While reading the forums today I stumbled upon some interesting insight that I had not been expecting: the new Ford Fusion hybrid gets great gas mileage. Sure, I should’ve paid more attention at the LA Auto Show when this car was revealed, but to be honest, I didn’t expect to see such great mileage numbers. As USA Today points out, the car’s 36/41 mpg EPA rating puts it squarely in second place behind the Prius and ahead of the Honda Civic Hybrid in terms of the overall fuel economy game.

By now, we all know that two of the Big Three have received bailout money. The missing piece of the puzzle there is Ford. Ford, which used to be seen as being in huge trouble with the rest of them is confident they can stand on their own two feet for at least a few months, and when you look at this car you can tell they don’t just mean financially. Sure, the U.S. companies lag behind the cutting edge on technology, but the problem here isn’t the ability to make a fuel efficient car, it’s just doing it.

I think this is where Ford has really succeeded. I don’t praise Ford much in these pages but I think in the last few years we have really seen them step up to the plate in terms of fuel economy and integrating new technologies. The Ford Escape hybrid was one of the first hybrids on the market in the US, and the new Fusion shows that even if they’re not there first they are able to do it well.

Sure, the $27,000 ticket on the car makes it more expensive than both the Prius and Civic Hybrid (and the upcoming Honda Insight) and that’s not a good thing in a down market, but you can’t deny that Ford has done a good job to get a rather large sedan such good EPA ratings.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A8-8xUZ-0c

Sure, the video is a little obscure, but you get a sense of the new layout and the “efficiency leaves” that Ford is incorporating into their new Smart Gauge. Like we talked about yesterday with Audi, automakers are trying to encorporate fuel saving technologies into their cars. In Audi’s case, they’re trying to help you predict some of the externalities that affect fuel economy (upcoming traffic lights), but in this case, Ford is just trying to help you help yourself.

Sure, there are other fuel economy gauges out there, but even the best don’t have total integration into your car’s instrument cluster. Also, most of these gauges, save the Kiwi, can’t really tell you how to drive. The gauge will be showing up in 2010 Ford hybrids, and will include two modes, “Journey” and “Empower.” Journey mode will seem just like a normal gauge cluster for everyday driving, but for ecodrivers or information junkies, Empower mode will tell you about your vehicle’s performance and how you can improve the fuel economy.

The quirkiest feature, however, is definitely the “efficiency leaf” display. Here’s a quote from the Wall Street Journal:

In one of the two LCD screens on either side of the speedometer, bright green leaves will indicate how fuel-efficient the driver is. “You don’t have to count the leaves,” Ms. Gioia said. “But if you’re in a forest of leaves, you’ll know you’re doing well.”

Who can say now how well this will go over, but it seems to be a simple, yet interesting measure of your fuel economy, which I think more people will want to look at than a big red button flashing “LEAD” when you mash the gas pedal.

What do you think? Are the leaves a good touch or just silly?

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The long-awaited and much-anticipated Honda Insight concept car has finally debuted in Paris, and along with that we see a lot more nice pictures from Honda. Many people in the industry and the press (myself included) are billing this new Insight as a possible Prius-killer, and if anyone were able to bring a little competition to the hybrid table, it’s Honda.

The first Insight came out in the US in 1999, a year before the Prius, and still has the highest EPA rating of any gasoline car. However, the small, two-seater didn’t appeal to many people with families and the car never registered very high sales.

This time, things are different. Honda has dramatically improved its IMA hybrid system in terms of both performance and cost. That means that the current Insight, which is based on Honda’s FCX Clarity FCV, will seat 5 passengers and get Civic Hybrid-like mileage while costing a comparatively low $18,500 to start.

And that’s really the kicker with the new Insight. Not only is it an attractive, efficient car, but it will bring hybrids (significantly) below that $20,000 price point, meaning that a lot more people will be able to afford it. I won’t be buying one anytime soon (I don’t need a new car), but I’ll probably be first in line for a test drive. What about you?

