Honda Motor Co. said today it had received about 8,000 orders for the CR-Z sporty hybrid car in Japan after less than three weeks on the market, or eight times the monthly sales target of 1,000 units. ———- Right, the CR-Z debuts at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show. ———- The announcement is consistent with sales figures the automaker released last week . The two-door compact, which went on sale in Japan on Feb. 26 at a cost 2.27 million yen (roughly $25,340), is the second in a line of low-cost hybrid cars from Japan's No. 2 automaker and is scheduled for launch in North America and Europe this summer. Honda has said it expects to sell 40,000-50,000 of the CR-Z a year worldwide. Of the orders received in Japan, 40 percent of customers chose the six-speed manual transmission version in what Honda officials said indicated a popularity among sports car enthusiasts. Nearly 100 percent of cars sold in Japan are automatic. Honda trails Toyota Motor Corp. by a wide margin in hybrid sales, with the low-cost Insight selling just 3,500 units last month, compared with 27,000 for its rival's flagship Prius. It should be noted that Honda sold some 18,000 Insight hybrids in that model's first month on the Japanese market about this time last year. That was 3.6 times the 5,000-a-month sales target Honda had set for the model. But since then, the Insight has not sold as well as Honda had planned, tallying 136,000 sales globally in its first year versus the original goal of 200,000. As a result, Honda set its sales sights lower for the CR-Z.

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Honda Reports 8,000 Orders for CR-Z Hybrid in Less Than 3 Weeks on Japan Market

The first two Mitsubishi i-MiEVs battery-electric cars to reach Australia rolled off a ship under an overcast sky at the Port of Brisbane last Friday. Company spokesmen said the plug-in model will be available for sale on Earth's smallest continent in the “next few months.” Pricing and other details regarding the i-MiEV's release down under were not disclosed. That said, a Japanese publication reported recently that Mitsubishi believes it can get the cost of the i-MiEV electric city car down to around $22,000 by 2015, which would make it competitive with conventionally powered upscale subcompacts when the total cost of ownership is considered. The car now sells for nearly $49,000 in Japan. Mitsubishi has said it will go global with the small battery-electric car as early as late this year, with sales in North America to begin in 2011.

Reports of the demise of the current-generation Tesla Roadster next year were premature. As you'll recall, the Silicon Valley automaker said last month on page 19 of a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that “we do not plan to sell our current generation Tesla Roadster after 2011 due to planned tooling changes at a supplier for the Tesla Roadster.” The company said intended to resume production of the all-electric, zero-emissions model with an updated, upgraded second-generation Roadster in 2013. The company said that it would cease production of the first-generation Roadster next year because Lotus Cars, which makes the Elise chassis and body on which the sporty plug-in Tesla is based, is retooling and will shut down that line. That would leave Tesla without revenue from car sales until its next planned model ,

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Tesla to Extend Production of Current-Generation Roadster by 40% and Into 2012

Toyota officials have confirmed that the Lexus CT 200h, a premium hybrid five-door hatchback, is coming to the United States. The Lexus CT 200h would be Lexus's first compact car, and the first compact hybrid sold by Toyota in America. The car ( pictured ) was unveiled at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show last week, but until recently the company insisted that the compact hybrid would only be sold in Europe. According to a report in Automotive News , Lexus executives pleaded with Japan to bring to the car to the U.S., partly in hopes that the smaller Lexus would appeal to a younger demographic. “When the all-new Lexus CT 200h enters the market it

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Toyota Says Lexus CT 200h Compact Hybrid Will Be Available in the United States

Porsche is committed to building the 918 Spyder Concept plug-in hybrid, the British publication Autocar reported today , citing remarks by CEO Michael Macht. The supercar can reach 62 miles per hour from a standstill in 3.2 seconds and has a top speed of 198 mph, according to the German automaker. Taken from drawing to 2010 Geneva Auto Show in less than five months, the 918 mixes a 500-horsepower gasoline V8 with two electric motors for a combined 718 hp. Porsche has calculated that it could be quicker than the old Carrera GT around the Nordschleife. Porsche has yet to commit to producing the car, but speaking to Autocar , Macht admitted that the positive reaction to the 918 had already swayed opinion within the firm. “There is no one inside Porsche who doesn't want to build the 918,” he said. “The response has been marvelous; we will ask buyers to sign letters of intent. “The 918 Spyder

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Porsche: We’ll Build 918 Spyder Hybrid If Enough Prospective Buyers Step Forward

Less than a week after a BMW board member said the automaker would lease “about 200″ all-electric 1-Series coupes in the U.S. , BMW today distributed a correction, saying that at least 450 of the plug-in electric vehicles would be leased in America. “Recent published reports have incorrectly stated that the size of the fleet of BMW ActiveEs that will be deployed during the BMW Group's second-phase field trial in the US will be limited to 200 vehicles,” the Bavarian automaker said in a statement, without noting the source of those published reports – BMW board member for sales and marketing Ian Robertson. “While the exact size of the fleet has yet to be confirmed, it will be at least as large

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BMW Corrects Itself, Says There Will Be at Least 450 1-Series EVs Leased in the U.S.

