Gas prices are getting out of control, so it makes sense that more people are conserving as much energy as they can–although it’s difficult to imagine that everyone can actually cut back on their fuel consumption.

A lot of people are actually saving more by going green, or buying hybrid.

The hybrid and electric car market keeps growing each year, and these type of vehicles are only are getting more popular as time moves forward. Which fuel efficient models are the safest though?

The top 7 safest fuel efficient 2011 models are:

1. Chevrolet Cruze ECO
2. Ford Focus SFE
3. Honda Civic HF / Hybrid
4. Hyundai Elantra
5. Lexus CT 200h
6. Toyota Prius
7. Volkswagen Golf TDI

Courtesy of blogs.internetautoguide.com

The automotive industry has faced some, errrr, challenges in the past few years. At times, many said outright that the industry was dying.

But as 2010 and 2011 are proving, consumers and car buyers are still in the driver’s seat.

As always, automotive marketing plays a big role. It’s a discipline that has moved from newspapers and television to the Internet in ways that few could imagine even a decade ago.

One of the keys to marketing success can be attributed to search engines. Automotive search-engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) online ads give car dealers two tools to help them get exposure in an ultra-competitive search world dominated by Google and Bing.

These days, when people want to buy a car, they go straight to the source for most information: the Internet.

A quickly emerging factor from the carmaker level all the way down to individual users is automotive social media. It’s not new, but it’s still in its infancy. While we seem to have “grown up” from our days with MySpace, the arena is still wide open to new tools and methods, and online auto information is growing tremendously every day.

What does the future hold? Will the industry continue to rise on a tide of marketing from the point where all was doom and gloom, recalls were plaguing strong brands, and older entities were needing bailouts?

In other words, will the trends toward growth and prosperity that we show here continue?

Courtesy of thecarconnection.com

With used car prices soaring, some cars are worth more a year old than they were new

Some drivers who purchased cars last year are finding a sweet surprise when they look up their car’s value: The vehicle is worth more now than it was a year ago.

There are fewer used cars on the market, forcing up prices. It’s a delayed effect of the auto meltdown, which severely curtailed leasing in 2008. That means fewer cars are coming off lease and heading into the used car market.

Rising gas prices and the earthquake in Japan, which shuttered automotive production for weeks, are also playing a role. Dealers worried that about possible shortages from the Japanese automakers are stocking up on used fuel-efficient cars so they have something to sell later this summer.

The most startling effect is on the fuel-efficient Toyota Prius, which is worth $2,555 more today than it was when it was new a year ago, according to Kelley Blue Book, which tracks used car resale values.

The Hyundai Sonata is worth $855 more than sticker price, KBB says. The Kia Soul is worth $60 more now, the company says.

The National Automobile Dealers Association also tracks the data, and says other cars worth more now include the Volkswagen Jetta, which is now worth $747 more, the Nissan Cube, which is worth $842 more, and the Hyundai Tucson, which is valued at $635 more. The Honda Fit is worth $1,070 more, says NADA, than it was brand new last year.

Prices of used cars are supposed to go down every year. Unless it is a collector car, the older a car gets, the more its value depreciates. Some dealers say the NADA used-car valuation guide is slightly overpriced, but the numbers show a clear pattern of increasing prices.

American-made cars used to depreciate more quickly than many foreign brands for a variety of reasons – quality concerns, styling, and reputation, to name a few. A big factor was also Detroit’s excessive use of fleet sales to rental firms, which the automakers used to prop up overall sales figures. Rental fleets would use the cars for a while, from several months to a year, and then re-sell the cars at auction. The oversupply of rental cars helped keep used car prices lower.

The same held true for leased vehicles as well: When drivers return a lease car back to the dealer, it either goes onto the used car lot or to an auction house where it is resold.

The combined effect automakers cutting back on fleet sales and the massive reduction in leasing in 2008 is cutting into used car supplies at auction.

Manheim, an auto auction company, says used car prices are at an all-time high. The company is auctioning off fewer cars, but prices have soared.

That’s particularly true for fuel-efficient cars, which are seeing higher sales due to high gas prices. Manheim says prices on all compact and midsized cars are up 60% compared with six months ago. But large SUVs and pickup trucks are up just 5%.

