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Nissan, following the success of the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight, will introduce in 2010 its first electric vehicle. Infiniti, the Nissan luxury brand, will soon follow with a hybrid with an in-house drivetrain. The electric and hybrid will be powered by lithium ion batteries made vis a partnership with NEC of Japan.
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In its yearly
report on automobile reliability, Consumer Reports has released its
2009 model calculations. Asian automakers dominated the top results,
Chrysler suffered a sharp decline and Ford overshadowed its Detroit
rivals. Toyota’s Scion xD was named as the most reliable car. 
The Versa is Nissan's global small car and the least expensive car sold in the United States. But the cheap thing is a bad rap. And getting what one pays for? It ain't true. With a base price of $10,000 and change, the Versa base model has a lot to offer — whether it's in the U.S. and Canada, or in Mexico, Japan, China and several other countries where it's called the Tiida.
The Honda Civic is among the most common vehicles on the road. With its sibling the Accord, it's an automotive industry version of a comfortable recliner in your living room. It's not fancy, but you know what you're getting and you like it. With the 2009, Honda Civic Si, however, what ever staid, plain or other non-sexy thoughts you might have about the Honda Civic, forget them. The refreshed Civic Si, first introduced in 2006, has morphed into a sports car.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has unveiled its electric vehicle, i-MiEV, but it's twice as expensive as the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight. Still, Mitsubishi, Japan's fourth-largest auto manufacturer, believes the i-MiEV will increasingly intensify global competition in the electric vehicle market.
What do you get when you take the new generation Prius chassis (2010) and mate it with the hybrid drive train from the Toyota Camry, and sprinkle on a heaping helping of Lexus luxury and new technology?
The original version of the Honda Insight, sold between 2000 and 2006, was odd-looking. But as the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle available in the United States, its unique status and strange appearance made it cool. When the Insight departed, the Toyota Prius took over hybrid dominance, and Honda hasn't been happy since. The Insight returned in 2009 as a 2010 model and Honda is ready to go head-to-head with the Prius by offering its new base model Insight for less than $20,000. It's the country's least expense hybrid.
TheWeeklyDriver