Here are some more pictures for your viewing pleasure:

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For a few years now, hybrids have been all the rage in the consumer car market. The Prius has been elevated to the status of an icon and Honda is now trying to catch up with its revived Honda Insight. But what about motorcycles, where Honda has been the unquestioned world leader for years?

The added weight and complexity has previously kept the word “hybrid” from squeezing in front of the word “motorcycle,” but now Honda thinks they’ve found a way to build and market hybrid motorcycles. According to the Mainichi Shinbun, Honda will begin releasing the hybrid motorcycles in the 2010s, which will be followed up by electric motorcycles in 2011.

Honda will be adapting the hybrid system it uses on its current cars to work with motorcycles of engine displacement between 200 and 1000cc. It would probably be too cumbersome to use on smaller bikes, but Honda hopes to increase fuel efficiency by about 50% with the hybrid bikes.

Now, the real question for all you bikers out there is this: would you ride one?

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For months there has been chatter about Honda’s new 5-door hybrid, which has been hyped up as a Prius-killer. However, details have been scarce up until now, when Honda announced (and shared pictures!) of the Honda Insight Concept, which will be revealed on October 2nd at the Paris International Auto Show.

Much has been made of this car because of it’s low starting price (around $18,500) and higher people/hauling capacity when compared to the original Insight. The new Insight’s starting price will be lower than any other hybrid on the market, and was achieved by cutting the cost of Honda’s IMA system, which should lower hybrid prices across the board.

If you’ve been following the rumors, you’ll know that the new Insight Concept is based on the stylings of Honda’s fuel cell vehicle, the FCX Clarity, which is now on lease to a few lucky people out in California. This aerodynamics shape allows for a large interior while reducing fuel consumption tremendously, and doesn’t look half bad (I’m sure those wheels won’t come on the production model).

Expect to see the new Insight on Honda show-room floors in Spring of next year. Unlike the old Insight (and currently the Prius), we should expect the new Insight to be fairly available for purchase, as Honda intends to sell 200,000 units annually worldwide, with about half of those sales in the US. When more information is available to consumers, I will post again with pictures and links to the Honda site.

Read the full press release below:

TORRANCE, Calif. – Sep 04

Honda will reveal a concept version of its new small hybrid vehicle, to be named Insight, at the 2008 Paris International Auto Show, October 2, the company announced today. The new Insight Concept shares styling cues with the Honda FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle and will provide an early look at the highly-anticipated five-passenger hybrid vehicle.

Going on sale in the U.S. next spring, the all-new purpose-built Insight will come to market at a price significantly below hybrids available today. From this unique position in the marketplace, the Insight will advance the affordability and accessibility of hybrid technology to a new generation of buyers.

“The original Honda Insight pioneered hybrid technology in the U.S. and remains a symbol of Honda’s commitment to innovative technology and fuel efficiency,” said Takeo Fukui, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. CEO. “This new Insight will break new ground as an affordable hybrid within the reach of customers who want great fuel economy and great value.”

The Insight Concept defines a new stage in the evolution of hybrid technology by utilizing a more cost-efficient version of Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist™ (IMA™) hybrid technology, resulting in a new level of affordability for hybrid customers worldwide. Evoking the innovative styling cues first seen in the FCX Clarity, the Insight Concept is designed with a low center of gravity and a generous five-passenger cabin, offering the kind of driving pleasure and roomy interior that customers have come to expect from Honda. While the Insight Concept’s aerodynamic design clearly identifies its fuel efficient purpose, its five-door access and folding rear seats speak to functionality that is designed to meet the needs of customers with an active lifestyle. The Insight Concept is a small, fuel efficient hybrid car that delivers big style and functionality with a healthy dose of fun.

