Innovative Transmission Promises Improved Range, Performance for Small EVs
By Danny King
San Diego's Fallbrook Technologies Inc. and Team Industries, a developer of drivetrains for small recreational and off-road vehicles, said this week they will work together to design an electric vehicle transmission that the companies claim will perform better and longer than the continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) commonly used in smaller electric vehicles such as golf carts and low-speed neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs).
The two companies will supply the innovative transmission to Georgia-based electric-vehicle maker Tomberlin.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 5:39 AM under Business , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Prius Could Be Built in U.S. -- Someday
Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda attended his first-ever Detroit auto show - his first U.S auto show, for that matter - because he wanted to personally unveil the new variant of the Prius hybrid and announce the establishment of a safety research center in Michigan.
Toyoda said hinted that the automaker would at some point resurrect its plan to build the Prius in the United States when sales grow.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:13 AM under News , Personalities , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Hyundai's Blue Link Targets GM's OnStar on Price
Hyundai introduced its new Blue Link telematics system Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Blue Link offers features similar General Motors' OnStar but will undercut it on price.
Blue Link is Hyundai's first foray into the connected vehicle realm, a segment of services including automated crash response pioneered by OnStar.
No pricing was announced, but Hyundai is expected to undercut OnStar's current service fees, which begin at $199 a year. Sonata and Veloster offer Blue Link first.
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Posted by Paul Seredynski at 4:09 AM under Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Think Taps Former GM-Turnaround Advisor for Operations
By Danny King
Think tapped William Nowicke, a former executive with both Chrysler and General Motors turnaround advisory firm AlixPartners, to help run operations for the Norway-based electric vehicle maker as it builds out its U.S. and European operations and sets up its retail network.
Nowicke, whose title will be vice president of operations, will help the company expand production in both the U.S. and Europe while working with Think partner Itochu at building out Japan operations. He will split time between the U.S. and Think's Oslo headquarters.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:59 AM under Personalities , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
OnStar Expands Beyond GM Cars
OnStar announced at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Tuesday night that it will make its services available outside of the General Motors product line via an aftermarket rearview mirror.
The new rearview mirror will be available in the U.S. this spring and retail for $299.
OnStar President Chris Preuss also announced a new Android-based text-to-speech phone app that will handle text message duties including Facebook updates.
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Posted by Paul Seredynski at 3:46 AM under News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Enters Infotainment Fray with Entune Announcement
Toyota unveiled its new Entune multimedia system today at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Toyota's Entune launch is one of several major automotive tech premiers expected at CES this year; Chrysler and Hyundai also plan to announce new entertainment platforms.
Entune will leverage an owner's mobile phone and data plan to bring a host of entertainment, navigation and information services to Toyota vehicles. The new platform is expected on select Toyota vehicles in late 2011, before moving through the lineup in 2012. Most attractive is the lack of monthly fees, as the Entune service will be provided for three years with each new Toyota.
No specifics were given about Lexus or Scion versions, but a Toyota spokesperson coyly noted: "stay tuned."
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Posted by Paul Seredynski at 4:12 PM under Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Changing Times: Two on 'Best Engines' List Aren't Really Engines
The Ward's Automotive Group says it's embracing the future of vehicle electrification by naming an electric motor and a substantially electric propulsion system to its annual "10 Best Engines" list for 2011.
Neither Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s Leaf, which doesn't use an "engine" at all, or General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet Volt - in which, by design, the driver ideally isn't connected to its small internal-combustion engine - make a case for being vehicles that have much to do with engines. So now the industry's marketers, advertisers and other communicators also might be scrambling to figure out how best to address age-old definitions that are rapidly changing or just don't apply anymore.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:35 PM under Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Green , Hyundai, Kia , In the Media , News , Technology , Volkswagen, Audi | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Renault to Follow Nissan's Lead with iPhone-Targeted iAds
Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. was the first automaker to use Apple's iPhone as an advertising medium for one of its cars - the Leaf electric vehicle - and it must have been judged a success, because Nissan alliance partner Renault SA has just launched an "iAd" application of its own to market the upcoming and wonderfully named Twizy EV city car in Europe.
Renault is targeting the young and upwardly mobile as prime customers for the Twizy, w 
hich looks a bit like the offspring of Cinderella's pumpkin coach and a NASA moon buggy (not too many worries about copyright infringement on female names, either, as was the recent case with Renault and its coming Zoe EV, which brought a lawsuit on behalf of two French girls with the name).
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Posted by John O'Dell at 6:52 PM under Business , Companies , Green , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
NHTSA Proposes Standard Backup Cameras in All Vehicles By 2014
The U.S. Department of Transportation today issued a proposal to make backup cameras standard equipment in all vehicles by 2014.
The new regulation, released through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), is aimed primarily at reducing blind zones behind vehicles that can obscure pedestrians.
Automakers already have an excellent headstart on this technology: Edmunds.com data shows the installation of factory-installed backup camera systems has been growing steadily since 2003, and already is standard or optionally available on 53.8 percent of all passenger vehicles sold in the U.S.
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Posted by Paul Seredynski at 2:05 PM under Business , In the Media , News , Safety , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Daimler New-Business Exec to Lead Tesla Sedan Program
As if its 5 percent stake in the growing electric-vehicle maker Tesla Motors Inc. weren't enough, automotive giant Daimler AG now is sending one of its star execs to serve as program chief for Tesla's second car coming in 2012 - the Model S sport sedan.
Jerome Guilllen, who most recently was director of Daimler's global business innovations unit and the brains behind the company's successful Car2Go car-sharing program has left the company to become program director for Tesla's Model S, scheduled to begin production in 2012.
Guillen's job switch, first reported by the German business publication Manager Magazin (cq) and confirmed to Edmunds.com by Tesla, is being labeled an amicable move supported by Daimler.
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Posted by John O'Dell at 12:45 PM under Business , News , Personalities , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
First Production Chevrolet Volts Roll Off Line Today
It was Job One today for General Motors Co.'s heralded Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, with the first production units rolling off the assembly line at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck plant just outside the city of Detroit.
At a ceremony attended by Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm and numerous high-level GM executives, company CEO Dan Akerson drove onto a stage in the first production Volt, which he said will go directly to the GM Heritage Center just north of the city. The second Volt, with a vehicle identification number ending in BU100002, will be auctioned to benefit the Detroit Public Schools Foundation.
Governor Granholm praised GM's determination in bringing the Volt to market, calling the car the "next generation of mobility."
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:12 AM under Business , Companies , GM , Green , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota to Repair Water Pumps on 650,000 Prius Hybrids Globally
Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it is launching a repair campaign on about 650,000 Prius hybrid cars globally - more than half of those in the U.S. - to repair a water pump that can cause the cars to overheat and lose power.
In the U.S., the campaign covers 378,000 Prius hybrids from model year 2004 through 2007. The remainder was sold in Japan, Europe and Australia.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:24 AM under News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
A First Outside of Japan: Toyota Prius Production Begins in Thailand
Toyota Motor's Gateway assembly plant in Thailand began delivering 2011 Prius models to Thai dealers Monday, marking the first time the popular gas-electric hybrid has been built outside of Japan.
The plant, which also builds Toyota Camry, Camry Hybrid and Corolla models, is expected to turn out 12,000 Priuses a year for sale within the country.
Toyota executives said last month that Priuses built at the Gateway plant would not be exported.
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Posted by John O'Dell at 7:54 AM under Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Nissan Leaf Wins European Car of the Year
The all-electric Nissan Leaf was named the 2011 European Car of the Year.
"The jury acknowledged that the Nissan LEAF is a breakthrough for electric cars. Nissan Leaf is the first EV that can match conventional cars in many respects," said Hakan Matson, president of the European Car of the Year jury.
The jury includes 57 leading motoring journalists from 23 European countries.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:40 AM under Green , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Finalizes Sale of Steering Biz, But Nobody's Talking Price
The sale of one of the former General Motors Corp.'s historic business units is complete today with the purchase of Saginaw, Mich.-based Nexteer Automotive - once the Saginaw Steering Division of GM - by China-based Pacific Century Motors.
Although PCM said in a press release its acquisition of Nexteer marks the single largest investment from China in the global automotive supplier sector, neither it nor GM will disclose the sale amount, leaving speculation as to how much, if any, cash was exchanged in the transfer of the wide-ranging but long fiscally troubled Nexteer operations.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:45 PM under Business , Companies , GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chevrolet Volt: What Might Kill GM's Next Electric Car?
It's all over but the selling.
General Motors has fully and effectively introduced the all-new 2011 Chevrolet Volt to an eager American public (and media). The journalists have all driven it, the Twitter and Facebook pages are in place, and there's even a host of celebrity and high-profile endorsements for the car, ranging from electric vehicle enthusiast Alexandra Paul to President Barack Obama.
There's no denying the awareness and image boost the Volt has provided to GM over the past few weeks, and given the automaker's recent history that alone may justify the car's $1 billion investment.
But the bigger question remains: Will it sell?
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Posted by Karl Brauer at 7:00 AM under Commentary , Featured , GM , Technology | Comments (7) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Stock in Neutral, Tesla Still Soaring
Less than a week after General Motors Co.'s initial public offering last Thursday, the price of GM stock has retreated into a narrow channel with little movement after an initial flurry raised the stock to a high of $35.60 from its offering price of $33.
