate in Pike's Peak shadowIt might be the world’s largest single-company junkyard and pick-a-part business, if not for the prominent "No Trespassing" and "Drone-Free Zone" signs. Instead, it’s a massive storage facility in Colorado for thousands of disgraced VW and Audi TDI diesel vehicles awaiting whatever fate...
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US climate action requires electric cars; utilities doing their part alreadyThe subject of carbon dioxide emissions is hardly a simple one, especially when it comes to electric cars. They may not have tailpipes, but the electricity generated in order to keep them going has to come from somewhere. Electric utilities, it turns out, are doing their bit to reduce carbon...
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2019 Toyota Avalon Hybrid debuts with more evocative style, promise of improved efficiencyThe 2019 Toyota Avalon Hybrid that debuted Monday at the 2018 Detroit auto show goes where no full-size sedan has gone before. Well, except for last year's Avalon Hybrid, anyway. For 2019, the Avalon rides on a new platform, has updated interior and exterior styling, and comes loaded with an...
Andrew Ganz