Version: 2008
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CNET SLIDE SHOW: Chicago Auto Show
Chicago Auto Show: hybrids on parade
The Chicago Auto Show is physically the largest auto show in the United States, with 1.2 million square feet of exhibit space. The show floor was home to 48 auto manufacturers showing off their latest productions and concept-car technology. But we were mostly impressed by the way this show put the range of hybrid-car choices into perspective.


Slide 7 of 11
21st-century transmission
The Prius's drivetrain is so sophisticated that Toyota won't let you shift it yourself. The car comes with only a computer-controlled continuously variable transmission, or CVT, actuated via this rather dainty dash-mounted shifter. A CVT is a transmission with an infinite number of ratios, rather than the four, five, or six set ratios of a conventional transmission. That helps the Prius to keep its gas engine in the sweet spot of 3,000rpm to 5,000rpm at all times.

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