At mid-afternoon today and with the broad market down considerably over geopolitical concerns, at $33.60 GM stock was trading at just 2 percent over its offering price. The lowest GM has closed since returning to public ownership was $33.41 last Friday, the day after an IPO. Judging from the reported exuberance to buy GM stock prior to the offering and some analysts' quiet contention the stock price could rocket, the stock's price performance so far has not been extraordinary and reinforces the notion the initial offering price was accurately formulated.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:03 AM under Analysis , Business , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Honda Trails Only Toyota in NHTSA Braking Complaints
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration yesterday said it will consider a request for the agency to investigate complaints about braking for 2005-model Honda Accord Hybrid and Civic Hybrid models, while NHTSA data analyzed by Edmunds.com indicates that since 2005, Honda has trailed only Toyota Motor Corp. in the number of braking-related complaints to NHTSA.
The incidence of braking-related complaints to NHTSA appears to be outsized for Honda, because while the company is second only to Toyota in the number of braking-related complaints per 100,000 vehicles, since 2005 Honda has the lowest number of overall complaints per 100,000 vehicles among seven largest-selling automakers.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:00 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Nissan Committed to EVs, But Reaffirms Faith in Pickups, Too
Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. has enjoyed renown for many things, but most recently, its commitment to electric-vehicle technology, as evidenced by the soon-to-be-on-the-road Leaf battery-electric car.
But in an interview with Edmunds.com editors prior to this week's Los Angeles auto show, Carlos Tavares, Nissan Americas chairman, said the company also plans to enhance its presence at the other end of the spectrum: with pickup trucks.
Although Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. seem ready to vacate their once-dominant positions in the midsize-pickup segment, for example, Tavares said Nissan plans to redouble its efforts in all areas of the truck and SUV market.
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Posted by Karl Brauer at 11:17 AM under Business , Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota RAV4 EV: Oh, The Possibilities
Maybe not all the press at the Los Angeles auto show today picked up on it, but some must have gotten the vibe of the potential dawn of a new business-relationship model when Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. president Jim Lentz unveiled the prototype battery-electric RAV4 EV by saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce the second-generation Toyota RAV4 EV - powered by Tesla."
Toyota and Silicon Valley automotive-startup darling Tesla Motors appear to be forming a fast friendship - one that has numerous intriguing possibilities to help begin transforming the century-old automotive manufacturing business model. Toyota has invested $50 million in Tesla and sold the now-famous maker of the Tesla Roadster its Fremont, California manufacturing plant (long the site of joint-venture auto assembly with the former General Motors Corp.).
The Fremont plant has vastly more acreage and latent capacity than low-volume Tesla needs - now, or long into its foreseeable future - leaving open any number of options for either company to produce advanced-technology vehicles and components there. Jointly or separately. Or, as some have speculated, perhaps in cooperation with yet other automakers or suppliers.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 6:31 PM under Analysis , Business , Featured , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Volvo: 800,000 Sales a Year by 2020, Highlighted with Green
By Michelle Krebs and Danny King
Swedish brand Volvo, now owned by China's Geely, has its sights set on selling 800,000 vehicles a year around the globe, with a heavy emphasis on environmentally friendly models, Volvo CEO Stefan Jacoby said in his keynote address to open the Los Angeles Auto Show today.
"If we play our cards right, I can imagine Volvo selling 800,000 cars per year by 2020," said Jacoby, who left Volkswagen of America in summer to head Volvo under Chinese ownership.
Volvo will have to play its cards right. In 2009, Volvo, which was then owned by Ford, sold only 334,808 vehicles worldwide, down nearly 11 percent from the year earlier. In 2010, Volvo sales have begun to recover, with 272,555 vehicles sold during the first three quarters of this year. Jacoby forecasted the full year 2010 to come in at 380,000 vehicles sold.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:00 AM under Commentary , Featured , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Los Angeles Auto Show Heralds Uncertain but Hopeful New Year
There is much hopeful and upbeat as the Los Angeles auto show opens to the media today.
Automakers are making an increasingly credible collective effort to open a new era of advanced, more-efficient and more environmentally friendly personal mobility. There's a growing sense such a transformation might even evolve into profitable business. And, of course, there's the rebound - so far a stunted, jerky one, but 2010 will be kinder to the auto industry than was 2009.
Many automakers, however, still are licking wounds from the protracted recession, the battle for market share is more cutthroat than ever and although General Motors Co. is set to return to public ownership tomorrow and many other makers are unexpectedly healthy, too, the stock market continues its nervous ways, nobody's certain consumers will return to showrooms with gusto next year - nd nobody's certain that when customers do buy, they'll be ready to embrace more-expensive, less-big vehicles when gasoline prices remain as depressed as the economy.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:24 PM under Featured , Ford , GM , Green , In the Media , News , Shows and Events , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chevrolet Volt Awarded Motor Trend Car of the Year
By Michelle Krebs
General Motors got more good news Tuesday just as it it about to begin trading its new stock: its electric-drive Chevrolet Volt was awarded Car of the Year by Motor Trend magazine.
"We expected a science experiment, but this is a moon shot," Motor Trend editors wrote for the January 2011 issue, which presented the award Tuesday morning at the automaker's technical center in Warren, Mich.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:27 AM under GM , In the Media , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Focus Electric To Directly Tangle with Nissan Leaf by Late 2011
Ford Motor Co. Monday released a list of U.S. metro areas in which its all-electric 2011 Focus Electric will be launched, beginning late next year.
By the time Ford begins selling the Focus Electric in 19 cities, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. is scheduled to be mostly complete with its nationwide rollout of the Leaf Electric vehicle, pitting the two closely-sized cars directly against one another in the chase for early-adopter dollars.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 4:12 AM under Ford , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GE's Big Electric Car Order Is Winner on Many Fronts
General Electric Co.'s plan to buy 25,000 electrified vehicles by 2015, with half being General Motors' Chevrolet Volt is one of those win-win-win deals.
It's a high-profile, ringing endorsement for GM precisely a week before it begins selling its new stock on the open market again, and gets the new Volt off to a fast sales start.
GE's order also a boost to the fledgling electrified vehicle industry. And it's a win for GE on a number of fronts.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:25 AM under Featured , GM , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Electric Leaf To Redefine Nissan Brand as Innovator
The Nissan Leaf is more than the first of a number of all-electric vehicles from Nissan; it draws a line in the sand to define the entire brand as an innovator, according to a top company executive.
"Customers didn't know what Nissan stood for," Nissan Americas Chairman Carlos Tavares told the Automotive Press Association in Detroit Monday. The Leaf, however, "will be the flag" for Nissan as a brand recognized for innovation, he added.
Indeed, before its recall crisis, Toyota was synonymous with bullet-proof quality; Honda for engineering expertise. That left Nissan's brand image a tad fuzzy, causing consumers to wonder -- if they gave Nissan a thought at all -- why buy one?
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:50 AM under Commentary , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Government to Propose Fuel Standards for Big Trucks
The federal government is to announce Monday the first fuel-economy standards for medium- and
heavy-duty trucks as a way to reduce petroleum consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Associated Press is reporting.
The government is seeking to cut fuel consumption and emissions, depending on the vehicle's size, by 10 to 20 percent and would go into effect on vehicles sold starting in the 2014 model year.
Vehicles covered by the new rules would include tractor-trailers, school buses, delivery vans and heavy-duty trucks; also included would be medium- and heavy-duty versions of the Ford F-Series, Chrysler's Ram and General Motors' Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:59 AM under News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
EPA Likely to Adapt Proposed New Fuel-Economy Window Stickers
At a public meeting this week in Chicage to take input regarding its intent to revise the fuel-economy labeling on new-vehicle window stickers, the Environmental Protection Agency said it's likely the look of the final product will differ from the early versions the agency unveiled earlier this year.
And the dialogue continues regarding one particular aspect: whether the new fuel-economy label should include a letter "grade" from "A" to "D" to give consumers a simple, at-a-glance method for evaluating the fuel efficiency of a particular model under consideration. Although most automakers and other industry interests reportedly oppose this methodology for being too simplistic an approach, a representative for Hyundai Motor America Inc. said the company might support a letter-grade rating - but only with key modifications.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:50 AM under Green , Hyundai, Kia , News , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Latest Controversy Aside, Chevy Volt a Shockingly Satisfying Drive
It all seemed so far in the future when then-General Motors Corp. unveiled the Chevrolet Volt concept car at the 2007 Detroit auto show.
That future - with sketchy promises for a car that appeared improbable, relying on crucial innovations that didn't exist - is here, nearly four years later, with the media driving Volts on the road this week and production-ready copies scheduled to begin coming off the company's Detroit Hamtramck assembly line November 1.
General Motors has proved it can make the plug-in hybrid Volt a reality, yet for all its inventions, patents and innovations, fundamental market-acceptance questions linger: will people connect with this new-technology car - and pay rather substantial money to try it?
And will there be enough acceptance for GM to, ahem, profitably sell a car whose main claim to fame is that it can travel 40 miles or so on battery power?
