News Round-up: Prius family ... Nissan goes electric & more

It's been a busy week in the world of hybrid and alt fuel vehicles. Here's the latest update on what's been happening:

Prius is in the Family Way - Yep, seems that Toyota is making plans to hatch a whole line of Prius-badged products. Apparently the Prius name is more powerful with consumers than Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive (think Highlander Hybrid and Camry Hybrid). Thus, Prius will be the moniker that adorns all future vehicles that are offered only as hybrids, according to a recent news release from Automotive News. First up: a new Prius five-door by 2010. No timeline has been released for the others mentioned: a Prius two-door coupe, a Prius wagon or possibly even a Prius commuter car.

Nissan Goes Electric - by 2010, that is. Nissan recently announced that an all-electric vehicle will hit the streets of the US and Japan, with plans to mass-market it worldwide by 2012. According to the US Department of Energy's newsletter, this marks the first plans from a major automaker to mass-market an all-electric vehicle.

GM Aims to Save - Last week Scott was one of the lucky ones to drive the HCCI-enabled Saturn Aura. Say what? That's HCCI for Homogenous Charge Compression Ignition and it equals fuel savings. It's intriguing stuff since it involves igniting a gasoline-air mixture using compression (yes, like a diesel engine)--instead of a traditional spark. By burning the fuel evenly in the combustion chamber, the engine operates at a lower temperature. Result: 15 percent increase in fuel economy. Stay tuned for more pics and details on Scott's take.

Shifting into Gear - Ford is using more efficient six-speed automatic transmissions for--yes, you guessed it--better fuel economy. With plans to double the number of six-speed transmissions in cars and trucks by the end of next year, folks will be able to count on saving as much as 6 percent, compared to a four- or five-speed.

photo © Adrian Gable