Hey, great! At least automakers aren’t teasing us any more with the cars that they’d be bringing to the Paris Motor Show next month. Here we have Hyundai making a consolidated statement on which cars they’d be bringing to the City of Lights. Just a quick round-up: the i20, i20 i-blue Concept, ix55 SUV & Santa Fe Hybrid.

The i20 is slated to replace the Getz in the HYundai fleet. It’s slightly larger than the Getz and would get a chrome-topped grille and headlights in the same teardrop tune as the i10 and i30. The i20 will be used to penetrate the European sub-compact market.

And, together with this production version, Hyundai will also be featuring an i20 i-blue concept - their take on the fast-growing eco sub-compacts. The i-blue version is slated to get 68 mpg and belch just 99 grams/km of C02 thanks to a greenified 90 hp 1.4 CRD diesel mated to a 6-speed transmission which, apparently helps fuel economy over the standard 5-speed one.

The i20 i-blue isn’t the only green vehicle they’d be featuring as they’ve also decided to give their Santa Fe crossover SUV a green twist. Though, in my book, SUV and green really don’t go together. Still, Hyundai developed an electric motor to go along with the Santa Fe’s 2.4L gas engine. With that, the car can get a very decent 44 mpg.

Last in Hyundai’s Paris lineup is the ix55 SUV which is largely based on the US-market Veracruz but gets some Euro styling. No other details on the ix55 just yet but we can expect Hyundai to give more details as the show looms.

Source: Hyundai

The 2008 Paris Motor Show in October has a lot in store for motoring enthusiasts of all interests. From fast cars to cute cars, the venue will surely be filled with them. Heck, I’m sort of a kei car enthusiast and I’m quite excited that we will then see the production version of the cute Toyota iQ.

Well, as far as Toyota is concerned, they will be ready to push the iQ forward by creating a hybrid variant. Right now, the details on the powertrain lineup and performance and fuel economy figures are still under wraps but the test versions had a 1.0L 3-cylinder engine that dished out 70 hp. Though there’s also the possibility of it having a 1.4L 4-cylinder turbodiesel that churns out 89 horses.

The iQ hybrid, however, might just sport a plug-in technology (taking cue from the next-gen Prius). Power generation will be split 50-50 with the gas-electric motor cycles. The plug-in technology will allow you to run on pure electric juice for 15 miles. Not too shabby for (possibly) the world’s smallest four-door hybrid.

Source: AutoExpress

The Truth About Cars is asking whether this car is the most ridiculous car ever created by hand of man. As I’ve said before, I’d rather drive a sleeper than a riced-out car.

Sure this Toyota Prius looks like it can travel beyond Mach 3 but come on, the Prius. But come on! It’s a Prius! Not to mention the paint job which, when combined with the contours of the Prius makes it look f*ck uglier. Nice interior though, if only the colors have been toned down a bit.

Is this the most ridiculous car ever made? No, a lot of other cars can pretty much fit that title.

Extreme Toyota Prius

The battle for the hybrid market heats up another notch as Honda prepares to unveil their own Prius-fighting hybrid - a five-door hatchback compact sedan. With a price tag of just under $20,000, it is positioned to take the fight to Toyota.

Still without a badge and a name designation, company insiders call it New Dedicated Hybrid Vehicle or just “small hybrid.” But once it hits Paris, the hybrid would have its own name. It will be the first of the four hybrids Honda has planned to unleash in the motoring world. Also to be released are the CR-Z hybrid coupe and the Civic Hybrid replacement by 2010, and a new subcompact one by 2012.

But seriously, Honda might create a better product than the Prius with their hybrid. Still, they can’t top what Toyota has achieved soon. They might have an impact in the market, but overtaking Toyota will be a long and tough fight.

Source: Inside Line

Remember this Ferrari F430 that runs on biofuel? Well, it seems that this wouldn’t be the last time Ferrari will be concerning itself with some nature-saving efforts. Luca Cordero di Montezemolo told the press that Ferrari wants to cut down their fleets CO2 emissions by 40% by 2012.

And yes, they will be looking at hybrid technology to do so, claiming that, despite being a hybrid, it will still be “fundamentally a Ferrari.” Which, in my opinion, doesn’t make sense. Aren’t Ferrari’s supposed to be loud, fast, flashy, and nothing like the Prius? And when did Saudi princes ever needed to consider buying hybrids anyway?