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:06 AM under Companies , Featured , GM , In the Media , News , Technology | Comments (8) | digg this | del.icio.us
Volkswagen Covers Its Bets with First Foray into Hybrids
European automakers have balked at introducing hybrid-electric vehicles, arguing vehemently - and maybe rightly -- that diesels, so popular here in Europe, do the best job of boosting fuel economy and reducing CO2 emissions.
But Volkswagen, Europe's largest automaker, recognizes it can resist no longer. It is launching its first-ever hybrid powertrain on the second-generation 2011 Volkswagen Tourareg SUV, on sale now in Europe and arriving on U.S. shores in November. A Jetta hybrid follows in 2012.
Despite the launch of its first hybrid, one senses Volkswagen is still not a true believer - but at least is going through the motions.
At the introduction of the U.S.-spec 2011 Volkswagen Touareg here in Nice, France, on the eve of the Paris motor show, Volkswagen executives acknowledged that as one of the world's largest automakers with designs on being No. 1, it was obligated to offer every technology, including hybrids, in case a niche turns into more than that.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:30 PM under Green , Technology , Volkswagen, Audi | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Paris Show Opens To Press Today with Extreme, Green Themes
Nobody can say there isn't variety on offer as the Paris motor show kicks off for the press today and tomorrow.
Environmental improvements are the way to go these days, trumping the big-horsepower swillers that used to be relied upon to captivate the press, and while the Paris show definitely is chock-full of green work, there are a few high-performance goodies to remind that it is a major international auto show, after all.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 2:53 PM under Featured , Green , In the Media , Shows and Events , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds.com Editor Named to National Research Council Committee
John O'Dell, editor of Edmunds.com's Green Car Advisor blog, has been appointed to a prestigious panel reporting to the U.S. Congress about the future of advanced-technology vehicles and alternative fuels.
O'Dell was confirmed this week to be a member of the National Research Council's Committee on Transitions to Alternative Vehicles and Fuels, a group impaneled to prepare a report to Congress and the public on the estimated of costs, benefits, timing, and policy and R&D needs of the various light-duty vehicle and transportation fuels options for reducing petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. through 2050.
O'Dell was the founding editor of Green Car Advisor went the site went live in 2007.
The National Research Council is part of the National Academies of Science and conducts all manner of research for various public endeavors, including a currently ongoing study of vehicle unintended acceleration.
The Committee on Transitions to Alternative Vehicles and Fuels study was mandated by Congress and the first meeting is in Washington, D.C. Oct 21-22. The committee's 2-year appointment runs to 2012.
Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:35 AM under Green , In the Media , Personalities , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM May Be Cozying to Diesel, But Market's Still Inconclusive
It might have been diesel's big day when General Motors Co. vice chairman and product-development boss Tom Stephens remarked at an industry conference this week that GM will sell a diesel-powered sedan in the U.S.
But there was the fact there currently isn't a definitive yes-or-no for when a GM diesel car hits the streets. "We ought to have something out there," is all Stephens told Ward's, although he did vaguely confirm, "That one (a diesel-powered car) is in our plans."
Even prior to the recession and resultant auto-industry downturn, GM had not been upbeat about diesels - even for its light-duty pickups, much less passenger cars. But now, Stephens intimated that GM's increasing use of global architectures would make selling a diesel-engined passenger-car in the U.S. an easy enough thing to do, considering virtually every car GM sells in Europe has a diesel-engine option.
Curiously, though, Stephens lobbed off the decision, of all places, to GM's marketing department - saying that the company's marketers will have the final car on which U.S.-spec GM model might get a diesel. And when.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:29 PM under Analysis , Business , Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
BMW to Supply Engines to Saab
A report from Europe today says newly revived Saab Automobile and BMW AG plan to announce a deal prior to this week's Paris motor show for Saab to purchase BMW engines for a variety of new Saab models.
A Bloomberg story today said Saab will first purchase an all-new BMW engine for the upcoming Saab 9-3, a new generation of the company's critical entry-level sedan targeted for launch in 2012. The two companies reportedly will announce the agreement on Wednesday, before the Paris show kicks off. Neither BMW or Saab would comment, but a statement from Spyker Cars NV, owner of Saab, confirmed the talks.
It apparently is not yet known if the new engine BMW will supply to Saab is a 4- or 6-cylinder design. It indeed would be significant if BMW were to allow access to its signature inline 6-cylinder engine layout, a key technical feature that has been an important component of BMW's automotive brand since the origins of its first production cars in the early 1930s.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:03 AM under Companies , In the Media , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Distracted Driving Summit: 'Create a National Culture of Safety'
Although a panel that included a technology researcher and several policymakers said at today's National Distracted Driving Summit that technology can, in effect, be an answer to America's growing distracted-driving dilemma, perhaps the most sustainable solution was offered by a senior executive for a large trucking corporation: the nation needs to approach paying attention while driving as a moral obligation, establishing what a new "national culture of safety."
The nation's second annual distracted-driving summit had an afternoon filled with suggestions on how to "combat" the increase of distracted driving - and the proliferation of electronic devices and onboard features and content that seem to encourage it - but in the end, the message came down to this: it's our own behavior that has to be modified. The technology of connectivity is not going to go away, so the temptation to use it while driving is what has to be addressed.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 2:43 PM under Featured , Safety , Shows and Events , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Transportation Secretary Says Distracted Driving Crackdown 'Must Go Further'
Acknowledging today at the U.S. Department of Transportation's second annual distracted-driving summit that distracted driving is as serious a public-health threat as drunk driving, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood also said regulators and law-enforcement officials are "not without hope" in addressing what many believe has become an epidemic of reckless behavior by American drivers of all stripe.
In an address to open today's summit in Washington, D.C., LaHood pointed to the effective multidisciplinary campaigns such as "Click It or Ticket," to increase seatbelt use and a variety of initiatives to curb drunk driving as evidence the public is willing to embrace limits on personal freedoms of those operating moving vehicles.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:27 AM under Featured , Safety , Shows and Events , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Automakers Need to Download the Mood of Feds' Latest Distracted-Driving Summit
Automakers increasingly tout advances in onboard connectivity and infotainment systems as competitive advantages, but they'll be wise to take note of the atmosphere surrounding the issue of distracted driving at the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Distracted Driving Summit in Washington, D.C. tomorrow.
Concern is beginning to accelerate regarding the amount of outside information appropriate to bring into the driving environment and with the federal government directing escalating interest - as well as escalating budget - at the controversy, the angle of attack could change from mostly dialogue-driven to regulatory.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 9:57 AM under Companies , Featured , News , Safety , Shows and Events , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Investment Bank on EV Maker Tesla: Buy
Virtually overlooked by the automotive press yesterday was an analysis by a respected investment bank that predicts the value of shares in Tesla Motors, the Palo Alto, Calif., maker of battery-electric cars that just went public in June, will increase by 50 percent over the next 12 months.
In its initial report on Tesla, which had an initial public offering price of $17 a share in June and is currently trading at around $20, Dougherty & Company LLC gave the Silicon Valley automaker a strong "buy" rating and a 12-month price target of $30 per share.
"Simply put, we believe that Tesla can deliver eco-friendly driving with very few compromises," the company said in the 18-page report. "In fact, we believe that the Model S can be so good that buyer attitudes begin to shift from 'Why would I want an electric car' to 'Why would I want a gas-powered car?'"
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Posted by Scott Doggett at 11:42 AM under Business , Companies , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
American Tastes Take Back Seat as Lux Makers Look East for Growth
Front-wheel drive and 4-cylinder engines didn't form the American vision of what BMW is all about.
But increasingly, BMW - and its luxury-market rivals - figure U.S. buyers are going to have to live with some new rules about what defines those brands as automakers start to cater to different tastes, particularly those in China.
A front-drive BMW is heresy to U.S. aficionados. But thanks to the recession and a cranked-up effort from prime rival Audi AG to become the No. 1 global luxury brand, there happens to be fewer BMW aficionados to sell to; BMW brand sales in the U.S. plunged 21.1 percent last year (to 196,502 units) and so far in 2010 have recovered only 7.8 percent.
The company already crossed one bridge when it admitted that after a long hiatus, 4-cylinder engines will return to the U.S. market. And if anybody here is similarly troubled by the notion of what smaller, front-drive BMWs say about the brand, tough luck: the perceptions of U.S. buyers just aren't that important anymore.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 9:40 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
Science Panel Continues Examination of Unintended Acceleration
A National Academy of Sciences committee appointed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to research the probable causes of and remedies for a surge in reports and accidents involving unintended acceleration met in Dearborn, MI, Monday for a third information-gathering meeting since the NHTSA was instructed by Congress to form the panel earlier this year.
The latest informational meeting was highlighted by a presentation by Clemson University electronics professor Todd Hubing's research into potential electronic causes for unintended acceleration.
Hubing said that while human error remains the dominant reason for automotive accidents, at least some accidents can be attributed to electronic failures. And, Hubing added, as more control of the vehicle is given over to advanced active and passive control systems, the proportion of accidents caused by electronic problems can be expected to increase.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:00 AM under Companies , Featured , In the Media , Safety , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Crummy Economy Strengthens Calls to Return to Manufacturing Self-Sufficiency
Although the recession hasn't been kind to most manufacturers, there may be a silver lining: the nation's inability to rebound is providing new ammunition to critics of the U.S.'s manufacturing policies - and now even macroeconomically ignorant politicians may have no choice but to listen.
