Fisker Wraps Investigation of Karma Fires at New Jersey Port, Blames One Car's Vehicle Control Unit

Last week, Sandy's furious tempest resulted in 16 brand-new Fisker Karma sedans and three Toyota Prius hybrids going up in flames at a shipping facility in New Jersey after being submerged in seawater for many hours.

While we have yet to hear from Toyota, Fisker's engineers finished investigating the incident and have just released their findings through a press statement.

According to the manufacturer, the culprit turned out to be a low voltage Vehicle Control Unit in one Karma, which after being under salt water for several hours, short-circuited and caused a fire that then spread to the other 15 extended-range plug-in hybrid models parked nearby due to the strong winds blowing at the time.

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Three Toyota Prius Hybrid Models Also Caught Fire at New Jersey Port During Storm

As it turns out, the 16 Fisker Karma extended-range hybrids weren't the only new hybrid cars to catch fire in Port Newark, New Jersey last Monday on October 29, after being submerged in seawater during Hurricane Sandy.

In a completely separate incident during the storm, three Toyota Prius models, including a conventional hybrid and a plug-in hybrid, were also damaged by fire at Port Newark, according to a report from the LA Times.

Toyota confirmed the incident. "One Prius out and out burned, the others just kind of smoldered and got really hot," Cindy Knight, a Toyota spokeswoman told the New York Times (NYT), adding that the fire "likely started because saltwater got into the electrical system." The Prius that burned down completely was a plug-in hybrid model.

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Ford C-MAX Energi PHEV Gets Access to California HOV Lanes, up to $5,250 in Incentives

California’s Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board (CARB) announced that Ford’s C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid MPV has been approved for the Green Clean Air Vehicle Sticker, which gives it access to the state’s much-coveted High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Lanes. Read more »

GM to Upgrade Software on 4,000 Chevrolet Volts to Fix Stalling Electric Motor Problem

When Chevrolet Volt owner and gm-volt.com forum member "1RiverMan1" came home on October 19, he heard a phone message from his Volt advisor (sic) informing him about a potential problem with some of GM’s 2013 MY extended-range hybrids.

The issue was that on some cars, the electric motor for no apparent reason at all, stopped working while on the move. The advisor said that the steering and brakes of the Volt still worked, but added that if it were to occur, the driver must coast to a stop, power the car off, wait for 2-5 minutes and then power it up again.

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Lexus LF-LC Concept gets the Blues for the 2012 Sydney Auto Show

As it turns out, what Lexus meant to say when it announced back in August that it plans to reveal a "further development of a vehicle shown at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year" at the Australian Auto Show in Sydney, is that it would display the LF-LC in a different shade.

Lexus tells us that the LF-LC Blue concept's new hue is inspired by the glossy base color found in the naturally occurring semi-precious opal stone of outback Australia.

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Cadillac Confirms that the ELR will be FWD, Do You Think GM Made the Right Decision?

On Tuesday, Cadillac added another piece to the puzzle that is the new ELR plug-hybrid coupe by announcing that the car will be manufactured at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant with production to start in late 2013.

We already know that the ELR will be closely based on Cadillac's 2009 Converj Concept and that it will borrow much of its extended-range electric technology from the Chevy Volt, combining a T-shaped lithium-ion battery with an electric drive unit and an unspecified four-cylinder engine working as a generator to power the electric motor.

What we assumed, but didn't know for sure, is whether the ELR would keep the same front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout as the Volt or if Cadillac would engineer a new platform with a front-engine, rear-wheel drive configuration.

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Battery Maker A123 Systems Files for Bankruptcy, Sells Auto Assets to Johnson Controls

Detroit-based battery developer and manufacturer A123 Systems announced today that it filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in Delaware.

A123 Systems, which had received $249 million in federal grants as part of the stimulus bill (having used $129 million to date), said that the petitions, which do not include its overseas subsidiaries, were made so that they can facilitate the sale of its automotive business assets to Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI).

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Scoop: All-New 2014 Acura MDX Drops the Cladding and Shows More Skin

The extensive overhauling of Acura's North American lineup will continue with the next generation of the MDX three-row crossover, which was spied here in prototype form with less intrusive camouflage than before.

Instead of the previous prototype's heavy cladding, this test car was covered in a white skin wrap with some funky black schemes affording us a better view of the new MDX's exterior redesign.

From what we can tell, the body will have softer lines while the styling of the front end of the new MDX appears to be less prominent, but will continue to use Acura's polarizing signature "beak". Overall, it looks like Acura has chosen to evolve rather than revolutionize the current model's design.

