June 2010
Chrysler Eyeing Natural Gas As Interim Green Stragegy
By John O'Dell June 30, 2010Back in November, Chrysler Powertrain chief Paolo Ferrero said that natural gas engines could begin playing a role in Chrysler's drive to improve its overall fleet fuel economy. Now the former Fiat executive - who changed jobs when Fiat took control of the U.S.automaker as part of Chrysler's bankruptcy reorganization - is beginning the push that likely will see quite a few of Chrysler's vehicles being offered with CNG and LPG options within a few years. Company executives see the clean, relatively inexpensive fuel as a way to help Chrysler remain competitive in the green arena as competitors bring out electric-drive more
Virginia's Edison2 Is Last Team Standing in Progressive X Prize's Mainstream Heat
By Scott Doggett June 30, 2010When it comes to the biggest purse in the Progressive Automotive X Prize Contest for super-fuel-efficient prototypes, the Edison2 team (pictured) can only beat itself. The two cars entered by the Virginia-based group of automobile engineers and designers made it past this week's "knockout stage" and are the only two standing in the X Prize's mainstream category after competitor Illuminati Motor Works was bounced from the contest this week. In all, 11 teams entered 13 cars in the mainstream category, whose winner will get half of the $10 million in prizes insurance giant Progressive will be awarding for the more
Judge Approves Sale of Old GM Assembly Plant to PHEV Maker Fisker Automotive
By Scott Doggett June 30, 2010A federal bankruptcy judge has approved the $20 million sale of a former General Motors Corp. plant in Wilmington, Delaware, to California-based plug-in hybrid electric vehicle start-up Fisker Automotive Inc., The Detroit News reported today. ----------GM closed its Boxwood Road manufacturing plant last summer. Fisker plans to use the facility to make plug-in hybrids, employing about 2,000 people.---------- Fisker announced in October its desire to buy the shuttered 3.2-million-square-foot Boxwood Road plant, with the intention of eventually assembling 100,000 vehicles a year there. It plans to start production at the plant in 2012 using a portion of a $529 more
Science Panel Holds First Gathering on Unintended Acceleration Research
By Bill Visnic June 30, 2010One of the few definitive results of the unintended acceleration crisis earlier this year that had Toyota Motor Corp.'s top executives testifying in the nation's capital was a mandate from Congress for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to form an independent scientific panel to study the unintended acceleration phenomenon. In Washington Wednesday, that panel - the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on Electronic Vehicle Controls and Unintended Acceleration - is having its first meeting to tell the public how that's going. more
China OKs Energy-Efficiency Subsidies for 16 Chinese Automakers; More to Come
By Scott Doggett June 30, 2010China has approved fuel-efficiency subsidies for 71 models made by 16 Chinese automakers and joint ventures, and more models will be added to the list, the National Development and Reform Commission said on its website today. These subsidies are in addition to those residents of Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Hefei and Changchun will benefit from - up to 50,000 yuan ($7,320) - if they buy plug-in hybrid cars and up to 60,000 yuan ($8,784) if they buy fully electric cars, as GreenCarAdvisor reported on June 1. The 3,000-yuan ($442) discount per car is intended to help reduce the country's dependency more
GM Says Reports of Big Change to Volt/Ampera Powertrain Not True
By John O'Dell June 30, 2010A number of reports have surfaced in the wake of an Opel Ampera program in London claiming that GM is changing the powertrain setup in the Chevy Volt (right) and its European cousin (below) to permit the on-board internal combustion engine to directly drive the rear wheels under certain conditions. A number of bloggers are running with this - worrying that the Volt powertrain will no longer be a true electric drive system and that it has problems delivering decent high-speed performance - but we've not seen much in the way of comment from GM. So we thought we'd more
GM Bankruptcy: No Used-Car Bargains Either
By Michelle Krebs June 30, 2010A year ago as General Motors was sprinting through bankruptcy proceedings and its future appeared iffy, shoppers were scouring dealership lots for bargains. The conventional wisdom suggsted great deals were to be had from the automaker's new and used vehicle inventories. Turns out, conventional wisdom was wrong: there were no great bargains in either used- or new- GM vehicles. In fact, Edmunds.com's newest analysis shows that the industry, in general, has seen the highest year-over-year used-car prices since at least 2004 and some of the most dramatic examples of those price hikes can be found in the GM stable. more
Used Car Prices Rise to New Heights, Edmunds.com Analysis Shows
By Michelle Krebs June 30, 2010The law of supply and demand is working overtime in the used-car market. Used-car prices have risen to levels not seen since at least 2004 largely due to the tight supply of used cars, Edmunds.com's analysis shows. The average price of a three-year old car is 11.1 percent higher than it was last year - the highest year-over-year increase since Edmunds began keeping records in 2004. Used cars of all ages are about 5.5 percent more expensive than they were last year. Typically, the year-over-year increase is less than 3.5 percent. "It is fashionable to cut corners, essentially, and more
PSA, Mitsubishi to Team on EV Powertrains, Initially for Light Commercial Vehicles
By Scott Doggett June 30, 2010In yet another major automotive tie-up, PSA/Peugeot-Citroen SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. announced today that they have agreed to work together to develop electric vehicle powertrains, initially focusing on light commercial vehicles. The announcement comes less than three months since Mitsubishi finalized the agreement to supply its i-MiEV electric city car to PSA/Peugeot-Citroen for rebadging and sales under those automakers' brand names beginning late this year. Mitsubishi said today that the powertrain deal was aimed at developing a commercial vehicle to be sold by PSA. In an interview earlier this month, PSA/Peugeot-Citroen electric vehicles director Ayoul Grouvel told Automotive more
Cessna Parent and CT&T Plan for More Neighborhood-Electric-Vehicle Sales
By Scott Doggett June 30, 2010By Danny King, Contributor The parent company of Cessna Aircraft this week is introducing its first street-legal low-speed battery-powered car, while South Korea-based CT&T appears to be poised to announce U.S. production plans for its own neighborhood-electric vehicle, signaling that companies are expecting an increase in demand for NEVs within universities and planned communities looking to cut petroleum use. Cessna parent Textron's E-Z-GO unit started selling its 2Five (pictured), which is street legal and can travel as fast as 25 miles per hour on its 48-volt electric motor, the company said today. The two-passenger and four-passenger models, which are more