The fleet of new cars and trucks sold to U.S. consumers averaged 21 miles per gallon in the 2008 model year, a modest increase over the previous year, with Honda and Hyundai having the most fuel-efficient fleets in America, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported Friday. New vehicle fuel efficiency improved 2 percent in 2008 from 20.6 mpg for the 2007 model year. The government projected it will improve slightly to 21.1 mpg in the 2009 model year. The EPA figures are based on real-world estimates for city and highway mileage found on window stickers at dealer showrooms, instead of mileage values developed through laboratory testing. Honda Motor Co. led the industry in 2008 with 23.9 mpg, followed by Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. with 23.7 mpg, and Toyota Motor Corp. with 22.8 mpg. Volkswagen AG's fleet averaged 22.3 mpg, followed by Nissan Motor Co. with 21.9 and BMW AG with 21.2. General Motors Co. led U.S. automakers with 19.7 mpg, followed by Ford Motor Co. with 19.4 and Chrysler Group LLC with 19.3. The EPA projects Ford will increase its fuel efficiency by more than 1 mpg in the 2009 model year and overtake GM.

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EPA: U.S. Fleet of 2009 Cars, Trucks Only Slightly More Efficient Than 2008 Models

Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, sure seems to think so. “I think long-term, Prius as a nameplate could even outsell Camry as a nameplate, into this next decade,” he tells Wards Auto. When asked if the Prius’s success would trade off with the Camry, he replied in the negative, saying “I think

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Will The Prius Usurp The Camry?

After the sales plunge in the auto market began in earnest in the fall of 2008, automakers scrambled to reduce production schedules, sell off swollen inventories and otherwise deal with a drastically contracting U.S. market. Now, after months of production cutbacks orchestrated by many automakers and the summer's outsized demand from the $3-billion Cash for Clunkers rebate program, bloated inventories are a thing of the past. Now, data researchers at Edmunds.com say the coming months may be a tug of war between still-cautious buyers and right-sized-but-cash-strapped automakers anxious to hold the line on pricing. It could be a battle that sees winners and losers on both sides as uncommon market and industry forces collide in what will be an unpredictable sales environment.

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As ‘09 Inventories Deplete, Who Will Blink First – Carmakers or Customers?

Toyota is not happy about being shut out of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Top Safety Picks for 2010. The safety organization says Toyota has no right to complain.

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Toyota Says Safety Report Is Misleading

According to Ford, sales of small cars could exceed those of midsize cars by 2013 because two huge demographic groups, baby boomers and their children, are gravitating toward smaller cars.

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There May Be a Smaller Ford in Your Future

Cars are not a mere means of mobility. They respond to the driver’s will; they turn, speed up, slow down. Naturally, there’s a need for excitement…Of course, eco-friendly cars are a prerequisite for the future, but there must be more than that.  Morizo cannot afford to lose. I will tackle the challenge of creating a

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quote-of-the-day-toyoda-and-the-splendid-flavor/" title="Quote Of The Day: Toyoda and The Splendid Flavor">Quote Of The Day: Toyoda and The Splendid Flavor

Mazda Motor Corp. was honored today with the 2009 Technology of the Year award from a non-profit coalition of Japan-based automotive critics and journalists for the automaker's i-stop idling stop-start system, which is a little perplexing. A stop-start system automatically shuts down and restarts an automobile's internal combustion engine to reduce the amount of time the engine spends idling, thereby improving fuel economy. The technology isn't new. Daimler, Fiat, Toyota and other automakers have been putting it in some of its vehicles for a while. So why exactly did the 2009 Automotive Researchers' and Journalists' Conference of Japan decide to recognize Madza's stop-start system now? It's a good question, one we've put to spokesmen for the conference and the automaker. After waiting four hours for a response, we went ahead and posted this piece; we'll update if and when an explanation is offered. In a statement issued to the media, Mazda wrote that its i-stop system is fitted to direct injection engines and uses combustion energy to restart the engine in just 0.35 seconds, about half the time necessary for most other competing systems. This might be why Mazda received the award, but it wasn't stated. The i-stop system also suppresses noise and vibration as the engine shuts down and restarts, ensuring that drivers experience a natural driving feel with no sense of discomfort. Most other stop-start systems do that as well.

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Mazda Wins Innovation Award for Its Stop-Start System But Reason Why Isn’t Clear

Despite allegedly falling quality, magical accelerator pedals, Hyundai snapping at their heels, depressed stock price, management musical chairs and Volkswagen taking their “world’s biggest car maker by volume” title you’d think Toyota would have little to smile about. Or not. Reuters reports that even in this creaky economy Toyota managed to post a 5% increase

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Toyota Global Sales Headed Up

Volkswagen wants to unseat Toyota as number one by 2018. When they announced that strategy, it was widely discounted as Wolfsburg hubris, and as a goal so far out that nobody will recall nine years down the road that the goal has ever been set. Or as the saying goes in Wolfsburg: “In 2018, I’ll

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Who’s On First? Toyota? VW? Or, Gasp, GM?

Since blaming individual stupidity is no longer in fashion, someone get a lawyer on the phone!

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When Floormats Attack: More Toyota Unintentional Acceleration?