2011 Hyundai Gls Pzev on 2040-cars

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No diesels in the running for 2016 Green Car Of The Year

It's a new era for the Green Car Of The Year. In the past, the theme of the award was to take a broad look at alternative powertrains and pick the best among them. "Clean diesels" from the Volkswagen group were often among the finalists and won the award twice. For the 2016 edition - which will be handed out at the LA Auto Show next month - not a single diesel made the list. There's little wonder why. Green Car Journal, which names the winner with a panel of experts, had to strip two VW brand vehicles of their past wins. The 2009 VW Jetta TDI, which won in 2008, and the 2010 Audi A3 TDI, which won in 2010, have both lost their titles now that the world knows about the "defeat devices" that VW installed in many of its TDI vehicles around the world. So, what does that leave us with for 2016? Two plug ins, a hybrid, and two gas vehicles. The two electric vehicle are the Audi A3 e-tron and the Chevy Volt, while the all-new Toyota Prius (which will come with a plug-in version later) is the lone pure hybrid. Rounding out the pack are two efficient gas models: the Hyundai Sonata and the Honda Civic. This is the tenth year for the Green Car Of The Year, and it will be interesting to see if diesels can come back into the award's good graces (for the record, no diesels were among the finalists in 2013, either) in the future. For now, we'd like to know who you think should win. You can read more about the finalists in the press release below and then cast your vote in our poll. Show full PR text FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR 2016 GREEN CAR OF THE YEAR Green Car Journal to Reveal Winner of 11th Annual Award at LA Auto Show Press & Trade Days, November 19 LOS ANGELES, CA (October 15, 2015) – Green Car Journal has announced its five finalists for the magazine's prestigious 2016 Green Car of the Year® award. The 2016 models include the Audi A3 e-tron, Chevrolet Volt, Honda Civic, Hyundai Sonata, and Toyota Prius. An increasing number of vehicle models are considered for the Green Car of the Year® program each year, a reflection of the auto industry's expanding efforts in offering new vehicles with higher efficiency and improved environmental impact. Green Car Journal has been honoring the most important "green" vehicles every year at the LA Auto Show, since its inaugural award announced at the show in 2005.

IED Torino students dream up the PassoCorto for Hyundai

Every year the students at the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) in Turin work up something new to unveil at the Geneva Motor Show. It's usually a concept for an Italian automaker (like the Alfa Romeo Gloria, the Cisitalia 202 E or the Abarth ScorpION) or at least something European (like the concepts they worked up with McLaren or the ones they did for Aston Martin). But this time they've wandered a little farther from home in designing a sports car for Hyundai.
It's called the PassoCorto - Italian for "short wheelbase" - and it was designed in collaboration between the grad students in the Master in Transportation Design program (under the supervision of Pininfarina design Luca Borgogno) and the Hyundai's European design center.
The design (theoretically) calls for a 1.6-liter twin-turbo four, mounted amidships and driving 266 horsepower to the rear wheels. It looks pretty promising, and if Hyundai were ever keen on taking on the likes of the Alfa Romeo 4C and Porsche Cayman, this strikes us as a damn good place to start.

Hyundai Prius-Fighter Hybrid could preview next attack on Toyota's champion

Hyundai is no stranger to the hybrid game, selling a gas-electric version of the Sonata in the US since 2011. The 2015-model-year version gets 38 miles per gallon combined, which is certainly admirable but not quite in the same league as the hybrid champion Toyota Prius (50 mpg combined). New spy shots reveal that Hyundai might be finally ready to targeting the non-plug-in fuel economy leader. Why else would some mysterious Hyundai prototypes be cruising through the desert hills with a few Priuses in tow?
Our photographers believe these mules hint at an all-new hybrid model, which makes us think of the Blue Will concept from the 2010 Detroit Auto Show. At the time, Hyundai said the concept could be a preview of a future dedicated hybrid that would compete with the Prius.
We don't know what it all means for sure, but our spy photographers found four heavily modified Elantra GT prototypes driving around with a standard Prius and a Prius V. As if that wasn't enough of a clue, the four changed Elantras represent different approaches Hyundai might be using to go after Toyota, since there were two versions driving by our photographer's lenses, with different rear extensions indicating that both the standard Prius and the larger V might be in Hyundai's sights.