2011 Honda Cr-z Ex Hatchback 2-door 1.5l on 2040-cars

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Baby Ford Ranger and electrified Dodge Challenger? | Autoblog Podcast #569

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Green Editor John Beltz Snyder. They address a couple interesting news topics, including an upcoming Ford pickup that's smaller than the Ranger, as well as a future electrified Dodge Challenger. They also opine about the new Honda Urban EV prototype that's scheduled to debut at the Geneva Motor Show. Then they talk about the cars they've been driving, including the new Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid, Volvo V60 and Audi A6. Finally, they take a question from Autoblog's recent Reddit AMA to help spend a Redditor's money. Autoblog Podcast #569 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Ford Focus-based pickup Electrified Dodge Challenger Honda Urban EV Cars we've been driving 2019 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid 2019 Volvo V60 2019 Audi A6 Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: Green Podcasts Audi Dodge Ford Honda Subaru Volvo Truck Coupe Crossover Hatchback Wagon Electric Hybrid Performance

Zipcar, Honda announce OneWay carsharing with 2015 Fit

Zipcar has been around for over a dozen years, and now shares more than 10,000 cars on a short-term basis with 850,000 members around the world. But there's been one thing missing from the carsharing giant's quiver of options: the one-way rental. That changes today. For a select few in Boston, anyway. OneWay's Boston launch is so soft that Zipcar says it's not even sure how much it will charge. Zipcar has announced a new one-way carsharing option called (annoyingly) ONE>WAY. This new program soft launches in Boston today, and it's so soft that Zipcar says it's not even sure how much it will charge drivers who use the new service. What we do know is that OneWay exclusively uses the 2015 Honda Fit and will allow drivers to rent by the half hour as they pick up and drop off in two different locations. The standard Zipcar model requires the cars to be brought back to the original location and has a one-hour minimum. At least one membership fee will cover both standard Zipcar and Zipcar OneWay. The introduction of shorter-term, one-way rental may sound a bit like Car2go, the successful carsharing program started by Daimler. Zipcar representatives told AutoblogGreen that it did develop OneWay in response to member demand and that there are two main differences between the two carsharing services. First, since OneWay still uses the traditional reserved-for-Zipcar parking spot method (new ones will be established for OneWay), there will always be a guaranteed space when you arrive at your destination. Second, the Fit has a lot roomier than the Smart ForTwo used by Car2go. To see this point in action, check out the four happy hipsters in Zipcar's new ad for OneWay below. There are currently other Fits in Zipcar fleets in other cities, but the specially branded vehicles in the Boston trial program will need to be used with the OneWay vehicles. That means, for now at least, that users will specify a pick-up and drop-off location before renting the vehicle, said Kaye Ceille, the president of Zipcar. The 30-minute minimum might also someday be changed, depending on user feedback. There's a lot up in the air right now, but Zipcar did say that despite the fact that OneWay is intended for short trips and has reserved parking, the Fit EV will not be involved. That car simply doesn't offer the cargo flexibility that the standard Fit does and some of the reserved parking spots will be on the street, where putting in a charging station isn't feasible.

Honda FCEV could be hiding EV, PHEV surprises in Tokyo

Honda has already detailed which vehicles it will bring to the Tokyo Motor Show next week, but we think there's something the automaker isn't telling us. We've been thinking about the company's various announcements regarding future powertrain plans, and we now think that the FCEV is going to house more than just a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain at some point down the road. We think that the upcoming pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles that Honda has talked about - but still hasn't shown hide nor hair of - will actually be based on the FCEV. The FCEV that's coming to Tokyo (pictured) has been toned down from the fanciful concepts that we saw in LA in 2013 (below) and 2014 and there's no reason why Honda couldn't be the first to offer one car with a truly wide variety of powertrains. It's already said that electric vehicles are a core technology, and while many automakers talk about how both plug-in and hydrogen cars are electric at heart, Honda could just be the first to prove it in a big way. Now, all that Honda has officially confirmed is that it will introduce the new electrified vehicles by 2018. Ryan Harty, Honda's manager of environmental business development, told AutoblogGreen earlier this year that, "We want to bring these vehicles [EV and PHEV] to market in significant volume." One way to make that feasible would be repurpose the FCEV to use a battery or a PHEV powertrain. We've got no proof of any of this, of course, but we think the logic makes sense. In any case, we're plenty excited to see what Honda reveals at the show. There is still plenty of time for the company's future plans to shift – the hydrogen car might not arrive until June of 2017, after all, with the other two due in 2018 – but we could learn a lot of specifics in Tokyo next week.