Honda achieved a significant cost reduction in Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) components which should make Insight the most affordable hybrid vehicle to date. The production Insight will be offered as a five-door, five-passenger hatchback. Numerous technologies, including a function to assist customers in achieving more fuel efficient driving habits, will be applied to achieve a further improvement in real world fuel efficiency. With its affordable price, the new hybrid vehicle will represent the best value in its segment. Along with the Civic Hybrid, the new vehicle will be produced at an expanded hybrid vehicle production line at the Suzuka factory in Japan.

The Insight is expected to have annual global sales of 200,000 units per year – approximately 100,000 in North America. Following the launch of the new Insight, Honda also plans to introduce another unique sporty hybrid vehicle based on the CR-Z, first shown at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. All together, Honda’s global sales of hybrids should increase to approximately 500,000 units a year, or more than 10 percent of its total worldwide annual automobile sales.

The original Honda Insight was introduced in December 1999 as America’s first gas-electric hybrid car. The first vehicle to break the 70-mpg fuel economy barrier, Insight was designed from the ground up to demonstrate the ultimate potential for fuel-economy in a two-seater subcompact automobile.

A leader in the development of cleaner, more fuel-efficient mobility products, Honda introduced the first low-emission gasoline vehicles; America’s first gas-electric hybrid car and the world’s first EPA-certified hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, the FCX. In 2007, Honda was named “greenest automaker” by the Union of Concerned Scientists for the fourth straight time.

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The idea of an air-powered car may remind of you that Simpsons episode featuring Ed Begley, Jr. and his car, which is “powered by [his] own sense of self-satisfaction,” but it’s a real idea. Modern gasoline and diesel engines use the force of combustion to push the pistons downward and generate power. Similarly, air-powered engines feed bursts of highly compressed air into the engine to force the piston downward and create forward momentum.

It works, but is it practical?

Yes! Or, at least, possibly. As with many of these emerging technologies there are both upsides and downsides compared to existing petroleum based cars. Surely not an exhaustive list, but here are some of those issues.

Pro

• Air can be compressed using power from the grid, which has cleaner emissions than normal cars and can come from renewable energy sources.
• Air cars could be filled up at home or on the road. Unlike electric cars, air cars could fill up more quickly and therefore get the necessary range boosts for long trips.
• Air cars can be hybrids, just like gasoline vehicles, for range-extension.

Con

• There are still a lot of questions about the safety of carrying around large amounts of highly compressed air.
• Unlike electric cars, air cars still have a lot of moving parts that could fail.
• They are untested on the large scale

Coming in 2010: 106-mpg, $18,000 air car

That’s if you believe the claims of the inventors, MDI. MDI is a European company that has been working with the concept of air-powered vehicles since it was founded in 1991. Though they won’t be bringing the car Stateside themselves, they’re working with a NY-based company called Zero Pollution Motors to do so.

The first thing you’ll notice is the “106-mpg” figured. Since it doesn’t use gas, how can it have a “miles per gallon” figure tagged on with it? Well, as ZPM explains, that is really an mpg-equivalent figure used to compare the air car’s efficiency to gasoline-powered vehicles:

If you can, imagine a vehicle that runs on air, achieves over 100 gas-equivalent mpg and over 90 mph, has zero to low C02 emissions, seats six, has plenty of space for luggage, cuts no safety corners, and costs no more than an average economy to mid-size vehicle.

106 is definitely a high number, and as ZPM points out, is much higher than any car on the US market at the moment. I don’t know if I believe it, but I know that number is easily in reach for many electric cars, so I don’t see why it would be impossible in this case. Once the car hits the market, however, I’m sure will hear a lot more about the claimed efficiency ratings.

Similarly, you can check out the price tag here. ZPM states that using sales techniques like direct marketing, they can drive the starting-cost down to $17,800, which is a pretty good deal when you consider that it’s cheaper than any hybrid on the market.

The car will feature a 75hp engine, which allows it to reach speeds of 90 mph and have a range of up to 800 miles on any given “fill.” Though the car will be a bit more complex to operate than an EV, it will only need oil changes every 30k miles and can cost as little as $2 in electricity to fill up the air tank.