With the failure to resolutely emerge from the recession, there are almost daily calls to reexamine and reverse the nation's manufacturing strategy of the past several decades, as many new and longtime critics believe the situation validates years' worth of warnings about the dangers of virtually dismantling entire manufacturing sectors such as the steel production and the concordant acceleration of off-shoring all manner of manufacturing jobs.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:43 AM under Commentary , Featured , Technology | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Positive Sign for EV Companies: Charging Pioneer Obtains Financing
It would be pocket change for Detroit's automakers, but electric vehicle charging network pioneer Coulomb Technologies says it has completed a $15 million private equity round and that's good news for the developing EV industry.
Northern California-based Coulomb builds and markets EV charging stations and charger networking software and services designed to link stations and the drivers of plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles.
The $15 million in new investment from a group of green-technology oriented venture capital groups will be used to help speed up development and sales of Coulomb's chargers and its ChargePoint Network.
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Posted by John O'Dell at 4:16 AM under Companies , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Despite Slim-Down, Automakers Still Hung with Too Much Capacity
Auto-industry executives keep talking about how they've trimmed down in order to bulk up profits, but that's only partially true. Many indeed are profitable at today's sharply reduced global sales rates - but they've still got some work to do in cutting the fat from their manufacturing empires.
The latest data from Oliver Wyman's prestigious Harbour Report that tracks the auto industry's manufacturing trends shows that there remains an enormous amount of excess assembly-plant capacity in the U.S. and Europe, despite the fact major automakers such as General Motors Co. Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC have shuttered more than two dozen plants in North America alone since 2000.
Regardless of that seemingly major downsizing, the report indicates that in the northern U.S. and Canada, automakers still are tied to the capacity to manufacture more than 3.5 million more vehicles than they currently need - or another 14 more assembly plants of unnecessary capacity.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 7:54 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Outlines Alt-Fuel, Manufacturing Goals in Environmental Plan
By Danny King
Toyota Motor Corp. is looking to boost 2015 global fleetwide fuel efficiency by 25 percent from 2005 levels by broadening sales of hybrid-electric vehicles and introducing battery-electric vehicle (BEV) and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEV), as the world's largest automaker outlined its fifth so-called "Environmental Action Plan" earlier today.
Toyota will debut its first PHEV by 2012, with a first-year sales goal of more than 10,000 units, while introducing a BEV specifically for city use that same year, the company said. Toyota, whose Prius is the world's best-selling HEV, looks to boost annual hybrid sales to 1 million units while reaching cumulative sales of 5 million units sometime in the early part of this decade.
The automaker outlined this and more as part of its Environmental Action Plan for the five years starting in 2011. Toyota said earlier this month that it's cumulatively sold more than 1 million hybrid vehicles in Japan and about 2.7 million globally. Toyota sold 80,141 Priuses in the U.S. during the first seven months of the year, up 7 percent from the same period in 2009.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:59 PM under Business , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Advantage Volt as Range Anxiety Still Troubles American Drivers?
General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s Leaf battery-electric car both are scheduled to launch in December and there's been plenty of debate about whether the two will compete for buyers.
Many analysts don't believe so, largely because the two cars essentially are different animals: the Leaf has a maximum driving range of about 100 miles, after which its lithium-ion battery pack must be recharged. The Volt's all-electric driving range is approximately 40 miles - but after that, an onboard gasoline engine kicks in to generate electricity for the batteries and extend driving range to 300 miles or more.
Chevrolet has said the Volt's layout is the more appealing and makes the Volt a more viable "only car" because it does not have the limitation of battery-only range. And a new study by the Consumer Electronics Association may give foundation to GM's side of the argument.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:49 PM under Companies , GM , News , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Skeptical of Data From Its Own Black Boxes
When refuting recent claims of drivers citing unintended acceleration in its vehicles, Toyota Motor Corp. often has pointed to evidence gathered by onboard event data recorders, the so-called "black boxes" that became one point of discussion in the Congressional unintended-acceleration investigation earlier this year.
After the Congressional inquiry, Toyota pointed to data recovered from black boxes to repudiate unintended acceleration claims in at least two well-publicized accidents and the company said it was moving to equip more of its vehicles with the devices that typically record a number of vehicle operating parameters for several seconds prior to an accident.
But the Washington Post reports today that in the past, Toyota has itself questioned the validity of information provided by its EDRs.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:29 AM under Business , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Coda Sells California ZEV Credits to Unnamed Maker
By Danny King
Part of the business plan of some small American electric-vehicle makers involves selling zero-emissions-vehicle credits to larger manufacturers.
These credits stem from a vote by California's Air Resources Board (CARB) in 2008 requiring Honda, Toyota, General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. to sell a total of more than 60,000 plug-in hybrid and battery-only models in the state over a three-year period, with fines and possible restrictions accruing for those that don't comply.
Tuesday, Coda Automotive agreed to sell ZEV credits to an unidentified automaker, as the Santa Monica, Calif.-based maker of all-electric cars looks to raise cash while preparing to start selling its first vehicle later this year.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 6:39 PM under Business , Companies , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Honda Owners Shocked by Civic Hybrid's Browned-Out Batteries
Honda Motor Co. Ltd. is following-up a big recall last week for faulty ignition interlocks with another quality hit that may be more potentially damaging to the automaker's dependability reputation: it appears thousands of Honda's Civic Hybrids may be experiencing accelerated deterioration of the car's crucial and expensive nickel-metal hydride battery pack.
Edmunds.com's Green Car Advisor confirmed over the weekend that Honda is offering a software upgrade to owners of 2006-2008 Civic Hybrids that the company said will address numerous recent reports of markedly deteriorating battery performance. In the Civic Hybrid, the nickel-metal hydride batteries power a small electric motor situated between the engine and transmission that augments engine power. The motor also reverses polarity when the car is decelerating to turn kinetic energy into electrical energy that recharges the batteries.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 5:35 AM under Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM-Linked Hybrid Van Start-Up Hires Ex-Tesla Exec
By Danny King
Bright Automotive this week hired ex-Tesla Motors executive Mike Donoughe to run the company's operations, as the Indiana-based company looks to speed up development of its IDEA plug-in hybrid-electric commercial van after General Motors Co. recently agreed to invest in the company.
As executive vice president for vehicle engineering and manufacturing, Donoughe helped Tesla develop its all-electric Roadster, a car that has become the poster vehicle for new-age automotive technology and development. He also worked on cars such as the 2004 Chrysler Pacifica and 2007 Jeep Wrangler as a former executive with Chrysler.
"Mike is a perfect fit for Bright because he understands the rigor required to bring a successful, high-volume truck to market," said Reuben Munger, chairman and CEO of Bright Automotive, in a statement. "And having served in a leadership role at Telsa, he knows how to lead in a young, advanced technology-focused enterprise."
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 9:30 PM under Business , GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Exam Shows Brakes Often Not Used in Toyota UA Incidents
In another development that partially exonerates Toyota Motor Corp. in reported incidents of unintended acceleration, the results of an early study of data from onboard data recorders shows that in the majority of cases, the driver was not applying the brakes while the vehicle purportedly was accelerating of its own accord.
The findings, reached in the initial phase of a study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, showed that in 58 accidents attributed to unintended acceleration, in more than half, 35, the brakes were not applied.
The finding lends more credence to the widely believed explanation that many drivers were mistakenly pressing the accelerator pedal when they were convinced their vehicle was accelerating of its own accord.
The safety agency researchers said in reporting the findings that they had discovered no evidence of electrical malfunctions, including in the electronically controlled throttle, that could be possible causes for unintended acceleration.
At the peak of the recent furor surrounding Toyota and a rash of complaints regarding unintended acceleration, a Toyota recall of millions of accelerator-pedal assemblies that had the potential for the pedal to stick in a full-open or partially-open position led some to believe the pedal and/or electronic throttle system could be causing the problem.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 2:21 PM under News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Turbo Truck May Shove Ford to Top of Light-Pickup Heap
Ford Motor Co. promised its EcoBoost suite of high-tech engine technology would start to spread throughout its lineup, and today announced another significant application for the power- and fuel-efficiency-enhancing EcoBoost V6: the 2011 F-150 pickup.
The turbocharged 3.5-liter EcoBoost joins Ford's snarly 5-liter V8 and a normally aspirated 3.7-liter V6 as new additions to the F-150 powertrain portfolio as Ford at once tries to make the half-ton pickup more relevant - and sellable - in a U.S. market that turned its back on pickups after a fuel-price scare followed by a deep and stubborn recession.
