2004 Toyota Prius

With the election less than 100 days away, it’s time for car enthusiasts and shoppers everywhere to get to the real issue for the next presidential term: What’s going to be cool to drive for the next four years? The two leading candidates for president, Sen. John McCain from Arizona and Sen. Barack Obama from Illinois, have both voiced strong opinions on the auto industry in recent months. Obama... read more

Whether you blame the generally sour economy, soaring oil prices, or a weak housing market, there's little good to read into the numbers for June. U.S. auto sales plunged by 18.3 percent in June. Worked out on an annualized basis, the industry would sell an anemic 13.6 million vehicles, a far cry from the 17-million-plus units automakers moved earlier this decade. Significantly, the decline was... read more

How quickly times change. Only a matters of months ago, it seems, we were bombarded by ads touting products by the numbers: horsepower, for example, 0-60 times, or cubic feet of cargo space. Well, actually, we're hearing a lot more numbers now; what with $4-a-gallon gas, manufacturers are suddenly touting miles per gallon. But according to the folks at Consumer Reports magazine, that's no more... read more

Your everyday car may be special to you, what with its nice rims, a cool satellite radio system, enough room in the console to hide evidence of trips to Carvel. Chances are, though, it's a Camry , Accord, Fusion, or Malibu--all fine cars, but not really epic examples of the history of carmaking. Throughout the history of cars, there have been hallmarks, cars that changed the course of history or... read more

General Motors, Ford , Toyota , Volkswagen , Nissan , and Mercedes-Benz all reported U.S. auto sales fell in December, leaving car sales at their lowest level since 1998.GM's sales of new cars and light trucks dropped 4.1 percent from a year earlier, according to Autodata, while Ford's total tumbled 9.2 percent and Toyota's fell 1.7 percent as overall sales dropped four percent in December. For... read more

For the three or four Americans who haven't already heard the news, Toyota plans to make sure you're completely cognizant of its position as the market's hybrid leader. It's about to launch a nationwide ad blitz likely impossible to escape, even if you take a bus to work. "Miles and miles and miles per gallon," will be the message greeting motorists as they exit the Lincoln Tunnel. Other... read more