I’ll be excited to see how it does in the upcoming X-Prize competition. For now, you can find out more details at the ZPM site.

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It shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that buys gas that the market for fuel-efficient vehicles has exploded recently. Not only is gas expensive, but the psychological effects of paying big time at the pump has driven people toward hybrids and small cars, making many models scarce and putting the Civic up on top.

Recently, GFF took a look at some numbers, which show that hybrids, which already had a comparatively high residual value, have gotten a further bump. They make an interesting comparison between the discontinued Honda Insight, still the MPG king as far as production vehicles go, and Acura’s very popular sports car, the RSX:

For instance, in the US, values for a three- or four-year-old Honda Insight are almost identical to the more upmarket Acura RSX Sports Coupe at around $14,800 for a 2005 and $13,500 for a 2004.

This made me want to do my own research to see how big the gap is between vehicles on opposite ends of the spectrum. Using values from KBB, I compared the Ford F150, Honda Civic, Toyota Prius, and Dodge Caravan to see how values held up when comparing 2008 models to still-young 2004 models. Read on to found out what I learned.

Efficient cars, not just hybrids, are holding their value

First, I compared the F150 and the Civic head to head. Not because they represent the same market, but because they symbolize the American market shift from big trucks to sensible cars. Here are the raw values from KBB:

• 2008 F150 MSRP: $26,140.00
• 2004 F150 Suggested Retail: $9,670.00
• 2008 Civic MSRP: $16,280.00
• 2004 Civic Suggested Retail: $11,980.00

So, where the 2004 F150 only has 37% of the value of a new F150, the non-hybrid Civic still has 75% of the value of a new car. Even though Honda usually receives top marks for value retention, there is a huge difference between two of the country’s most popular vehicles.

On the other side of things, I chose the Caravan and the Prius because they are both icons in the auto industry. For years, the Caravan has been the “family vehicle” of choice, but recently, with the “green” movement in full swing, more and more families have been giving up the sliding doors and hopping into Priuses. Here’s what KBB has to say about the prices:

• 2008 Caravan MSRP: $22,470.00
• 2004 Caravan Suggested Retail: $9,070.00
• 2008 Prius MSRP: $22,160.00
• 2004 Prius Suggested Retail: $21,035.00

As you might have expected, the Prius wins, with 2004 models still bringing in 95% of new values while the Caravan only brings in 40%. The Caravan is pretty much on par with the F150, but the hybrid Prius is definitely beating the Civic. Since it’s not obvious if this is because of the hybrid premium of the current “green appeal” surrounding the Prius, I decided to put the hybrid Civic up head-to-head with the Civic I’ve already calculated. Here’s the results:

• 2008 Civic Hybrid MSRP: $23,270.00
• 2004 Civic Hybrid Suggested Retail: $16,230.00

While the normal 2004 Civic has about 75% of the value of the 2008, the hybrid model only has 69% of the value in the same comparison. Perhaps this suggests that the Prius is an outlier due to it’s iconic status and recognizability.

Buy efficient, save gas and money

The takeaway here is that if you’re looking at a fuel efficient car because of gas prices, you should also be thinking about the day you want to sell or trade-in that vehicle. Lots of people will complain that your Prius won’t save as much in gas as you’ll pay compared to other cars, but if you can sell it in 4 years for the same price you paid, you’ll end up way ahead compared to swallowing the depreciation on a less efficient vehicle.

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Sad, but true. After the buzz surrounding the announcement of a Honda Fit hybrid trim, there were rumors that it might make it to the United States along with the $18,500 base-price hybrid and the CR-Z hybrid coupe, but according to ABG, it’s not to be.

The good news, however, is that this decision isn’t due to some corporate silliness that advises us that “there is no demand.” In fact, it’s quite the opposite: too many people want the Fit, and Honda just can’t keep up the demand for a worldwide offering. Perhaps in the future, though.