Only now are pickup buyers hesitantly returning to the market; those who are, like just about every other new-vehicle buyer, increasingly are looking for better fuel economy. The F-150's heavily revised engine lineup for 2011 is Ford's answer, one that company engineers today claimed will boost the entire F-150 lineup's fuel economy by 20 percent compared with 2010 and will be "class-leading" for all but the F-150's largest engine choice, the 6.2-liter V8 that's already been seen in the special F-150 Raptor.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:40 PM under Business , Ford , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Tesla Shares to Rise 30% by Year-End 2011, Analysts' Report Says
By Danny King
Tesla Motors shares may jump as much as 30 percent by the end of next year as the electric 
-vehicle maker will likely attract investors because of its relatively inexpensive lithium-ion battery packs and plans to launch its Model S sedan, as well as more stringent environmental regulations from the government that will boost demand for electric vehicles, two analysts wrote in a 38-page report to clients and reported on by Edmunds' Green Car Advisor.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:42 AM under Analysis , Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Hyundai Promises 50-MPG Fleet by 2025
Admitting "we don't specifically know how to get there," Hyundai Motor America president and CEO John Krafcik announced today that Hyundai plans to achieve a fleet-wide Corporate Average Fuel Economy of "at least" 50 miles per gallon by 2025.
Krafcik says it's not just a technical goal or to satisfy regulatory demands - he said Hyundai views fuel-economy leadership as a competitive advantage in the current and future marketplace.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:48 AM under Companies , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
EV Infrastructure A Waste
The refrain is growing: the new age of electrified vehicles is a good thing, but the chicken-or-egg investment in charging infrastructure everyone assumed would be necessary before people would buy them? Not necessary after all.
At the Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Mich., today, several panelists in a session titled "Full-scale Deployment: Making the Business Case," reiterated what is becoming the new conventional thinking about infrastructure: don't really need it.
"Very little charging is needed in the public sector," said American Honda's Robert Bienenfeld.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 4:35 AM under News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Plug-In Prius to Get Big Mileage, Chevy Expects Wealth of Volt Buyers
At an auto-industry conference Tuesday, Toyota's engineer in charge of the company's plug-in hybrid program said plug-in versions of the Prius hybrid-electric vehicle should deliver significant fuel economy gains - even for those who travel further every day than the 13 miles of all-electric driving available from the car's lithium-ion batteries.
At the Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars in Michigan, Justin Ward, Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America Inc.'s advanced powertrain program manager said Toyota's first plug-in hybrid - just now starting with a 150-vehicle test fleet in the U.S. - will deliver significant fuel economy gains over the 51 miles per gallon rating of today's non-plug-in Prius.
Ward said that official U.S. fuel-economy figures haven't been finalized, but testing in Europe has proven the plug-in car to be about 42 percent better than the Prius.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 4:15 AM under GM , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Buys Stake in Hybrid-Car Maker Bright Automotive
General Motors confirmed Tuesday it has invested $5 million in Bright Automotive, a relatively new entrepreneurial venture based in Indiana that is developing small highly fuel-efficient commercial vehicle.
Bright Automotive becomes the first beneficiary of GM's recently established $100 million venture capital fund intended to drive development of new fuel-efficient technologies.
The benefit to GM, which now owns an unspecified minority stake in Bright, is being involved with an "innovative start-up with a unique product and business-model concept," said GM Ventures President John Lauckner in a conference call Tuesday. GM will provide engines and transmissions to Bright and may gain a vehicle to sell against the Ford Transit Connect, which is available with electric power.
The deal gives Bright cash and star power to attract other investors to re-start development of its vehicle, originally set for launch in 2012. However, development was put on hold during the recent recession and financial crisis. No date has been given for the vehicle's debut.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:21 AM under GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Power Breakfast with EcoMotors CEO Don Runkle
By Doron Levin
Don Runkle's weekend plans were disrupted by the media uproar over the iPhone and indignant counter-claims by Apple. So instead of scooting about Pine Lake on a speedboat at his home in West Bloomfield, Michigan, or riding his Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle, Runkle and his family visited an Apple store to learn more.
Technology has always held a special allure for Runkle, even when society isn't quite ready for what he sees as the proper solution for the problems of the day. Perversely, the public often will focus on difficulties he sees as "overblown." "The problems with the iPhone aren't nearly what the media has cracked them up to be," he said, adding with a sardonic grin: "As usual.'' Unimpressed with the reports that the latest model's reception might be weak, he bought an iPhone 4G for his wife, son and for himself.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:15 AM under Companies , Featured , GM , Personalities , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chevrolet Dealer: Want a Volt? That'll be an Extra $20K
General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt may be able to travel 40 miles on its battery charge, but early adopters might be in for a bigger jolt when they try to avail themselves of the highly attractive lease GM touted when releasing the Volt's $41,000 base price this week - it appears at least one of the 600 Chevrolet dealers due to take part in the initial rollout in December isn't planning on letting any Volts pass through his doors until buyers pony up a rather substantial extra "charge."
Forgetting the electricity-related wordplay, it's what people in the auto business know better as a "gouge." A giant one.
A couple of Edmunds.com researchers thought GM's announced $350 per month (with $2,500 down) lease payment sounded "too good to pass up." One emailed a California dealer to lease a Volt. You know, sign on the dotted line right now.
The reply they got was, ah, shocking.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:11 AM under Companies , GM , News , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Prices Chevrolet Volt at $41,000; Above Nissan Leaf and Speculation
General Motors finally announced the exact price of its upcoming 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended range plug-in hybrid: prices start at $41,000 and climb to $44,600 before tax incentives.
The price is higher than many industry observers anticipated; many thought it would come in below $40,000 -- about $35,000 with tax incentives. It also is priced higher than the all-electric Nissan Leaf that starts at $32,780, with the upgraded model adding about $1,000.
GM's pricing strategy is bold but risky.
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Posted by John O'Dell at 8:34 AM under GM , News , Technology | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's Hybrid Secrets Stolen, Pitched for Sale to Chinese Competitor
This story has all the makings of a Robert Ludlum spy novel.
On Thursday, the U.S. government arrested a Troy, Mich., couple on charges of conspiring to steal General Motors' hybrid technology secrets and attempting to sell them to Chinese automaker Chery, a GM competitor in China. Chery has told wire services it had no knowledge of the case.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:02 AM under GM , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
It's Official: Cost of Hybridization is Zero
Unleaded gasoline: $2.67 per gallon. Extra cost to cut fuel consumption with hybrid technology: priceless.
For Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln upscale division, however, the definition of "priceless" means "no cost." Lincoln announced today that the price of its 2011 MKZ Hybrid is the same as a standard MKZ with a conventional V6: $35,180.
Pricing the hybrid MKZ identically to the standard version is a significant and potentially game-changing ploy that may put Lincoln on the map with hybrid enthusiasts and surely will cause competing automakers' marketers to watch customer response. And Lincoln's gambit also will test - for good and bad - the limits of hybrid-technology upcharge.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:25 PM under Business , Companies , Ford , News , Technology | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Breaks Traditions with Reinvention of Once Bestselling Explorer
After a 20-year run using the same basic formula that shot it to the top of the sales charts, the Ford Explorer is going in a completely new direction for the 2011 model year.
Ford provides details to the media this week, with public release of that information allowed in a couple weeks. But we already know the all-new 2011 Explorer that arrives in dealerships later this year will break most of its long-standing traditions.
And another institution likely to be broken is the Explorer's once-bestselling status. Even if the new one is wildly successful, it likely will never achieve the sales levels its predecessor delivered.
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Posted by Karl Brauer at 3:51 AM under Featured , Ford , Technology | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Microsoft, Sun Founders Invest in New Eco-Friendly Engine
Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates and Sun Microsystems' co-founder Vinod Khosla have invested $23.5 million in Michigan-based EcoMotors International for further development of its OPOC engine.
The two-year-old start-up, headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Troy, Mich., is working on the OPOC (Opposed Piston Opposed Cylinder) engine that runs on unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel and boasts up to 50 percent more efficiency than a conventional combustion engine.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:59 AM under Business , News , Personalities , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Automakers, Dealers Get Good Deals in D.C.
Automakers and their dealers have dodged a couple of potentially troublesome regulatory bullets as politicians have backed off from what were expected to be heavy-handed new regulations.
First, the wide-ranging financial-reform bill emerges this week from months of highly-charged political wrangling in a form that is expected to be passed without any provisions for regulation of auto-dealer sales by a newly formed consumer-protection authority.
And what looked like it was shaping up to be one of history's most potentially powerful acts of legislation dealing with automotive safety has been significantly toned down, according to reports from Washington this week.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:24 AM under Business , Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Despite Initial Flourish, Tesla Shares Lose Their Charge
It was good while it lasted for early investors in electric-car maker Tesla Motors' initial public offering last week, but today the price of Tesla's stock slid into the red, falling under the $17 per share the IPO originally set.
The quick fall from grace of Tesla's heavily hyped move into the public domain could be a warning omen for General Motors Co.'s own IPO, the runup to which the automaker has been accelerating in recent weeks.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 4:42 PM under Business , Companies , In the Media , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Unintended Acceleration Expert Panel: Drivers Are at Least Partly Responsible
In its first report Wednesday to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the public, members of a panel mandated by Congress to try to find answers to explain the surge of incidents involving reported unintended acceleration admitted those answers probably won't come easy.
One of the seemingly certain early answers: human error.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:00 AM under Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Science Panel Holds First Gathering on Unintended Acceleration Research
One 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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:29 AM under News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Tesla's Musk Rings the Opening Bell as His Company's Stock Begins Trading
Tesla Motors Founder and CEO Elon Musk, surrounded by Tesla colleagues, friends and family, presided over ceremonial opening bell as the stock of the California-based electric car company began trading on the NASDAQ exchange Tuesday.
