(April 7, 2011) AMSTERDAM — Ford today announced the new Focus ECOnetic, debuting next week at the Amsterdam Motor Show. It will establish a new industry benchmark for fuel efficiency in the popular compact class.

The ECOnetic, which is propelled by a 1.6-liter four-cylinder diesel engine, is rated at 80 mpg and can go nearly 1,000 miles on a single tank of diesel fuel. Unfortunately, the car, which will go on sale early next year, will not be sold in the United States. It will be introduced in Europe.

(April 7, 2011) TORRANCE, Calif. — Toyota has announced the one-millionth sale of the ground-breaking Toyota Prius, the world’s first mass-produced hybrid gas-electric vehicle, in the United States. The Prius first came to North America in 2000 as a radically different form of transportation.

It is the third milestone for Toyota’s hybrid lineup in the last six months that started with the announcement of worldwide Toyota Prius sales topping two million in October 2010 and overall global Toyota hybrid sales passing three million last month.

(April 7, 2011) DEARBORN, Mich. — Fuel economy improvements can result from reducing friction and drag — not only within engines and transmissions, but as air flows over and around the vehicle as it efficiently skims through the atmosphere at cruising speeds.

(April 6, 2011) — Microsoft and Toyota today announced they have forged a strategic partnership and plan to build a global platform to develop next-generation telematics services using the Windows Azure platform.

The automaker expects that the new telematics will debut on Toyota electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles next year.