Hybrid

Ford is taking on Toyota in the hybrid market. Ford Motor Co. said Thursday that its new C-Max hybrid small minivan will have a base price of $25,995 when it goes on sale this fall. That's $500 less than Toyota's Prius V wagon. Ford says the C-Max's fuel economy will also beat the Prius V, which gets an estimated 42 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving. Toyota Motor Corp. has dominated the hybrid market for more than a decade. In March, for example, 65 percent of the 50,000 hybrids sold in the U.S. were made by Toyota, compared with 3.5 percent for Ford.

Ford is taking on Toyota in the hybrid market. Ford Motor Co. said Thursday that its new C-Max hybrid small minivan will have a base price of $25,995 when it goes on sale this fall. That's $500 less than Toyota's Prius V wagon. Ford says the C-Max's fuel economy will also beat the Prius V, which gets an estimated 42 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving. Toyota Motor Corp. has dominated the hybrid market for more than a decade. In March, for example, 65 percent of the 50,000 hybrids sold in the U.S. were made by Toyota, compared with 3.5 percent for Ford.

NEW YORK -- Honda Motor Co. yesterday said it will discontinue the hybrid version of its Accord sedan, citing disappointing sales. Analysts said that despite the Accord's superior performance compared with some higher-volume competitors, it just doesn't fit with current consumer demands for the smallest, cheapest hybrids with eye-popping fuel economy. Brian Chee, an analyst with the vehicle research firm Autobytel.com, said the Accord's relatively low fuel economy and high price tag compared with other hybrids made it a tough sell.

LOS ANGELES - A judge overturned a nearly $10,000 small claims judgment against American Honda Motor Co. that was won by a car owner who said the automaker misrepresented that her hybrid Civic could get 50 miles per gallon, according to a ruling released Wednesday. Superior Court Judge Dudley W. Gray II ruled Tuesday on Honda's appeal of a court commissioner's award of $9,867 to Heather Peters. Peters had opted out of a class-action settlement giving some 200,000 owners between $100 and $200 each, plus a rebate if they buy a new Honda.

WEISSACH, Germany -- Porsche AG's first hybrid vehicle will be ready within three years, the head of the luxury automaker's new hybrid program announced yesterday, saying it showed progress by a company derided by some environmental groups as a climate destroyer. Leaders of Germany's auto industry have rejected criticisms that they lack the initiative to build more environmentally friendly cars, saying this week they were working on new, fuel-efficient models. Porsche's Cayenne hybrid, being developed in part with Volkswagen AG and Audi AG, is expected when complete to...

The hybrid gasoline/electric vehicle has veered off course. A technology I praised years ago as having great promise is being compromised by companies that are using the jolt of electricity to produce more horsepower and save some fuel, instead of offering just enough horsepower to save more fuel. At least one company is offering an SUV with true fuel savings -- Ford , with its Escape hybrid. I got 28.5 miles per gallon in more than 1,000 miles of my Escape adventure.

NEW YORK -- Victor Wouk, who developed the first full-size version of the modern hybrid car, died of cancer at his home here May 19. He was 86. Described as the father of modern hybrid automobile programs, Mr. Wouk held more than 10 patents, most of them related to hybrid and electric vehicles. In the early 1970s, he formed his own company, Petro-Electric Motors, to develop a hybrid. He said his work was spurred by the Clean Air Act of 1970, which called for the development of a cleaner car engine.

TOKYO -- A decade after the first Prius went on sale, Toyota's global sales of hybrid vehicles have hit a landmark 1 million, underlining the Japanese automaker's lead in "green" technology that has changed the face of the auto industry. Toyota Motor Corp.'s cumulative sales of gas-and-electric-powered vehicles totaled 1.047 million as of the end of May. Of those, nearly 345,000 hybrids were sold in Japan, while 702,000 were sold abroad, the company said in a statement yesterday.

TOKYO - Honda launched its sporty new hybrid CR-Z yesterday, vowing to uphold quality amid spectacular safety woes at its archrival Toyota. Japan’s number two automaker said it hopes the sleek two-door hatchback will appeal to a younger set or empty-nesters who want a green car with a bit of pizzazz. The car will go on sale in Japan today and in the United States and Europe by midyear. “Product quality is extremely important to us,’’ chief executive Takanobu Ito said.

Gasoline prices are headed for record highs this spring. If that happens, a new, more fuel-efficient car may be worth the investment. Gas has jumped 54 cents to an average of $3.81 per gallon this year. By next month, the price could break the all-time record of $4.11 in July 2008. Four years ago, car companies didn't have enough fuel-sipping small cars to satisfy buyers, and that hurt sales. But they've put far more emphasis on fuel economy since then, and there's now a wide selection of efficient cars and SUVs.