The news of Tesla's listing flashed across the screen at New York City's Times Square, where the company showed off its electric-powered Tesla Roadster and Roadster Model S.
Tesla stock opened at $17 a share, more than the $14 to $16 a share range that had been expected, in a stock market that nosedived on concerns about consumer confidence in the U.S. and global economic issues.
Trading under the ticker symbol TSLA, Tesla is the first automotive company to go public in more than 50 years. The last public offering of a car company's stock was Ford's in 1956.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:22 AM under News , Personalities , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Tesla IPO to Test Auto-, Financial-Sector Resolve
Privately held companies' initial public offerings, or IPOs, were the Valhalla of the investment and "dot-com" sectors a decade ago. And despite the comparative financial bust the dot-com frenzy turned out to be, IPOs haven't totally lost the glamor they gained during that time.
Now it's the auto-sector's turn, with the heavily-hyped IPO of California's darling electric-vehicle company, Tesla Motors, ready to go IPO tomorrow. With IPO activity - and success - dropping precipitously during the recession, the Tesla offering will prove an interesting barometer of the appetite for IPOs in general and in particular how the merging of the auto, financial and "green" sectors affects the equation.
The reception for the Tesla IPO also may be an indicator for how well the hunkered-down investment community views this year's really big nut on the IPO tree: General Motors Co.'s return to the publicly-held domain, coming perhaps sometime before the end of this year.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:48 PM under Business , Commentary , GM , In the Media , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fiat MultiAir Turbo Named Engine of the Year
Fiat's 1.4-liter MultiAir Turbo engine - a powerplant the carmaker hopes to use to help 
Chrysler gain ground in the U.S. small car and fuel-efficiency sweepstakes - has been named the best new engine of 2010 by the International Engine of the Year jury.
The small but powerful four-cylinder engine was introduced in the Alfa Romeo Giulietta small car and the Alfa MiTo subcompact, where one variant produces 170 horsepower while delivering fuel economy - measured on the European combined city-highway cycle - of 47 miles per gallon.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:38 PM under Chrysler , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Activity in EV and Battery Stocks May Bode Well for Tesla IPO
Tesla Motor's upcoming initial public offering might have legs if recent stock market activity among battery makers and other electric-drive vehicle suppliers is any indication.
Apparently spurred by heightened awareness in the ongoing gulf oil-spill disaster of the importance of replacing some of our petroleum consumption with alternative energy sources, investors have been bidding up the stocks of a number of EV-oriented companies.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:15 AM under Business , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Mega-supplier Continental Sees Bucks in Burgeoning Electrification
In an interview during last week's Automotive News Green Car Conference, the executive directing Continental Corp.'s hybrid and electric vehicle business told AutoObserver he doesn't see components such as electric motors and other hardware specific to the increasing electrification of passenger vehicles as being in danger of becoming low-profit "commodity" business anytime soon.
Michael Crane, Continental's managing director of hybrid and electric vehicles, called the market for components in the EV and hybrid sector "huge," saying his company predicts EV- and hybrid-specific hardware alone will be a $700-million business in a half-dozen years or less.
Crane also said companies like his will be able to profit from improving the efficiencies of key components like traction motors and battery modules, because improved efficiencies are directly translatable to increased customer value. An automaker that can continually offer improvement in driving range for an EV, for example, presumably will be able to generate more profitable sales.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:54 PM under Business , Companies , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
New Regal Spearheads Buick's Fast-Paced Expansion
General Motors Co.'s 2011 Buick Regal - trickling from its German assembly plant into showrooms for about the past month, is the linchpin to the Buick's expansion plans in the U.S. where, surviving the company's post-bankruptcy brand purge, Buick is quickly going about replacing the old with the new.
The aged Lucerne sedan represents the last of Buick's old guard and soon will be put to rest. That will leave the well-received Enclave crossover - launched in 2008 - as Buick's oldest model. The LaCrosse midsize sedan was launched last year and now the 2011 Regal will anchor the lower end of the midsize segment.
Buick sources expect the Regal, which starts at $26,995, to become the brand's volume seller.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:00 AM under Business , Featured , GM , Technology | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
Automakers With First EVs Not Playing Around: Profitability Will Happen
Executives for several key companies pushing electric-vehicle early adoption insist at the Automotive News Green Car Conference today they're not in the EV business to lose money and their initial ventures will be profitable - early in the game.
With its Leaf battery-powered five-passenger compact car, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. is underway with the industry's most ambitious and high-profile plan to launch EVs for volume adoption. Brian Carolin, Nissan North America's senior vice president for sales and marketing, said at the conference that the Leaf will be profitable sometime during the lifespan of the first-generation model, which launches in the U.S. this winter.Carolin said Nissan is convinced battery electrics are a sustainable business model.
And Richard Canny, CEO for Think North America and Think global, the company that's made steady progress with its well-known City EV, said Think will become profitable next year.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:36 AM under Business , Companies , In the Media , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Telematics Detroit Conference: 'Apps' Is the Word
The annual Telematics Detroit conference held this week mainly is a confab for automakers to interact with their suppliers, but it also offers a glimpse of pending new onboard-electronics innovations.
But it's also become an interesting mash-up of traditional automotive mega-suppliers like Continental and technology innovators like Google, with all players trying to figure out how to deliver features and provide content that car owners want and will pay for -- and, increasingly, how to do it safely.
Edmunds.com Senior Technology Editor Doug Newcomb trolled the show and discovered that smartphones and their increasingly useful (or scandalously irrelevant) applications, or "apps" as almost everyone now knows them, have emerged as the dive-in point for most automaker and supplier telematics strategies.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:51 AM under Business , Companies , In the Media , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
BMW, Saab Talking Partnership To Build Saab 9-2, Reports Say
BMW and Saab are discussing parts and technology sharing for a new Saab 9-2 small car, 
according to media reports.
The potential partnership calls for BMW to provide Saab with engines, gearboxes and the Mini platform for Saab's much-needed small car, according to sources quoted by Bloomberg News, which added that talks were in the early stages and no agreement was imminent. An agreement would take at least two months, one source told Bloomberg.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:25 AM under Companies , GM , Rumors , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Struggling to Sell Conventional Models, smart May Have Trouble with Electric Versions
Although sales for smart's tiny 2-seater started out like gangbusters in the U.S., the popularity has quickly waned, and now the alternative-car experts over at Edmunds Green Car Advisor are wondering what the brand's extended U.S. sales slump means for its impending launch of battery-powered variants of the smart forTwo.
Data from Edmunds.com indicates buyer consideration for smart is at an all-time low, a situation abetted, no doubt, by continued low gasoline prices. In April, only three in 1,000 consumers seriously shopping for a new vehicle at Edmunds.com indicated consideration of the smart.
Since last August, monthly smart sales have averaged just 633 units, with sales as low as 278 in January.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:18 PM under Analysis , Business , Companies , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
What We're Saying: On Mercury, Toyota-Tesla, Super-Luxury Cars and Auto Financing
Edmunds.com analysts chimed in recently on the possible demise of Mercury; prospects of the Toyota-Tesla partnership; the return of super-luxury vehicle sales; and consumers responding to zero percent financing.
Here are highlights:
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:36 AM under Commentary , Ford , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Consumers Charged Up for Electric Nissan Leaf, Edmunds' GreenCarAdvisor.com Says
Nissan held a groundbreaking ceremony for its Tennesee plant that will produce the batteries for the upcoming Nissan Leaf, bringing the auto industry one step closer to offering an affordable, compelling electric vehicle.
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said interest in its all-electric Nissan Leaf is strong. "We think the Leaf is going to be a big hit," Ghosn said Tuesday after speaking to the Detroit Economic Club at Cobo Center.
Meantime, the Nissan Leaf is generating tremendous buzz on Edmunds.com forums, as reported Wednesday by Edmunds' GreenCar Advisor.com.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:09 AM under Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford, GM Gradually Re-Tuning Michigan Manufacturing
It may not be an all-new model just yet, but Detroit's two healthiest automakers are getting 
underway with a facelift for their decimated manufacturing operations in Michigan.
The two automakers have husked their home-state manufacturing of thousands of jobs during the past several years' reorganizations and downsizing. Many of those jobs may never return, but the two companies are beginning to make good on the promise of new-age manufacturing to replace at least some of the old.
Ford announced Monday it is investing $135 million in new Detroit-area operations to assemble lithium-ion battery packs and hybrid transaxles for its next-generation compact and midsize hybrid-electric vehicles coming in 2012. The company says 220 new jobs will be created.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:49 AM under Ford , GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Emerging Trends Grab AutoObserver Readers' Interest
Emerging trends in the auto industry and government investigations of possible vehicle defects captured the interest of AutoObserver readers this past week.
The National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration's (NHTSA) investigation into Ford and General Motors vehicles was the most read post on AutoObserver by a wide margin last week. NHTSA is investigating complaints on the Ford Windstar for have rear axles that can potentially break. NHTSA is investigating the Chevrolet Corvette for complaints over leaky gas tanks.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:27 AM under Analysis , Ford , GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Blockbuster Deal: Toyota Announces EV-Making Tie-Up with Tesla
Forget unintended acceleration. Toyota Motor Corp. is at the epicenter of another auto- industry story of the year: teaming with radical electric-vehicle upstart Tesla Motors to jointly develop a new electric vehicle while also brokering Tesla's purchase of Toyota's recently shuttered New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. assembly plant in Fremont, Calif.
