Ferrari: Celebrating 50 Years on 2040-parts.com

Toyota and Lexus secret hybrid cars revealed

By Georg Kacher Motor Industry 03 September 2008 11:50 CAR Online has compiled a secret dossier of all the hybrid petrol-electric cars under development at Toyota and Lexus. Today we can reveal a new wave of eco-friendly plug-in hybrids – with confidential details of the next Prius and all the new models that will build on the success of Toyota and Lexus battery cars. There will be a new family of Prius hybrid models, as previously reported in CAR, as well as a new Lexus RX hybrid, sportier batter-powered cars and a top-secret petrol-electric Lexus hatchback.

Lotus City Car Confirmed

Lotus City Car At the Paris Motor Show back in September Lotus arrived with more ‘New’ cars than any other car maker – much to everyone’s amazement. There was everything from the mid-engined Lotus Esprit to the Rapide-challenging four-door supercar that was the Lotus Eterne. In amongst the supercar-fest – that included the aforementioned Lotus Eterne and new Lotus Esprit – was the Lotus Elite, a new Lotus Elan and a new new Lotus Elise, a total of five new Lotus cars designed to turn Lotus in to an East Anglian Aston Martin.

Toyota Prius Plug-In is practically perfect in London

Toyota Prius Plug-in - perfect London transport We though we ought to do Toyota the courtesy of a non-disparaging headline after the first interim results of trials of the Prius Plug-in in the hands of drivers in London have turned out to be very positive. Toyota and EDF Energy have supplied – on lease – 20 plug-in hybrids (PHEV) to London businesses and organisations (no Joe Public on this trial) to get some real-world feedback on usage, journey distance and recharging patterns. For those of you who don’t remember, the Toyota Prius Plug-in is a regular 3rd Gen Prius but with a length of flex and a set of lithium-ion batteries that allows users to grab some charge from the mains and to drive further in EV mode – up to 12.5 miles in perfect conditions.