NYPD Introduces Nissan Altima Hybrid Police Cars

The boys in blue are going green in New York as the police department announced it will replace 40 of its squad cars with Nissan Altima Hybrids. They're the first gas-electric hybrids to be used as regular patrol cars by the largest police department in the U.S. The 40 hybrid vehicles -18 marked and 22 unmarked- will be used in patrol precincts and other units in all five boroughs of the city.

At $25,391 per vehicle, the Altima hybrids cost about $1,500 more than the conventional Impala. However, due to the fact that the hybrids return 35mpg for city driving compared to the Chevy's 16mpg, NY Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said that they will cover the difference in a short period of time.

"These new patrol cars will help fulfill the PlaNYC goal of reducing City government's carbon footprint," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Through savings in fuel, these Altimas can quickly cover their additional cost, from then they will save taxpayers money – another example of how going green is good for our environment and our pocketbooks."

New York City officials said that after a after a year of monitoring the Altima Hybrids performance the Department will determine whether or not to further expand them into the fleet.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

Honda Insight Hybrid Outselling Toyota Prius in the UK

Honda's all-new Insight hybrid is off to good start in Britain having sold 229 units since it went on sale in the market on April 4, 2009. That's compared to 198 units of the current generation Prius - always according to Honda's data. Besides the fact that the Insight is a newer model than the Prius (the third-gen Prius will be arriving on British shores in July 2009), another benefiting factor for Honda's hybrid is that it is priced significantly lower than Toyota's hybrid.

In the UK, the Honda Insight starts from £15,490 (US$22,900) on-the-road whereas the second-generation Prius begins from £18,370 (US$27,100). The Japanese automaker said that it expects to sell around 7,000 Insights in the UK this year while the annual global sales target is in the region of 200,000 units.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

Lexus Prices 2010 RX450h Hybrid from $41,660, Lower than '09MY

The difficult economic environment in the U.S. seems to have 'forced' Lexus to take a more aggressive approach on the all-new 2010 RX450h Hybrid SUV's pricing which at $41,660 for the front-wheel drive (FWD) model and $43,250 for the all-wheel drive (AWD) version, is $460 and $230 respectively cheaper than the outgoing '09 RX400h model. Set to arrive at Lexus dealerships in mid-summer, the new RX450h introduces an updated version of Lexus Hybrid Drive, featuring a 3.5-liter V6 Atkinson-cycle engine, lighter electric motors and a smaller and lighter power-control unit.

In terms of fuel economy, this translates to an EPA-estimated 32 mpg city and 28 mpg highway (30 mpg combined) for the front-wheel drive model and 30 mpg city, 28 mpg highway (29 mpg combined) for the AWD, meaning that it achieves 16 to 20 percent better fuel economy than its les powerful predecessor.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

Rumorville: Toyota Readying Sporty Prius GT?

According to the Japanese grapevine, Toyota is developing a sporty, or rather a sportier, version of the new 2010 Prius Hybrid that will initially be available in the Land of the Rising Sun beginning from next year. Provided that the information is true, it remains to be seen if the so-called Prius GT will feature any mechanical and electronic upgrades or if Toyota will be content with a bodykit and maybe a lowered sport suspension as seen in the computer generated image above that was created by the folks over at Japan's Best Car magazine.

The CGI depicts the Toyota Prius GT with a more aggressively designed front bumper that features larger air vents and a lip spoiler along with side skirts and a set of multispoke alloy wheels wrapped in chunkier, low profile tires.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

2010 Toyota Prius Priced from $21,000 to $27,270 in the U.S.

The all-new 2010 Toyota Prius will go on sale in the U.S. in late May carrying a base sticker price of $22,000 (plus $750 for delivery and handling), or the same exact price as the entry-level version of the outgoing 2009MY Prius. However, Toyota announced that later in the year, it will launch a stripped-down base model of the Prius that will be priced even lower, at $21,000 MSRP. The Japanese automaker did not disclose details on the basic version's standard equipment.

