June 2009
How's This for Energy Policy?
By Bill Visnic June 30, 2009Portugal said today it is preparing to install some 1,300 electric-vehicle recharging stations in the next two years as the country moves aggressively to gain energy independence. The initiative's first phase encompasses installation of charging stations in 21 of the country's major cities and most densely populated and trafficked rural areas, reported the Associated Press. The stations will be located in parking areas, shopping malls and gas stations. Portugal has almost no significant internal energy sources such as coal or petroleum, yet it says it now has renewable-energy sources to supply 43 percent of its electrical demand. With the more
Consumer Reports Rips Honda Insight for Ride Quality, Handling, Acceleration, Etc.
By Scott Doggett June 30, 2009Magazine says hybrid is the most disappointing Honda it has tested "in a long time." By Scott Doggett, Contributor The new Honda Insight posted a lackluster "Good" overall road-test score in Consumer Reports' testing for the August issue, and fell short in ride quality, handling, interior noise, acceleration, rear-seat access and visibility. "The Insight is the most disappointing Honda Consumer Reports has tested in a long time," said David Champion, senior director of CR's Auto Test Center. "The Insight is a noisy, stiff-riding car with clumsy handling that is nothing like the Fit on which it is based. Also, Electronic more
Magna Deal for GM's Euro Operations Souring?
By Bill Visnic June 30, 2009Although it has for some time enjoyed a preferred-bidder status to buy Adam Opel AG and the European operations of General Motors Corp., the grip of Canada's Magna International may be slipping. The Financial Times reports GM is weighing a restructured offer from Belgian holding company RHJ International after detailed negotiations with Magna and its consortium partners became snarled by new conditions. The Magna-led consortium includes Russia's second-largest automaker, GAZ, and the FT reports the group's offer to GM includes conditions that allow access to certain GM technologies, some of which GAZ seemingly intends to wield for Opel-based vehicles built more
EPA Grants California Waiver It Needs To Regulate Tailpipe Emissions in the State
By Scott Doggett June 30, 2009UPDATE: Adds details, comments from state officials. By Scott Doggett, Contributor The Obama administration announced today that it will give California the waiver it needs to begin regulating greenhouse-gas emissions from cars and trucks, ending the state's seven-year battle to enforce its own stringent tailpipe standards. The decision comes a little more than a month after President Obama unveiled a suite of new national auto standards that weds federal fuel-economy standards with California's proposed emissions standards, making today's announcement anticlimactic. Still, those federal standards will not take effect until model-year 2012, meaning the waiver will allow California and other more
Acura: "Some" 2010 MDX Models Will Qualify for Purchase With Clunker Vouchers
By John O'Dell June 30, 2009Revamped SUV Apparently Would Boast 23% a 6 % Fuel Economy Hike, No Word on How (Note: We are red-faced with embarrassment. Acura would only have to boost MDX fuel economy by 1 mile per gallon, to 18 mpg, not 22 mpg, to qualify for the program. That's because the MDX is a light truck, not a car, and it means a 6 percent increase, not 23 percent.It also means it would be a lot easier to accomplish and wouldn't require much more than a 6-speed transmission and some weight reduction and aerodynamic tweaks to achieve. We've edited this article more
Automakers Hopeful for Some Sales Rebound in June
By Bill Visnic June 30, 2009The industry remains cautiously optimistic June vehicle sales in the U.S. will hit a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) of 10 million units for the first time in 2009, a milestone analysts think may indicate the deep freeze in auto sales is at least beginning to thaw. Automakers will report June sales on Wednesday, and Ford Motor Co. chief sales analyst George Pipas told reporters the company believes total industry sales will see less than a 30 percent decline (compared with the same period last year) for the first time since early last fall. Ford is confident enough in an more
General Motors Breaks Off JV With Toyota; GM-Badged Prius Possibly in the Works
By Scott Doggett June 30, 2009General Motors has announced its intention to abandon its 25-year-old California joint venture with Toyota -- a move the Japanese automaker said would add to its own financial woes -- and Bloomberg has reported that Toyota may produce a hybrid for GM. Only two weeks ago, Bloomberg reported that GM and Toyota were considering possibly of building Prius hybrids together at an existing plant in Fremont, California. But in a statement released Monday, GM said it will place its 50 percent ownership stake in New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. -- or NUMMI, the GM-Toyota joint venture that consists chiefly more
Chrysler Reportedly To Build and Sell Four Versions of Fuel-Efficient Fiat 500 in U.S.
By Scott Doggett June 29, 2009Four versions of the Fiat 500, a fuel-efficient, low-emissions subcompact car that's been a bestseller in Europe for years, will be coming to the U.S. as early as 2011, according to Automotive News (subscription required). Often compared in style and character to the Mini Cooper, the Fiat 500 will be the first of the Italian automaker's modern offerings to reach the New World and it will be built at one of Chrysler's own U.S. plants, possibly the one in Belvidere, Illinois, not in Mexico, as had been speculated, the News reported. In the wake of Fiat's becoming a 20 more
GM Out in Joint-Venture Plant With Toyota
By Bill Visnic June 29, 2009By Bill Visnic The status of the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. General Motors Corp.-Toyota Motor Corp. manufacturing joint-venture assembly plant in Fremont, California, is decided: GM is out. Speculation about GM's involvement in the NUMMI facility -- opened in 1984 -- began immediately after GM's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on June 1. The two companies currently make individually badged versions of the Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe at the NUMMI site; Toyota also makes versions of the Tacoma pickup. GM announced today its ownership in NUMMI will go along with the company's discarded liabilities in the "old" GM it more
Suzuki CEO Denies Reports That Carmaker Might Produce Super-Small Cars for VW
By Scott Doggett June 30, 2009Less than a week after Reuters reported that Suzuki Motor Corp. was in talks with Volkswagen about building ultra-small cars for the German automaker, the news agency reported today that Suzuki CEO Osamu Suzuki had denied having spoken with anyone at VW about anything recently. Reuters reported last week that a source familiar with the matter had said that Volkswagen was exploring a deal to cooperate with Suzuki to boost VW's presence in the ultra-small-cars market. At about the same time, a German magazine reported that VW could secure such a deal by taking a 10 percent stake in Suzuki. more