Maryland will invest about $1 million in electric-vehicle charging networks and truck-stop electrification systems, marking the continued efforts of the 19th-most populous state to broaden usage of hybrid-electric and battery-electric vehicles. ———- The incredibly trippy Maryland state flag. ———- The Maryland Energy Administration and Maryland Clean Cities Coalition today launched the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program, which will help fund efforts by state and local governments as well as private companies and nonprofits to expand an EV-charging infrastructure and support other facilities. Along with a proposed tax credit of as much as $2,000 for Maryland residents who purchase EVs, Governor Martin O'Malley is looking to expand the state's base of EV users as cars such as the plug-in Chevrolet Volt hybrid and Nissan Leaf battery-electric vehicle become available later this year. “Today's announcement is part of our long-term commitment to lead by example in energy advancements and create cleaner, less expensive, and more fuel efficient transportation options for our citizens,” O'Malley said in a statement today. Last August, the state received $5.9 million in federal funding for purchases of hybrid-electric trucks as part of the $300 million earmarked within the U.S. Transportation Department's Clean Cities program. That announcement followed the city of Baltimore's unveiling of the first of 21 new gas-electric hybrid buses set to go into service last fall. The buses, built by Charlotte, N.C.-based DesignLine USA, will reportedly boost fuel efficiency by 40 percent relative to a comparable conventionally powered bus while cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by as much as 70 percent. Additionally, last February, the Maryland Transit Administration deployed its first…

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Maryland to Invest $1M in EV-Charging Stations, Truck-Stop Electrification Systems

It's been less than a week since Audi unveiled an A1 E-tron design study concept and already the German automaker is talking about adding an electric-drive A2 to its growing list of environmentally sensitive offerings. ———- Right, click to enlarge. ———- On the sidelines of last week's 2010 Geneva Auto Show, Audi CEO Robert Stadler said the carmaker is developing a reincarnation of the A2 small car that will slot between the A3 compact and the new A1 subcompact introduced at the Geneva auto show last week. “There's clearly room for another product and another concept between the A3 and A1,” Stadler said. Michael Dick, Audi's board member for technology, said in an interview with Automotive News that the company's push to add electric variants will play a role with the next-generation A2 “in the near future.” The German media have reported that the A2 is expected by 2014. A decision on a U.S. model has not been made. Audi is using its e-tron vehicles as a high-profile proving ground for battery and electric-drive technology. In Detroit, Audi launched an e-tron sports car; in Geneva, Audi showed an e-tron version of the A1. The A1 e-tron would be Audi's first extended range plug-in hybrid, using an electric-drive system that provides up to 30 miles on…

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All-New A2 and an Electric-Drive Variant of It Are In The Works, Audi Executives Say

Mitsubishi Motors says it has finalized the agreement to supply its i-MiEV electric city car to France's PSA Peugeot Citroen for rebadging and sales under those automakers' brand names beginning late this year. ———- I-MIEVs Galore: Mitsubishi will sell left-hand drive versions of its i-MiEV electric car (bottom) to France's PSA for rebadging as Citroen C-Zero (top) and Peugeot iOn (middle). ——— The companies began working on a European deal almost a year ago and announced the i-MiEV rebranding program in September. Mitsubishi said that the final agreement calls for it to begin production of the vehicles for the French market in October and to supply almost 100,000 of the battery-electric cars over an undisclosed number of years. The iMiEV, reconfigured as a left-hand drive car for the French market, will be sold there as the Peugeot iOn and the Citroen C

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Mitsubishi Firms Agreement to Sell Electric Car to PSA Peugeot Citroen

A small California-based company is making engines with a fuel-injection system that it says may boost fuel efficiency by as much as 75 percent while cutting emissions in half by processing fuel at a higher temperature than in conventional engines. ———- Transonic's supercritical injection process, as viewed through an optical engine fitted with a quartz window, does not create fuel droplets that can reduce an engine's efficiency. ———- Transonic Combustion 's fuel-injection system burns so-called supercritical fluid – a state at which fuel has been heated to a temperature that puts it