The deal means the NUMMI plant is where Tesla will build the heralded Tesla S battery-powered sedan - and both companies will develop and produce other EVs there.
Toyota also will buy $50 million worth of Tesla stock when the company initiates its planned public offering. But the teaming of the two companies from widely divergent places on the corporate spectrum will have enormous repercussions throughout the industry.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:19 AM under Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Automakers Grapple with New-Age Dilemma: Software or Hardware?
Over the decades OEMs have gone their separate ways on a number of big strategic matters that ended up becoming major determinants of the industry's winners and losers. Front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive? Unionized or non-union factories? Global mega-merger or not?
Automakers likewise are diverging around the question of how to approach the onboard "infotainment" revolution. Platforms including General Motors' OnStar, Ford's Sync and Mercedes-Benz's mbrace represent early commitments to widely varying answers.
And Hyundai's recent announcement of tie-ins between iPad and the company's upcoming 2011 Equus luxury sedan is further indication that every OEM believes the procurement, packaging and presentation of wireless content and connections going into, coming out of and bouncing around within vehicles can make a huge difference.
"It's the next big battleground in the industry," said John Wolkonowicz, senior auto analyst for IHS Global Insight, a market-research firm in Lexington, Mass. "It is addressing what people under 50 years old today find absolutely mandatory in their vehicles."
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:00 AM under Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler Accelerates New Model Development
Chrysler has pedal to the metal on the development of new models in hopes of launching them in
2011 instead of 2012 as planned, Chrysler/Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said Monday.
Chrysler's scheduled 2011 launches include a family of Fiat-engineered C-segment compact cars and crossovers.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:41 AM under Business , Chrysler , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Nissan, CMU Already Working on How To Improve Next Leaf EV
Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s first-ever fully electric production car to be sold in the U.S., the Leaf, 
doesn't go on sale for another six months, but Nissan's already working on how to improve the next-generation Leaf to make it more attractive to a constituency beyond early adopters - and to help maintain the company's electric-vehicle leadership.
Nissan repeatedly refers to being the first major automaker to bring a battery-electric car to showrooms as a game-changing initiative, so no particular surprise the company took an unconventional approach to generating ideas on how best to develop and market the unique attributes of EVs. Instead of relying solely on its internal product planners, Nissan solicited the help of multidisciplinary teams from the atypically intelligent student body of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:00 AM under Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Audi Sees New Brand of Luxury Buyer in its Future
The luxury buyer returning to the automobile showrooms as the economy emerges from its deep recession is a different kind of buyer with a new set of requirements, says the head of Audi of America.
"At Audi, we believe the future belongs to the automaker that can best define - and deliver - what we are calling progressive luxury," Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen told reporters at the Automotive Press Association in Detroit this week.
In a video interview with AutoObserver after his speech, deNysschen insisted this current era that he called the end of excess is not a passing fancy but an enduring trend.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:26 PM under Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Dialogue Returns as Hallmark of Society of Automotive Engineers Conference
Returning to its roots as a conference for auto engineers to exchange ideas and present technical papers to interested colleagues (and competitors), the 2010 Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit this week is noticeably downsized.
The SAE is actively moving the conference away from being dominated by both the flashy displays of deep-pocket suppliers and other exhibitors and by vendor sales booths hawking all manner of down-and-dirty components.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:43 PM under Companies , News , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Indian Buyers' Choice: Apple iPad or New Car?
Tech-hungry customers in India reportedly are paying almost as much for the new Apple iPad as it costs to buy a brand-new Nano car produced in that country, said a report from Bloomberg this week.
The iPad has emerged as the industry's must-have consumer-electronic device and although official sales have yet to begin in India, iPads imported through gray-market channels are fetching 100,000 rupees, the equivalent of about $2,250.
Tata Motors' Nano went on sale in India in July last year starting at $2,500 -- or just $250 more than Indian buyers are paying for those gray-market iPads.
In the U.S., the least-expensive iPad starts at $499.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 9:49 AM under Companies , In the Media , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
What We're Reading: Global Auto Industry, In-Car iPad, Crunch Time in China
The staff at Edmunds is a diverse group with hundreds of different perspectives on the auto industry and the world at large. Here's a look at what we're reading and thinking about this week...
Wheels of Fortune? A Guide to the Global Auto Industry for Equity Investors (AllianceBernstein)
"The global auto industry today represents a combination of the old and the new. This paper seeks to explain the interaction between these forces, first by analyzing the political protectionism, manufacturing overcapacity and intense competition that have been industry features for decades. These trends will then be placed in the context of 21st-century challenges, such as potential new competitors, emerging-market growth and the development of alternative drivetrains."
Edmunds staffer says: Looking at the auto industry as a global entity is critical to understanding the current industry climate. This analysis is a good overview of key trends, challenges, and technologies that are molding the way automakers do business around the world. --David Greene, Industry Analyst
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:58 AM under Commentary , Companies , Technology , What We're Reading | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
SAE Show's Far-Out Ideas: Not So Crazy These Days?
This week's Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit is the auto industry's largest gathering of engineers. And as usual, the show will feature a number of way-out (some might say "wacky") concepts - particularly for powertrains.
But with brand-new Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards now set at 35.1 miles per gallon starting in 2016, maybe some of the more far-out engine ideas floating around at the SAE show will be getting a less-skeptical reception.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:18 AM under Companies , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM: Chevy Volt Won't Be Labeled Zero-Emission - or 230 MPG
Engineers leading development of General Motors Co.'s 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range 
electric vehicle through its final stages told reporters the car will be "right up there with (GM's) most emissions-efficient vehicles," but will not be certified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a zero-emissions vehicle, as are pure battery-powered vehicles.
Also: fuhgeddabout that 230 miles-per-gallon city-cycle fuel economy rating GM so controversially touted last summer. Although GM's Volt engineers aren't saying it won't happen, they said the number was based on a preliminary fuel-economy measure proposed by the EPA for vehicles like the Volt and that the actual fuel-economy rating methodology is still to be decided.
But listen between the lines and it's clear the 230-mpg claim - rumored to be hotly disapproved by Volt developers when the company and then-CEO Fritz Henderson gaily hyped it last August - almost certainly will not be supported by whatever test methodology finally determines the Volt's official fuel-economy number. The 230-mpg number was outsized because of the Volt's ability to travel relatively long distances without burning any gasoline.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:11 AM under Featured , GM , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Turbocharger to Replace V8 as American Icon?
Don't look now, but the U.S. auto market is changing - sort of just like we'd been told it would.
Call it environmental awareness, call it regulatory pressure, call it old-fashioned economics. But by and large, call it inevitable: that most American of inventions - the V8 - is quickly being supplanted by smaller, more peppery engines as the auto industry marches to the latest beat of "downsizing."
Ford announced today that it will produce three new engines using its Ecoboost concept of combining direct fuel injection with turbocharging and variable camshaft timing to boost the specific output of smaller-displacement engines. Ecoboost engines will be deployed for two vehicles that long represented the heart of the V8 market: the F-150 pickup and the 2011 Explorer.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 7:20 AM under Analysis , Featured , Ford , News , Technology | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Not So Good News for Saab Entry-Level Car
Saab Cars now is under the ownership of Dutch supercar maker Spyker Cars NV, but Saab's 
ties to longtime owner General Motors Co. look like they're going to run deeper -- and longer -- than any near-term product-development impact Spyker will provide.
Britain's AutoCar reports this week that the next generation of Saab's entry-level 9-3, due in 2012, will continue to be based on the current 9-3's GM-developed compact front-wheel-drive platform known as Epsilon. It's an architecture that's already been used for the 9-3 since 2002 and started development well more than a decade ago.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:44 AM under Companies , GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Little Smart Benefits Big Time from Daimler-Renault Alliance
The ailing Smart brand will be one of the biggest and earliest beneficiaries of the 
sweeping alliance announced Wednesday between its parent Daimler and Renault-Nissan.
Under the arrangement, Renault and Daimler will jointly develop the next generation of Smart Fortwo models and the Renault Twingo. The two model lines will share architecture and parts and begin launching in 2013.
The Smart product range will be expanded beyond the current two-seater ForTwo to include four-seaters and electric versions.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:24 AM under Companies , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
New York Auto Show: Are We in Neutral or Drive?
Everyone's certain to be sensitive to the industry "mood" at this week's New York auto show. 
Projections for March's Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate are calling for hefty leaps over February, as well as compared with the same time last year when the auto industry had reached its depths.
However, with March sales figures pumped by oversized incentive spending incited by Toyota Motor Corp. and more large-scale fleet purchases, some analysts suspect March performances may be painting an artificial picture of a rebound that isn't there - or at least isn't sustainable.
