Mild improvements in a gas hog, intended no doubt to greenwash people in to buying more of them for the "I'm a bubba!" factor.

Not much to brag about, as the fuel economy is far below the Prius and Insight (that latter of which even costs less than the 200). Chrysler is lagging far behind.

Interesting concept, but seems a little bit on the flashy side. Why not just have PV on the roof and be done with it? And the simulation shows the car moving under the canopy as the sun is passing overhead - how is that accomplished? 8 times as much solar is going to more rapidly wear out the solar panels. This has been discovered in many other PV concentrator trials. Finally, 8 times as much solar insolation hitting the roof would increase the heat load on the car by 8, which could be a summer disaster in most states.

This is the price drop I've been waiting for on the i-MiEV. My 2000 Honda Insight is at the perfect age/wear to transition from, so I'm making the switch.

"America is addicted to oil" -- George W. Bush, State of the Union Speech, 2006

This is even better fuel economy than the Civic Hybrid. I'm sure US manufacturers can do just as well...

As long as it is used by a business with a need to haul heavy material, this is better than the current. Of course, it may also be bought by those who want a big truck predominantly for the image factor. THAT would indeed be pathetic...

"For all practical purposes there is not such thing as grid storage. " https://www.dom.com/about/stations/hydro/bath-county-pumped-storage-station.jsp Cradled in Virginia's rugged Allegheny Mountains, the world's most powerful pumped storage generating station quietly balances the electricity needs of millions of homes and businesses across six states. Installed capacity is 3,003 MW. During operation, the water level fluctuates by over 105 feet (30 m) in the 265-acre (110 ha) upper reservoir and 60 feet (20 m) feet in the 555-acre (220 ha) lower reservoir. Virginia has two other hydro-storage facilities as well.

Bernard wrote; "You are operating under the assumption that the clear air under a vehicle counts as part of the cross-sectional area." No, I'm not, ground clearance does not enter into cross-sectional area assessment. It's easy to see that SUVs, on average, have a greater cross sectional area than automobiles. "aggressive-looking designs don't weigh more" I have no idea where this thought of your came from, I certainly made no such claim, nor would do so.

EPA 28 mpg/34 mpg/31 mpg is quite good for such a vehicle. This would be the better direction for those 'requiring' extra traction in snow (though European drivers in the Alps were quite deft with FWD vehicles for many years.)

Bernard said: "A "normal" wagon wouldn't necessarily be much lighter, or aerodynamic." A wagon is going to have a smaller cross sectional area, which when using the same aerodynamic design techniques, will indeed lower the total aerodynamic drag. The SUV also requires more materials, hence less materials with the same design approach will indeed result in a lighter vehicle. People who choose to live outside areas with managed roads feel justified in impacting our nation's security, though it's unclear how many Americans would agree their excess consumption of oil it truly justified. Freedom does not necessarily mean having one's whims satiated at the expense of their fellow countrymen. http://secureenergy.org/

Not bad economy for an SUV, though it is still an SUV.

Kit P. still struggles for relevance...

Unnecessary. As DaveD points out, many luxury cars are very quiet as well - will those also have noise added to them? Cyclists don't make noise, and pedestrians have to keep them in mind as well, so this doesn't make sense.

Nuclear plants require significant security measures and teams. Having many more plants means many more targets, each of which needs roughly the same amount of protection that a 'regular' nuclear plant needs.

Ford has certainly given themselves a black eye. Looking at fueleconomy.gov, even the responders there give an average economy rating of 38.4 mpg, with the Prius and Prius V coming much closer to their estimates.

Kit P. seems to think that biking is not as good as walking, though fails to say why he holds that belief, and seems to think biking is the equivalent to driving a car. Yes, he must have just started waking up from a nap...

Wind and solar can indeed replace our unsustainable fossil-fuel addiction, as detailed in this model from the University of Delaware; http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378775312014759 "At 2030 technology costs and with excess electricity displacing natural gas, we find that the electric system can be powered 90%-99.9% of hours entirely on renewable electricity, at costs comparable to today" s d but only if we optimize the mix of generation and storage technologies.

Indeed, the politicians are dependent upon their energy company masters, so leadership on this issue will have to come from other areas. I live in a semi rural area, though bike to a commuter bus stop where I board a bus that takes me to within 5 miles from my office, biking the rest of the way in. There are any number of ways that we can significantly reduce our consumption of petroleum (carpooling, vanpooling, mass transit, cycling, telecommuting, and myriad combinations of these).

It's not going to be throttle jockeys who are buying this, so acceleration won't by and large be an issue. And that's what acceleration lanes are for, as long as that's what people use them for.

Looks like a great addition to the field of affordable EVs, and one that will be added to my candidate new car list.

There are already efficiency feedback mechanisms in place on most hybrids, such as the Prius (instantaneous, near term, long term), Escape (more 'leaves' for better driving), etc. Even my 2000 Honda Insight has instantaneous, mid term (odom A), long term (odom B), and lifetime.

An engine with many different possible uses - looking forward to many of the applications noted by others above.

NEDC fuel consumption is... 87 mpg US equivalent Along with the other performance specs noted in the article, there are obviously no engineers with feet up on the desks at Mercedes.

Yes, the A2 is an excellent platform for other configurations, as mahonj notes. I also would like to see a 1.5L D in a Prius (our 2005 has more than enough power with the 1.8L G).