Cars, Fuel-efficient | featured news

General Motors says its U.S. sales rose 18 percent in August as fuel-efficient vehicles helped offset economic uncertainty and bad weather. Other automakers may not fare as well.

The EPA's tests that measure a vehicle's fuel economy are outdated. They're conducted with professional drivers inside of laboratories using better-performing fuel and with air conditioning turned off for most of the ride.

Nissan's new electric car, the Leaf, will get the equivalent of 99 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving, based on government testing.

In the latest blow to Toyota Motor Corp, safety regulators opened a formal probe into problems with the brakes of the Prius, the world's top-selling hybrid and a vehicle that has powered the automaker's reputation for fuel-efficiency.

The government is poised to disclose that Ford, Tesla and Nissan will be among the first beneficiaries of a $25 billion loan program to help develop fuel-efficient vehicles.

President Barack Obama is asking consumers to put their money -- up to $1,300 per new vehicle by 2016 -- behind his plan for higher efficiency standards for cars and trucks and tougher rules on their greenhouse gas emissions.