
For the past 30 years, Japan has declared a car of the year, an award given to newly released or redesigned vehicles released from November 1st of the previous year to October 1st of the current year. More than 60 jurors composed of Japanese journalists receive an allocation of votes, and the car with the most votes comes away with the crown.
This year the Toyota Prius narrowly edged out the Honda Insight, continuing the recent trend of environmentally-friendly winners. Other notable winners included the new Volkswagen Golf, which was named the Import Car of the Year, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, which was declared to have the Most Advanced Technology. The Nissan Fairlady Z won the category of Most Fun, and finally the Subaru Legacy took top honors for Best Value.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the award, the Tokyo Motor Show also organized a display of past winners, starting with the Mazda Familia 3-door Hatch Back in 1980-1981 and finishing with last year's winner, the Toyota IQ.

Quick – what's the most fuel efficient car currently for sale in America? Did you guess the Toyota Prius? If so, give yourself a cookie, you're right. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the 2010 version of Toyota's seminal hybrid once again scores the mileage victory with its estimated 51 mpg city and 48 highway.
Second place is grabbed by a set of newcomers to the hybrid arena for the 2010 model year: Ford's Fusion sedan and its sibling from Mercury, the Milan. The Blue Oval's hybrid duo earn EPA ratings of 41 city and 36 highway, making them the most fuel efficient midsize sedans in America.
Rounding out the top 10 vehicle platforms are the Civic Hybrid and Insight from Honda; the Lexus HS 250h; the Nissan Altima Hybrid; the Ford Escape, Mazda Tribute and Mercury Mariner hybrid 'utes; Smart's Fortwo coupe and cabriolet (the only non-hybrids in the top 10); Toyota's Camry Hybrid and finally the Lexus RX 450h.

With every new vehicle introduced by Toyota powered by the automaker's proprietary Hybrid Synergy Drive comes a matching complaint filed by Paice LLC for patent infringement. In the latest case, Paice has filed a grievance with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington alleging that Toyota is violating a patent it holds for powertrains that feature both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor – better known as hybrids.
This isn't the first time these two companies have grappled over hybrid drivetrain patents. Back in 2005, Paice won an initial judgement against Toyota resulting in an order that the automaker to pay Paice monetary damages of $4.3 million, though the judge rejected a request to force Toyota to halt sales of hybrid vehicles in the U.S. at that time. Later, Toyota was ordered to pay royalties equal to a small percentage of every hybrid sold in the States.
This time, Paice is taking a slightly different tack, seeking to get importations of Toyota's super popular Prius hybrid (along with all the rest of the hybrids from Toyota and Lexus) stopped by U.S. Customs right at the docks. According to Bloomberg, it could take about 15 months for the ITC to investigate this case, so there doesn't seem to be any reason to rush out and storm your local Toyota or Lexus dealer for a new hybrid...

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New spy photos of Toyota's next-gen Prius have surfaced on the web, and for the first time we're looking at an actual prototype rather than a mere mule built out of pieces and parts from the current-gen Prius. The new spy shots reveal that the 2010 Prius will indeed retain the current five-door hatchback shape of the current model but will grown in both length and width. While NextAutos is reporting that the Prius will become more powerful with a larger engine (Car and Driver reports that a 1.6L Atkinson four-cylinder will replace the current 1.5L from the old Echo), we're hearing that it will continue to use nickel-metal hydride batteries rather than newer lithium-ion batteries. Toyota is, after all, building a whole new factory in Japan to produce more nickel-metal hydride batteries that should be operational in 2010. Even with the larger engine, the new Prius will get better gas mileage than the current model, and the Prius range is expected to grow at some point with new models like a station wagon and convertible. The next-gen Prius that will kick things off is expected to debut at this year's Detroit Auto Show in January