Lawyers for American Honda Motor Co. returned to court Thursday to try to overturn a highly publicized small claims court award to a woman who sued over the fuel economy of her hybrid Honda Civic. Superior Court Judge Dudley W. Gray II was hearing witnesses from both sides as Honda sought to reverse a court commissioner's award of $9,867 to Heather Peters, who opted out of a class-action settlement designed to give some 200,000 owners between $100 and $200 each, plus a rebate if they buy a new Honda.

Only 38.4 percent of hybrid vehicle owners in Boston opted to buy a hybrid again when they returned to the car market in 2011, said Edmunds.com Inc., a California company that aims to be online resource for automotive information. The national rate of repeat hybrid buyers was 35 percent. Both locally and nationally, many consumers who had previously bought hybrids are concluding that fuel-economy improvements in conventional compact and midsize cars make those conventional cars a better value than pricier hybrids,...

By Greg A. Bedard, Globe Staff The Patriots have been adding players at a dizzying pace the past couple of days, so let's try to reset where the roster stands. It will change in a minute. Including tendered free agents Wes Welker, Brian Hoyer and Kyle Love (who don't count until their tenders are signed), we have the Patriots for 68 players against the 80-man limit. Here's a look: I'm not real big on saying, "Well, they signed this player so this player is toast," but I did have a couple thoughts.

Gasoline prices are headed for record highs this spring. If that happens, a new, more fuel-efficient car may be worth the investment. Gas has jumped 54 cents to an average of $3.81 per gallon this year. By next month, the price could break the all-time record of $4.11 in July 2008. Four years ago, car companies didn't have enough fuel-sipping small cars to satisfy buyers, and that hurt sales. But they've put far more emphasis on fuel economy since then, and there's now a wide selection of efficient cars and SUVs.

The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid that seats only four people, has an advanced but unproven powertrain, and carries a $40,000 sticker price. And it is the top-scoring model in Consumer Reports' latest annual owner-satisfaction survey. Ninety-three percent of respondents who own the Volt said they would definitely buy it again, making it the highest-rated car in the nationally representative survey. The Volt narrowly edged out the V-8-powered Dodge Challenger and the Porsche 911, each with owner-satisfaction scores of 91 percent.

Heather Peter's computer crashed under the onslaught of messages following her unique victory over Honda in small claims court — a win the California woman is hoping will lead other consumers to reject a class action settlement over defective hybrid cars. Peters, who was at the center of a whirlwind as she welcomed camera crews to her home, said she has received more than 500 Facebook messages and had 6,000 hits on her website following a court decision awarding her $9,867 and finding Honda misled her into thinking her Hybrid could get 50 miles per gallon.

The Anna Sui woman is not afraid of wild prints, she's also not afraid of pom-poms, poufs, or socks worn with pumps. Which is why the eclectic designer's Spring/Summer collection was an ideal blend of crazy and classic, merged into a kaleidoscopic show that somehow never fell into a canyon of tacky. There was a period in the 1970s when the fashions of the 1940s came back into vogue, and Sui's Lincoln Center show referenced that double retro era, but she added yet another layer to the 1940-meets-1970s hybrid with an endless swirl of color.

TOKYO — Honda’s Fit subcompact overtook Toyota’s Prius gasoline-electric hybrid as Japan’s top-selling car in January, its first return to that spot in nearly two years. The figures released yesterday by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association show how the end of government subsidies for green cars have hurt sales of the Prius after it held the top spot in Japan for 20 straight months. It remains the world’s top-selling hybrid. Fit sales in January surged nearly 14 percent from a year earlier to 14,873 vehicles, about half of them hybrids,...

A Southern California woman who challenged the legal status-quo by filing a small-claims action against Honda won her lawsuit Wednesday when a judge ruled that the automaker misled her about the potential fuel economy of her hybrid car. Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Douglas Carnahan awarded Heather Peters $9,867 — much more than the couple hundred dollars cash that a proposed class-action settlement is offering. "At a bare minimum Honda was aware … that by the time Peters bought her car there were problems with its living up to its advertised mileage," Carnahan...

An unusual small claims lawsuit by a Honda hybrid owner took another complicated turn Wednesday with additional arguments that prompted a commissioner to delay a ruling for more consideration. Superior Court Commissioner Douglas Carnahan said he was aware of "a media blitz on this case," and wanted to be clear on all of the issues raised by Honda owner Heather Peters. Peters told the court she was anxious to get the matter resolved and did not want to waste the court's time.