Are you feeling lucky? Today, as expected, GM announced its investment of $336 million to upgrade its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant for production of the Chevy Volt , bringing GM’s total Volt investment to $700 million. While greats news for Volt fans, you’ll have to be pretty lucky if you want to buy a Volt when it goes on sale in late 2010. According to the DetroitNews…

Even more confusing with plug-in vehicles The Mini E electric vehicle will be rated at 99 mpg according to the EPA’s preliminary methodology, while the Chevy Volt will be rated at 230 mpg. Yet, the Mini E will cost less per month to operate according to Edmunds . Thus, Edmunds believes that operating…

The tire for hybrids The GoodYear Assurance Fuel Max tire will become the standard tire of the 2010 Toyota Prius . Additionally, reports indicate the Assurance will also be the tire of the Chevy Volt .

Limited geographic availability? At the LA Auto Show GM will release its sale’s plans for the Chevy Volt , and it appears the Volt will not be available in all GM markets. Of course, that shouldn’t really come as a surprise, since not all GM dealerships will be initially trained to service the …

Time to bring production to America? Because of yen-dollar rates, it is becoming much more costly for Toyota to export vehicles from Japan to the US. As a result, Toyota is close to a decision on building the Toyota Prius in the U.S., company spokesman Irv Miller said on Toyota’s monthly sales call . Likewise, Miller noted that Prius supplies at …

Nissan’s first next-gen hybrid? Nissan has announced that it will launch a new lithium-powered hybrid in 2011. Other than its 2011 launch date, Nissan is providing few details on the 2012 Infiniti M35 hybrid.

Ford’s Car of the Year? Three hybrid cars have been picked as candidates for the 2010 North American Car of the Year. The Toyota Prius , the Honda Insight and the Ford Fusion hybrid are among the 15 contenders picked by automotive journalists from the US and Canada. The winner will be picked at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show.

Another series hybrid Suzuki is bringing the Swift plug-in hybrid to the Tokyo Auto Show. Not a lot of details have been released so far, other than the fact that the Swift plug-in hybrid is a lithium-powered series hybrid.

Using the wrong oil? Over the years I’ve heard many a story about how the wrong oil, the wrong tire pressure, the wrong tires themselves, or the wrong ethanol blended gasoline caused serious drops in fuel economy for some hybrid owners. What issues or products have killed your hybrid’s fuel

The Freed minivan OK, by American standards, the Honda Freed Minivan isn’t really a minivan, but maybe American standards are in need of changing. Anyway, Honda is now committed to offering the Freed, built on the same platform as the Fit, in a hybrid version around 2011 according to reports , with an EV version to

The CT hybrid? Lexus has released this interesting sketch of what could potentially be its next hybrid vehicle, the CT. Thus far, Toyota has patented the names CT200h, CT300h, and CT400h, so it seems clear a hybrid version of the CT is inevitable. Other reports have suggested the CT will be a hybrid-only vehicle. Details should be finalized by the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Small and safe The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has awarded both the new Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight Top Safety Pick Awards. Small, safe and fuel efficient. Do you really need that huge guzzler to feel safe?