But higher used-car prices may not last forever, says Alex Gutierrez, manager of vehicle valuation for Kelley Blue Book. Gas prices should start coming down mid summer, “and when they do, values for many of these fuel-efficient models are expected to drop,” he says.

Courtesy of autos.aol.com

Plug-In Toyota Prius (Autoblog).

Contrary to a report in the Japanese press on May 9, a Toyota spokesman says the company has no plans to make plug-in technology standard equipment on its entire lineup of hybrid vehicles.

An article in the Nikkei business daily Monday said Toyota was planning to make plug-in technology standard on its Prius lineup by 2014. A spokesman said Monday that was incorrect.

There’s good reason why, he said: Plug-in technology adds a lot of cost and weight to cars, and the added benefits are too small to justify the extras, say Toyota officials.

Toyota initially was reluctant to offer a plug-in hybrid at all in the U.S. They expressed skepticism that buyers would want to pay several thousand dollars more for plug-in technology that would only give drivers 10 to 15 miles of electric-only driving per charge.

“We see this market as being a small percentage of our hybrid market,” says John Hanson, a spokesman for Toyota. “We don’t see it as a car for everybody.”

But green advocates and techno junkies weren’t happy with that response, and have pressured the automaker to launch a plug-in. Some geeky types even went so far to modify their Priuses so they could plug them into their own home outlets.

Too, there has been public relations pressure on Toyota from General Motors, which launched the Chevy Volt extended range electric car last year. Toyota has not been a believer in the Volt as a sound business proposition, citing the $42,000 price tag on the vehicle to pay for the battery required to propel the Volt up to 40 miles on an electric charge.

Toyota’s first plug-in arrives in 2012, as a Prius. But the automaker has been open about having much more faith in its existing hybrid products and strategy: Introducing a family of Prius vehicles, adding one a size smaller and one a size larger than the current hatchback sedan.

Though Toyota is pursuing electric vehicles (EVs), and has even purchased a stake in luxury EV maker Tesla, the company is committed to hybrids as the mainstay of its green strategy. Pushing cars to full electric means adding bigger batteries, which adds weight. A plug-in system adds 400 pounds to a car, or the equivalent of two adult men sitting in your back seat during a commute. A heavier car means bigger brakes, springs and safety systems, adding more weight. And the heavier the car, the less fuel efficient it is. It becomes a case of diminishing returns.

The Prius dominates hybrid vehicle sales worldwide, but there is pressure from governments and environmental groups to keep pushing on EVs or at least plug-ins, like the Volt and Prius plug-in. Consumers are reacting with some hesitation to EVs, though, because of price, as well as performance and behavior of EVs in real world driving.

What are those real world differences?

The Volt stays in electric mode on 100% battery power until the battery is depleted. Then, a gas-powered motor kicks on to drive power through the battery to power the car, though the battery does not recharge itself during this period like a laptop computer or cell-phone. The fact that the car is not 100% dependent on a battery eliminates the anxiety many consumers feel when driving an EV that they will run out of juice and be stranded. Depending on driving conditions, a driver is expected to get up to 40 miles on a charge before the gas engine kicks on.

Traditional hybrid cars like the Prius or Ford Fusion Hybrid need to be babied a bit when accelerating, because pushing too hard on the gas pedal throws them out of battery mode and into gas-sucking mode.

The Nissan Leaf EV, which went on sale last Fall is a 100% electric car with a driving range of about 80 miles depending on how aggressively the driver is working the accelerator.

The plug-in Prius would drive on battery power for a while, though not for long — just 13 miles on electric mode – and that’s in perfect conditions. When it’s cold outside, the plug-in sometimes acts just like a regular old hybrid without running in full electric mode at all.

Toyota isn’t even sure how many plug-in vehicles it wants to sell in the U.S. The range could be anywhere from 5,000 to 40,000. The volume will affect how much the company will charge – fewer vehicles means higher prices.

Bottom Line: Prius Not Going 100% Plug-in

For now, Toyota seems to be betting that plug-in technology is a fad that will eventually fade away. The Japanese news agency report that reported that all Prius vehicles would be sold as “plug-in” in the U.S. was incorrect, according to Toyota officials.

Courtesy of autos.aol.com