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GM to Build New Cadillac ELR at Detroit-Hamtramck Plant Starting in Late 2013

The next big thing to come from Cadillac will be the ELR plug-in hybrid coupe, which is the production version of the Converj, a concept vehicle first displayed at the 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit that borrows its extended-range electric technology from the Chevy Volt.

In a keynote address at the SAE Convergence Conference in Detroit on Tuesday, General Motors North America President Mark Reuss revealed that preparations will soon be underway at the firm's Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant to build the Cadillac ELR.

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Lincoln MKZ Hybrid Certified at 45 MPG, 2MPG Less than Fusion Hybrid but 5MPG More than Lexus ES

Even though Lincoln had announced pricing and trim levels for its new 2013 MKZ Hybrid, the fuel economy ratings weren't available at the time as the carmaker was waiting for the Environmental Protection Agency’s official certification.

Today, the company announced that the US$35,925 MKZ Hybrid has been certified by the EPA at 45 mpg (5.2 lt/100 km) across the board, i.e. city, highway and combined consumption.

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Honda's Worldwide Hybrid Sales Break the 1 Million Mark after 13 Years

While not as near as successful as rivaling brand Toyota that sold its 4 millionth hybrid in May, 2012, Honda is a respectable foe in the hybrid car market with the automaker announcing today that its cumulative worldwide sales of hybrid vehicles surpassed the 1 million mark at the end of September 2012.

The Japanese carmaker reached the 1 million milestone almost 13 years after it launched its first ever production hybrid model, the Insight Mk1 in Japan in November of 1999.

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New Ford C-MAX Energi PHEV EPA Certified at 100 MPGe, Beats Prius PHEV by 5 MPGe

Thanks to an EPA certified EPA-certified 108 miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe) in the city, Ford's new C-MAX Energi has been afforded the title of America’s most fuel-efficient plug-in hybrid.

The compact minivan that shares most of its parts with the regular 47 mpg C-MAX Hybrid adding plug-in capability, also returns 100 MPGe on the combined cycle.

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New GM App Shows Chevy Volt Owners the Real Cost of Charging Their Hybrid at Home

Plug-in hybrid vehicles claim to be much more fuel efficient, and thus cheaper to run, than regular models powered only by international combustion engines.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, though; in the case of plug-in hybrids, you have to factor in the energy consumed to charge the battery at your home, which adds to the electricity bill.

General Motors’ OnStar service is currently testing an application that will inform Chevrolet Volt owners about the cost of charging their extended-range plug-in hybrid.

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Spied: Volkswagen Filmed Trying Out XL1 Diesel-Electric Hybrid

The XL1 is Volkswagen's vision of a plug-in hybrid car that returns an amazingly low combined fuel consumption of 0.9lt/100km, equal to 261 mpg US and 313 mpg UK, or to be precise, MPGe (Miles per gallon gasoline equivalent) since this figure includes the use of both the internal combustion engine and the battery.

The two-seater model was presented as a concept last year and is now heading for very limited run production starting from next year - if all goes according to plan. VW's engineers were filmed in Spain completing new tests with the car as they prepare for its introduction.

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Ford Takes Another Swipe at the Prius V with La Linea-Inspired Commercials for C-MAX

If you take a moment to check out Ford U.S.A.'s recent press releases on the new C-MAX Hybrid and C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid, you will notice that the Blue Oval always finds some room to insert a reference or two…or three to Toyota's rivaling Prius V minivan, be that for its fuel economy numbers, pricing or features.

In Ford's latest release, the word "Prius" appears…15 times, but that's to be expected since the automaker is bumping the challenge to the next level by launching a new campaign to "establish C-MAX Hybrid and C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid as better, more fuel-efficient hybrid alternatives to Toyota Prius V".

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Volkswagen Prices New 45MPG 2013 Jetta Hybrid from $24,995* in the States

While on one side of the Atlantic, Volkswagen's local arm was releasing prices for the UK market 2013 Golf Mk7, on the other side, the German automaker announced U.S. pricing for the 2013 Jetta Hybrid.

The turbocharged gasoline-electric hybrid will go on sale in the States in the last quarter of 2012 with a base MSRP of $24,995 (€19,350 at today's rates), excluding a destination charge of $795 (*).

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2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid to Gain More Luxurious Trimmed Titanium Edition

Starting early next year, Ford customers in the U.S. will have one more option when it comes to the new 2013 Fusion Hybrid as the Blue Oval announced the addition of a Titanium model to the range.

The Titanium edition is based on the already available Fusion Hybrid SE, which is EPA rated at 47mpg combined, adding new exterior and interior appointments.

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