The third-generation model of Toyota's popular hybrid car will be available with a total of five trim levels, the most expensive being the so-called 'V' spec model at $27,270 MSRP. For more details on the 2010 Prius plus a huge gallery with more than 100 high-resolution photos, click here.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

	Standard Equipment	MSRP
Prius I	To be released at a later date	$21,000
Prius II	1.8-liter Atkinson cycle engine	$22,000
	P195/65 R15 all-season tires with alloy wheels & covers
	Smart Key (driver's door) and Push Button start
	EV, Eco, and Power modes
	Multi-Informational Display with energy monitor and fuel consumption history
	AM/FM/MP3 CD player with six speakers and satellite radio capability and auxiliary audio jack
	Cruise control
	STAR Safety System and active front headrest
	Seven airbags including driver knee airbag
	Four-wheel disc brakes
	Tilt/telescopic steering wheel with audio and HVAC
	Controls with Touch Tracer Display
	Six-way adjustable driver seat
	Auto up/down on all windows
	Color-keyed foldable power heated side mirrors
Prius III	In addition to Prius II features:	$23,000
	JBL AM/FM/MP3 six-disc CD changer with eight speakers
	Integrated satellite radio capability
	Hands-free phone capability via Bluetooth® wireless technology
Prius IV	In addition to Prius III features:	$25,800
	Three-door Smart Key system
	Leather-trimmed interior
	Heated front seats with driver lumbar support
	Driver and front passenger water repellant windows
	Plasmacluster™ ionizer
	Auto dimming mirror with HomeLink®
Prius V	In addition to Prius IV features:	$27,270
	17-inch alloy wheels and P215/45 R17 tires
	LED headlamps with auto leveling and washers
	Integrated foglamps

Toyota Prius Minivan Proposal Makes Total Sense

If there was ever a totally plausible speculative rendering, then this is it. Created by the CGI-loving crew from Japan's Best Car magazine, this computer generated image depicts a proposal for a Toyota Prius Minivan (MPV) based on the latest generation of the automaker's family-sized hybrid model. Although Toyota has not announced any plans for a new variant of the Prius, it's no secret that the Japanese firm wants to extend its lineup of hybrid vehicles in the very near future.

Creating a minivan version of the Prius would make plenty of sense as due to its size, it could find a place in the car maker on both sides of the Atlantic as well as in Japan. What do you think?

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

Ten Design Proposals for a Futuristic Toyota Prius

While fooling around on IED's (Istituto Europeo di Design) official website we stumbled upon an interesting project with ten proposals for the Toyota Prius of the no so far-away future created by the students of the Transportation Design Course of IED Turin in 2007. Even though the students were supposed to design the Prius of 2010-2015, the resulting hybrid vehicles look more like the Prius of 2035, but then again, artistic minds do have the tendency to drift away in time...

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

FEV to Show Dodge Caliber Hybrid with 1.0-Liter Engine at SAE Congress

The proposals for extended-range electric vehicles just keep coming in. The latest company to announce new developments in the field of hybrid cars is FEV, a powertrain and vehicle engineering firm headquarted in Aachen, Germany. The firm announced that it will show a range-extended electric vehicle (ReEV) with plug-in capability based on the Dodge Caliber platform at the 2009 SAE World Congress in Detroit (April 20-23, 2009).

The Caliber ReEV's propulsion system employs a 1.0-liter, 3-cylinder, 4 valve engine mated to a UQM PP75 generator that provides 41kW of continuous power in extended-range mode, with a peak power of 75kW.

The energy generated is stored in a 20 kW-h liquid-cooled Lithium Ion battery pack that operates at 346V, with a Delphi DC/DC converter. FEV said that the batteries provide enough power for the car to cover a distance of 40 miles or 64 kilometers which seems to be the magic number for most vehicles of the sort... The Caliber ReEV can accelerate from zero to 60mph (96km/h) in 8.3 seconds and has a top speed of 84mph or 135 km/h.

