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DETROIT (Bloomberg)--General Electric and Nissan Motor said they signed a two-year research and development agreement to speed infrastructure improvements and spur electric car sales.

GE and Nissan, which has sold more than 7,000 of its Leaf electric vehicles this year, will focus research on how recharging such vehicles affects home and workplace electrical systems and utility power grids.

"Together we'll make a better world possible for the use of electric vehicles," Mark Little, GE's director of global research, said at a press briefing today at Nissan's Farmington Hills, Mich., facility.

The companies agreed … Read more

Despite its association with drive-in hamburgers, Sonic is a good name for a car, conveying a certain modern fury. However, it doesn't come across as the most descriptive name for Chevy's Aveo replacement, as the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic is anything but loud.

As I maneuvered the high-trim Sonic LTZ sedan through San Francisco, the beginning of a preview drive that would traverse coastal highways and mountains, the suspension neatly damped out the rough pavement and potholes of city streets. Its small 1.4-liter turbocharged engine hummed along quietly as the six-speed manual shifter moved smoothly but precisely through its gate. Where was the boom that the Sonic name suggested? … Read more

DETROIT--In a moment sure to foreshadow the future while driving hot-rod purists bitterly insane, the electric car invaded Motor City yesterday.

More than 50 Chevrolet Volts from around the country gathered on the outskirts of Detroit to celebrate their automaker's 100th birthday as part of the Woodward Dream Cruise.

The Cruise is an annual gathering that brings hot rods, custom cars, and elite vehicles from around the world together for various auto-centric events. During downtime, the more than 1 million cars in attendance cruise up and down Woodward Avenue, Motor City's drag-racing mecca and one-time home to countless diners and auto-tuning shops.

But just as more cars are evolving into electrics and hybrids, century-old Chevrolet is evolving the Dream Cruise to celebrate the Volt. The automaker thus dedicated a chunk of its 100th birthday parade of rumbling Corvettes, Camaros, Novas, Impalas, and Bel Airs to the barely audible hum of Volts. … Read more

Chevy announced today that it will bring a diesel variant of its Cruze sedan to the U.S. in 2013. Currently, the base model comes with a 1.8-liter four cylinder, and higher trim versions come with a turbocharged 1.4-liter engine.

A special version, the Cruze Eco, is tuned and lightened to achieve 42 mpg on the highway.

GM currently sells a diesel version of the Cruze in other parts of the world. It uses a turbocharged 2-liter engine producing 161 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque. To bring this diesel engine to the U.S., Chevrolet would most … Read more

Looking through the EPA listings for 2011 model year cars, we picked out the most fuel efficient and compared them by a few different data points. Topping the EPA list is the 2011 Nissan Leaf, with its massive 99 mpg equivalent fuel economy. This number represents the combined city and highway mileage.

The 2011 Chevy Volt is more difficult to place, as the EPA lists two fuel economy figures, 93 mpg equivalent for electric operation and 37 mpg for gasoline operation. A simple average shows 65 mpg, which isn't particularly accurate but will do for this comparison.

That hybrid … Read more

To reduce air pollution, carbon emissions, and gas consumption, New York City is adding electric cars to its vehicle fleet.

 Mayor Michael Bloomberg, along with several other officials, announced that the city purchased 10 electric Ford Transit Connect cargo vans, 10 Navistar eStar electric utility trucks, and 50 Chevrolet Volts that will be shared by several agencies, including the police and fire departments.

"This is the latest and largest-ever addition of electric vehicles to the City's fleet, which is already the largest municipal clean-air vehicle fleet in the nation," said Mayor Bloomberg.

The city believes that … Read more

Law enforcement officers in Forsyth County, Ga., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, are keeping the peace in the 2011 Chevrolet Caprice police patrol vehicle (PPV), General Motors said in a press release.

"With its emphasis on the ergonomically designed seats for officer comfort, and enhanced safety features, the Caprice is a vehicle that is made for police work," said Forsyth County Sheriff Ted Paxton, who chose the Caprice PPV as a replacement vehicle to older fleet cruisers. "We've had our vehicles for a month, and we're sold. This will be a worthwhile investment," Paxton added.… Read more

The Nissan Leaf is, so far, leading the race in the electric-car space.

In June, Nissan sold 1,708 Leaf units in the U.S., easily overshadowing Chevrolet's Volt, which tallied 561 unit sales. In May, Nissan sold 1,142 Leaf units while Chevrolet sold 481 Volts.

Nissan's Leaf is a fully electric vehicle and is capable of driving for about 75 miles on a single charge. The Volt, by contrast, is a hybrid that lasts about 35 miles on a single electric charge before its gas engine kicks in.

Although the Volt is far behind in sales, … Read more

The 2012 Chevy Cruze won't be out for months yet, but Cars.com already gleaned an option sheet from GM that shows the available navigation in the 2LT trim version going from the current hard-drive-based system to one with maps stored in flash memory, specifically an SD card. As such, the price of this option drops to $995.

The navigation change suggests the possibility of the 2012 Cruze getting Chevy's new MyLink system, which combines voice command with Bluetooth phone and MP3 player integration, and adds app integration for Pandora and Stitcher. MyLink has so far only been … Read more