The original green car, the Toyota Prius, is to become bigger and sportier yet still improve its emissions figure, Toyota claims.

“It will be cleaner, with CO2 emissions below 100g/km,” Toyota GM managing director, Miguel Fonseca speaking at the Paris Motor Show.

“We could have gone lower, but instead we have chosen to give the Prius better performance.”

The new edition of the famous hybrid car will be on show at the Detroit Motor Show in January and will feature a bigger engine, quicker acceleration and a top speed above 100mph, The Times reports.

An upgrade from 1.5 litre engine to a 1.8 litres will improve the Prius’ performance. Other reported changes include a top speed of 120mph up from 106mph and a few inches added to the width and length. Toyota decided to stick with a petrol hybrid engine, unlike some rivals who have opted to experiment with diesel hybrids. Despite the better fuel efficiency of diesel engines, Toyota believe the high price of diesel, makes a petrol engine a better choice.

Source: thegreencarwebsite

We've been hearing rumblings of more models coming from Toyota that would carry the Prius badge for the last few months. While the Prius in five door hatchback style that we all know and love will definitely carry on, even after it is completely redone next year, there are likely to be other hybrid vehicles from the automaker that could slot both above and below the current Prius in size and price. Remember that Toyota showed off its 1/x (pronounced 1/xth) concept that used innovative packaging and new materials to punch a Prius-sized hole in the wind with less than a thousand pounds of vehicle. A larger hybrid is also a possibility, though we must wonder what that could mean to future hybrid variants of the popular Camry line.

Another intriguing option that we first heard of today are Prius-branded dealerships. Toyota has already tested the waters by introducing the Scion brand in the States as separate from its parent. A hybrid-only dealership could lend that extra bit of green street-cred to the automaker that already leads the race in hybrid development.

Source: AutoblogGreen

Attacked by eco-activists and punished by the tax-man, now the owners of the much-derided 4x4 have a new enemy – thieves who slip underneath their vehicle’s chassis and saw off its catalytic converter.

Police believe thousands of the exhaust parts have been stolen from 4x4s in the past six months by criminal gangs that want the precious metals inside. The converters – which are designed to reduce the toxic emissions from a car’s exhaust – contain platinum, palladium and rhodium. The prices of those metals have soared in the past two years.

The models most targeted include the Mitsubishi L200, BMW X5 and Ford Ranger. Many Mitsubishi Shoguns and Land Rover Discoveries have also been hit. Although the car can be driven to a garage for repair, a loud rattle will be heard underneath the vehicle, similar to the sound of a broken exhaust. The converter costs up to £2,000 to replace.

Peter Tyrell, a crime prevention officer for Lincolnshire police, said: “Four-by-fours are particularly popular with these criminals because they have a high clearance off the ground.

“These people can get under the chassis and saw off the converter in less than three minutes.”

The gangs have also targeted car showrooms. Iain Crighton, a Mitsubishi dealer in Peterborough, said: “We were hit badly. Seven of our 4x4s and two other cars were done in one night.”

The thieves, who sell the catalytic converters on to metal traders for between £100 and £200, are the first stage of an international trade in scrap metal that takes the stolen car parts to India, China and eastern Europe to be recycled and sold on.

Northamptonshire police said some thieves are quite brazen: “They are known to strike in broad daylight in busy areas. In some cases they have been seen using mechanical dollies to slide under vehicles more easily.”

Source: The Times Online

Toyota President, Katsuaki Watanabe this week announced that the start of fleet testing for plug-in capable Priuses had been moved up by a year. At this year's Detroit Auto Show, Watanabe announced that several hundred Priuses with the ability to be plugged in would be delivered to government and commercial fleets in 2010 for field testing. That schedule has been adjusted so that the PHEVs would now be introduced in early 2009 with several hundred on the road by the end of the year. Over on the Toyota Open Road Blog, communications VP Irv Miller makes it clear though that no timetable has been set for retail sales of these cars and that it won't happen until Toyota is well and truly confident that the lithium ion batteries are safe, reliable and affordable. He also calls out a Palo Alto, CA Toyota dealer for beginning to take deposits on the cars. While applauding the dealership's initiative he stresses that no one knows when a PHEV Prius will actually be available to the public, including Toyota's dealer network.

Source: Autoblog Green

With its compact body and highly efficient range of gasoline and diesel engines, there aren't a lot of cars on the road that return better fuel economy and lower emissions than the Fiat 500. But if the latest reports are to be believed, Fiat isn't about to rest on its green laurels.

According to emerging reports, a hybrid version of the Fiat 500 is in the works. The gas/electric retro mini would start off with Fiat's 900cc two-cylinder engine, hooked up to a battery pack and backed up by a start-stop ignition system and a dual-clutch transmission. The idea of an environmentally-friendly 500 was previewed by the Fiat 500 Aria concept (pictured above) shown earlier this year at the Geneva show, while the 500 hybrid would reportedly be unveiled, oddly, at next year's Goodwood Festival of Speed. The combination of green credentials would surely increase the 500's economy to industry-leading levels, and help the entire Fiat Group come in below impending European emissions standards.

Source: AutoblogGreen

One of Europe's sexiest sedans, the Peugeot 407, has gotten a mid-life boost. Besides some aesthetic tweaks, Peugeot has updated the 2.0-liter HDi 140 engine with a 6-speed manual gearbox which develops 140hp - an increase of 4hp over the previous HDi 136. It also benefits from lower fuel consumption, at 49.5 mpg and CO₂ emissions have been reduced to 150 g/km.

It also gets a Diesel Particulate Filter (nicknamed FAP at Peugeot) as standard. The FAP is also available on the 1.6-liter 110hp base diesel model. Two additional diesels, a 170hp and a V6, remain available. All PSA diesel engines built after 1998 are certified to use biodiesel blends up to 30 percent. For flex-fuel lovers, Peugeot is offering a new 2.0-litre 'Bioflex' engine that can burn E85 fuel starting in November.

Source : AutoblogGreen