Still, the likeliness of one emerging from Ferrari’s programs is highly possible. With Formula 1 pushing teams to develop green race cars, whatever development Ferrari can create can surely filter to their sports cars.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

At first, it seemed that BMW didn’t really bother to join in the mad scamper for hybrids and electric vehicles. But first impressions didn’t last at all with BMW’s announcement that they will be creating 500 electric MINIs which will be made available to the US market specifically to California (no surprise since California is one state that requires automakers to make EVs available per fleet).

Still, these MINIs will go a long way - to be built in Oxford, UK (where the MINI factory is located). These will then make a trip to Germany so that BMW will be able to slap on their electric powertrains. No performance figures yet but it will have a silver body and yellow roof.

It’s interesting what automakers will do just to appease legislation. California is surely a market that any automaker would hate to lose holds of with Hollywood being there and all. An indirect celebrity endorsement goes a long way especially for green cars. See what Leo and Cameron did to the Prius?

Source: Automotive News (Subscription required)

Last month, Toyota was pretty open about Prius shortages brought about by the scarcity of batteries. As a result, Toyota was keen on pushing the Camry hybrid to those looking for their hybrid fix amidst the oil price crunch. I do wonder how this would work since, even if they’re both hybrids, there are a lot of differences between the two.

For a refresher, the MPGs alone bear much difference. The Prius gets 46 while the Camry gets 34. As for power figures, the Prius is ever so sluggish at 76 hp and the Camry has decent power with 147 hp. The Prius is priced at $21500 and the Camry, starts at $25900.

Doing the math, the $4000 price difference and the 12 mpg might just be worthy of the 71 hp difference. It does seem that the Camry is also a viable choice for those jumping into the hybrid bandwagon and still would want that oomph when it’s time to floor the gas pedal.

Video Source: Edmunds

Next year’s Detroit auto show will see a whole lot of new designs and concepts and Toyota is targeting the January show to be their venue to debut two all-new hybrids for next year. However, this just wouldn’t be a simple expansion of the Prius line as one of the hybrids will be a Lexus, the other, the third-generation Prius.

No word yet on when exactly Toyota will be placing these new hybrids even if clamor for purchasing these green cars are at an all-time high. No revolutionary changes in the technology (don’t expect plug-ins yet) as both are to run with nickel-metal hydride batteries though the new Prius will be a larger vehicle.

This hybrid race is also shaping up to be one tough fight as other auto makers are scrambling their development and production teams to claim a piece of this ripe market. Honda has announced that it will create four hybrid models and see them through production. Nissan is also developing its own hybrid offerings.

Source: Autoweek

It’s somehow great to know how quickly auto makers are addressing issues especially if it’s their sales that are taking a beating. Yesterday, it was reported that Toyota and Ford are having real problems coping with the demand for their hybrids due to lack of battery supplies.

Now, it seems that Toyota and Ford have found a solution for the issue and it’s by shipping production overseas. Toyota will be sending production of their Camry hybrid to Thailand and Australia. Production in Australia is also partly to address the growing demand for hybrids down under. Ford is apparently also looking into tapping Australia to address their hybrid supply shortage.

As an incentive, Australia even awarded Toyota A$35 million to build hybrid cars for the local market.

Source: Reuters

Talk about WTF! Prey on people’s growing environmental awareness and lack foresight on makers and dealers alike. With gasoline prices reaching $4 a gallon, many are ditching their hulking gas-guzzling SUVs in exchange for gas-sipping hybrids. And yes, there is huge demand for hybrids.

While Toyota was just oh-so-happy about getting a million Priuses on the road, they might have to rethink things on how they’d got about selling a million more. Sales of hybrids took a hit recently and not due to market demand but because of production shortage as battery supplies are scarce. Toyota isn’t the only one hit by this as supplies for the Ford Escape Hybrid became limited as well.

Prius sales dropped a whopping 37.5% in May compare to 24,009 units sold last year. Toyota’s Camry hybrid is doing as well. The whole choke from production to sales is the fact that Toyota couldn’t make enough batteries to power the Priuses rolling out of factories. And, as an enterprising move, they held production down, to encourage buyers to purchase other models.

Tsk. Saving the world vs. making money.

Source: AutoWeek