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No, there hasn’t been a government decree, and no, this not the proclamation of some automaker. Recently, IBM interviewed auto executives anonymously about the future of the industry, and came to the conclusion that, among other things, all or almost all new cars would be hybrids by the year 2020.

If it’s not apparent to you already, the report makes it even more obvious that the auto industry is changing rapidly. Not only has the Prius sold over 1 million units, but companies like Mitsubishi are already working on fully electric vehicles.

It seems like a bold statement to make, doesn’t it? Currently, there are very few new hybrids on the market, but in 12 short years we’re supposed to expect that every car will be a hybrid? Well, in my opinion, the industry is definitely moving in that direction. Even if there are a few conventional gas sports cars running around, the main takeaway from this report isn’t the conclusion, but more the impression from the top automotive executives.

Whatever the market looks like now, you can be sure that the people at the top are looking for change, and towards a market comprised of hybrids, electrics, and eco-friendly options.

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Okay, so maybe the car itself won’t be coming back from the dead, but it’s very possible the name is. ABG reports that even though the Insight will not be coming back to Honda showrooms, the name might be. The coming years will be big for both Honda and Toyota, with lots of new hybrids coming out. However, Honda’s offerings are particularly exciting for me, as I expect their sub $19k family sedan to be a “Prius-killer” if there ever was one.

Image: dave_7

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Not only is Toyota (finally, it seems) updating the Prius, but the company is also planning on releasing a few new hybrids to beef up their lineup. It might be unfair to say finally as if the turnover has been slow, but the Prius has been in everyone’s eye for so long that the shape has seemed to become very familiar.

According to EcoGeek, Toyota will release one hybrid under the Lexus brand and another under the Toyota brand. Neither of these cars will be like the reigning champ, the Prius. Rather, the will be their own creatures. I’m sure Toyota is hoping they can create some more dedicated hybrids that act as green symbols as much as the current Prius does.

With these models Toyota will be making the move to more efficient Lithium Ion battery packs. Recently Toyota has announced they will be producing their own, likely in order to ensure they get the quality they desire in mass-production, but those batteries will not be available until at least 2012. Toyota is definitely still moving forwards toward plug-ins and full battery electrics, but all signs from the company suggest that plans for the near future lie in conventional hybrids.

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When someone on the EcoModder forums asks about buying a used hybrid, there is usually a flurry of excitement coupled with cautions about the age of the car and the price of a new battery pack. Ecomodders, usually being budget-minded folks, are very wary of the seemingly astronomical price of battery replacement.

In the early part of this decade, some of the biggest worries about hybrids were how could the batteries possibly last, when would they finally give out, and how much would it cost to have them replaced. These days, concerns about batteries have largely faded out of the minds of new car buyers. Honda and Toyota have both had hybrids on the market for about a decade now, and there are no ominous junkyards filled with dead hybrids.

To underline the reliability of modern battery-electric hybrids, Honda says that out of over 100,000 hybrids on the road currently, only 200 have needed out-of-warranty battery replacement. Toyota, on the other hand, has only needed to replace 0.003 percent of its hybrid batteries out of warranty on the second generation Prius. Granted, these cars still aren’t all that old, and the batteries will likely fail eventually, but it seems that they are living up to manufacturers’ promises that they will last the life of a car.

Necessity aside, Honda and Toyota have both announced drastic cuts to the cost of replacement batteries for their hybrids. It will now cost just under $2,000 to have new batteries installed in you Honda Insight, and just under $2,500 for your Accord hybrid. These are about $1,000 reductions in the cost. Toyota, on the other hand, has dropped prices from ~$5,500 to $3,000, but that doesn’t include the installation, so the real cost is likely a bit more.

So, buyers of used hybrids, never fear! It’s unlikely that your batteries will fail prematurely, and even if they do, replacements are getting cheaper.

Source: Newsweek

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