For the record, the Caliber pictured above is a standard model as FEV has not releases any photos of the ReEV prototype.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

Jay Leno Picks Out Future Classic and Collectible Cars from Today

As you all know, Jay Leno is the host of "The Tonight Show". He is also a car guy but not one of those fancy-pansy wannabe aficionados. Leno loves cars, in fact he loves them so much that he has a dream garage with more than 80 vehicles ranging from a 1928 Bugatti Type 37A and a 1958 Lancia Aurelia to the modern day Dodge Challenger SRT8 and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. So, you could say that Leno knows a thing or two when it comes to collecting cars. In the latest issue of Popular Mechanics, Leno attempts to predict which of today's automobiles have the potential to become future classics - with one twist; they must be cars that you can actually use for your everyday transportation.

First up is one we think that you'll all agree upon, the first-generation Toyota Prius chiefly because history has already marked it down as the first mass produced hybrid model. Next in the list is the Mazda Miata MkI which Leno believes will be the "ultimate affordable collectible by 2025'. To finish up with the Japanese collectibles, Leno also picked out the first iteration of the Honda Insight hybrid model.

Moving on to cars from American automakers, Leno predicted that the first generation Ford Taurus will be seen as "a real styling triumph in the mid-1980s" while today's young men will find large SUVs like Hummers and Cadillac Escalades extremely appealing in their 50s and 60s in 2025. "The Hummer will be the '59 Cadillac of 2025," Leno said.

The TV host also predicts that due to its manual gearbox and of course its sporty nature, the sporty Cadillac CTS-V will become a future classic as will the Pontiac Aztek but for a completely different reason - because its odd-looking and weird. Finally, Leno finds that small and cute city cars like the new Smart and MINI will become collectibles. "If a woman was cute 20 years ago, she's cute today. The same is true for cars," he said and we couldn't agree more.

However, if we want to nitpick, we'd say that it's a pity that Leno did not include any other European and Japanese cars in his list as we reckon that vehicles like the Mitsubishi Lancer EVOs, Subaru Impreza WRX STIs and Audi TTs (among others sold in the U.S.) have the potential to become future classics.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

VIDEO: 2010 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Facelift Promo Film

The first promotional film for the updated 2010 Mercedes-Benz S-Class has hit the air giving us a quick look into the entire range of the 'uber' luxury sedan, sans the AMG variants that have yet to be officially introduced - for an unofficial look, click here. The revamped S-Class brings a mild cosmetic facelift along with the presentation of new gasoline-hybrid version, the S400 HYBRID that consumes an average of 7.9 lt / 100 km (approximately 29.8mpg US) in the combined EU cycle.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

Video: 2010 Mercedes-Benz ML450 HYBRID

The latest carmaker to jump into the Hybrid-SUV bandwagon is Mercedes-Benz which chose the New York Auto Show to perform the world debut of the ML450 HYBIRD. The Lexus RX450h challenging Merc is powered by a two-mode hybrid system mating a 3.5-liter V6 Atkinson cycle engine with two electric motors for a total output of 335 horsepower and a combined fuel economy of 22 mpg which is around 47 percent lower than that of the 382HP ML550, but still lags behind its Japanese rival which returns 29mpg. Hit the jump to watch the ML450 HYBRID in motion.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com

2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 HYBRID: World's first Lithium-Ion battery Hybrid gets 30MPG

As you may recall, for the 2010MY, Mercedes refreshed its S-Class sedan with a subtle cosmetic makeover plus a few changes here and there under the sheetmetal. The facelift also brought the introduction of the new S400 HYBRID which Mercedes claims to be the world's first standard production hybrid model with a lithium-ion battery. The new S400 HYBRID is set to go on sale in Europe in June 2009 with the USA following in September 2009.

The hybrid variant of Merc's S-Class is based on the facelifted S350 and features an extensively modified drivetrain that combines a revised version of the firm's 3.5-liter V6 petrol engine developing 279HP with a 20HP electric motor that's installed in the torque converter housing between the engine and the 7-speed automatic transmission. The hybrid system generates a total output of 299-horsepower and a combined maximum torque of 385 Nm or 283-lbs/ft.

The German automaker claims that the S400 HYBRID consumes on average 7.9 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers in the EU cycle or 29.8mpg US that corresponds to carbon dioxide emissions of 186 grams per kilometer.

source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com