So with all this background - not to mention gasoline prices steadily inching upward - automakers and industry watchers will be looking at the New York show for even the subtlest of signals, much the same way the finance industry hangs on every word of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:19 AM under Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Gaining Credibility as No Braking Found in Prius Crash
The tide of public perception may be turning in favor of Toyota Motor Sales USA after 
investigation of a highly publicized crash of a Prius hybrid electric vehicle in Harrison, New York, last week demonstrated the driver -- who claimed the car accelerated unintentionally -- was flooring the accelerator rather than the brake pedal.
The case follows that of Prius driver James Sikes earlier this month in which Sikes claimed his Prius took him on a minutes-long, 90-mph-plus unintentionally accelerated ride on a San Diego freeway. As with the latest New York report of unintended acceleration, investigation by Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) refuted Sikes' claim that prolonged heavy application of the brake pedal would not slow his car.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:35 AM under Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
Baby Boomers Shift Car Buying Choices
The gas-price spike of 2008 followed by the economic disaster of 2009 has prompted baby boomers to re-evaluate their vehicle choices.
"It was once thought that when baby boomers could put college tuition payments and other parenting expenses behind them, they would reward themselves with expensive luxury cars," commented Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Michelle Krebs, who presented on the topic to the Seventh Annual What's Next Boomer Business Summit in Chicago today. "But that was before economic catastrophe struck. Now that their kids can't find jobs and their nest eggs have shrunk, they are rethinking everything, including their vehicle choices."
Their vehicle choices fall into a trio of sweeping categories: efficiency, lifestyle and indulgence.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:23 PM under Chrysler , Companies , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler Starts Production of New-Age V6
A crucial symbol of Chrysler Group LLC's prospect for survival as a car company with a future came today with hitting the start button on the Trenton, MI, assembly line for Chrysler's all-new Pentastar V6 engine.
The new-generation Pentastar eventually will supplant no less than seven dated V6 engines, Chrysler says, but its first application is a critical one: the Pentastar is the standard engine for the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, due for showrooms in the second quarter.
"The Pentastar engine is a cornerstone of Chrysler's efforts to re-invent its business model with strong, brand-focused, world-class quality products," Scott Garberding, head of manufacturing, summarized in a statement.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:31 PM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
Volkswagen Getting Cozy with New Big Stakeholder
The Volkswagen Group and its recently acquired Porsche Automobil Holding SE, owner of Porsche Cars, said this week a delegation that included the German State of Lower Saxony traveled to the Emirate of Qatar to "intensify cooperation" with the Emirate in the areas of research, development and education.
Last year, the complex financial and investment arrangement that led to VW's takeover of Porsche (after an improbable attempt at the opposite was aborted) led to Qatar becoming VW's third-largest shareholder - after the Piech family and Lower Saxony - with about 17 percent of VW. Through the deal, Qatar also holds about 10 percent of Porsche Automobil Holding SE.
Volkswagen said in a statement, "Topics discussed included possible research cooperation into new materials, energy production and storage, fuel economy optimization in engines, and the medium-term openings for establishing a vehicle materials test laboratory."
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:12 PM under Business , Companies , News , Technology , Volkswagen, Audi | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Grand Cherokee, Car Washes Don't Mix
If you're seeing a lot of particularly dirty Jeep Grand Cherokees these days, there might be a good reason.
Doug Newman, owner of conveyer-belt style carwash chain in Milford, Connecticut, told Bloomberg news last week the Chrysler Group LLC sport-utility is an unintended acceleration beast, accounting for all four of the unintended-acceleration incidents that have occurred at his operations since 2000.
Little more than a month ago, a worker piloting a 2006 Grand Cherokee at the Octopus carwash in Albuquerque, New Mexico, killed another worker after the driver said the Jeep accelerated uncontrollably, smashing the worker against a wall.
And a member at Edmunds.com's CarSpace social-media forum identified as Octo30yrs said the Grand Cherokee's unintended-acceleration reputation with the carwash community is such that some operations now are either pushing through Grand Cherokees or rejecting them altogether.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 6:57 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ex-GM's Stempel: From Gasoline to Batteries to Water
Robert C. Stempel, General Motors' CEO in the early 1990s, is joining the board of directors of Genesis Fluid Solutions Holdings, a water purification company in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Stempel was chosen for the company's board for not his automotive experience but his chairmanship of the Council of Great Lakes Industries. That experience provided him with valuable insight into the complex problems that plague America's largest bodies of water, said Genesis Chairman Michael Hodges in a statement.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:26 AM under GM , Personalities , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Commentary: No Easy Answer for the Toyota Problem
Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl argues in a Washington Post OpEd that the U.S. 
Transportation Department and its National Highway Traffic Safety Administration should lead in coordinating an effort to get to the bottom of the industry problem of sudden acceleration. Here's his argument as published by the paper Monday:
Lately it seems that each day brings another report of a driver's terrifying experience with an out-of-control Toyota. There have been at least four congressional hearings in as many weeks.
Even the most confident consumer has to wonder what is causing all this and, more fundamentally, whether Toyotas are safe to drive.
The second question is easier to answer. Despite the flurry of reports, incidents with speeding vehicles are rare. And vehicles today, including Toyotas, are safer than ever.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:02 AM under Commentary , Companies , Featured , In the Media , Technology , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Former Administrator: NHTSA Needs R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief and longtime auto-safety 
advocate Joan Claybrook called for a doubling of the agency's investigational budget in order to equip NHTSA to more effectively police an increasingly technical and complex auto industry.
Claybrook was one of a number of witnesses at hearings held Thursday by the U.S. House of Representatives examining the NHTSA's response to the recent high-profile recalls of Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles for reports of unintended acceleration,
Claybrook and Ami Gadhia, policy counsel for Consumers Union and another witness in the House hearings, also called for Congress to consider drastically hiking the limit on civil penalties NHTSA can impose to help sharpen respect for the agency's rules.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:50 AM under Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota: Some Recall Fixes Done Improperly; Prius Runs Wild?
Well underway with the colossal job of attending to more than six million vehicles recalled to address either potentially sticking accelerator pedals or wayward floormats, a Toyota spokesman yesterday admitted some of the repairs may not be properly conducted.
The spokesman, in attendance of a media event where engineers demonstrated how unintended acceleration simulated by one researcher using a Toyota electronically controlled throttle system is virtually impossible to happen in real-world conditions, said the company is aware of multiple reports of continuing incidents of unintended acceleration in vehicles that had undergone the stipulated warranty repairs.
He added that only a few of the claims had been verified, but seemed to admit not all repairs are being properly carried out, saying that for some of the vehicles reported to still be accelerating of their own accord, "it had to do with the repair not being done properly."
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:39 AM under Business , In the Media , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Refutes Researcher's Simulation of Unintended Acceleration
Toyota Motor Corp. battled back yesterday against a hurricane of negative publicity and Congressional calls for action related to unintended acceleration in its Toyota- and Lexus-brand vehicles.
The controversy takes a new twist as Toyota and Exponent Inc., the high-profile engineering consultancy and troubleshooter the company has hired, demonstrated the unintended acceleration-causing conditions produced in a highly publicized test for Safety Research and Strategies Inc. conducted by Dr. David Gilbert, an associate professor of automotive technology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, are highly unlikely to occur under real-world conditions.
The Exponent team also showed that the design of Toyota's wiring for its electronically controlled throttle - the component suspected to be at the root of unintended acceleration - is engineered to prevent the potential for the kind of failure Gilbert's testing generated.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:58 PM under Featured , In the Media , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford, Porsche Make Enviro-Muscle Statements
The composting-saves-the-world neighbors won't be able to sneer (as much) at the gas-sucking muscle car in the driveway after Ford Motor Co. crowed today that a Mustang sporting the nameplate's new 3.7-liter dual-cam V6 churns out 305 horsepower - yet was just certified by the Environmental Protection Agency as earning a highway fuel-economy rating of 31 miles per gallon.
Ford says the car is history's first example of a production model that exceeds 300 hp yet also tops 30 mpg.
The number actually beat Ford's earlier expectations for 30 mpg from the V6 Mustang, the number the company was proudly promoting in January at the Detroit auto show.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:55 AM under Analysis , Business , Ford , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Reportedly Axes Cadillac Version of Chevy Volt
Several media sources reported late Monday General Motors Co. is dropping plans for a Cadillac-badged version of the high-tech Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle so Cadillac can focus on less-expensive plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles.
Apparently a Cadillac version of the Volt would be too weighed down by the expected luxury and comfort features to replicate the Volt's 40-mile electric-only driving range without extensive extra cost, a Bloomberg report said. Sources suggested achieving even a 20-mile driving range solely on battery power might require $30,000 of added cost, the report added.
The loss of the proposed Cadillac variant of the Volt casts more doubt on the near-term applicability of the Volt's battery-intensive, series-hybrid design.
Some GM executives had argued a Cadillac version of the Volt would help reduce costs -- mostly centered around the expensive lithium-ion batteries -- and speed wider adoption of the Volt's technology.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 9:03 PM under GM , In the Media , News , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Lux and Little the Focus at This Week's Geneva Motor Show
There aren't that many true concept vehicles slated for the Geneva motor show this week. The few that are unveiled are bookended by a heavy presence in two sectors: small cars and luxury models.
Most of the attention in Geneva is concentrated on the small-car sector, thanks to continuing environmental pressure on both sides of the Atlantic. Europe continues to press with carbon-dioxide reduction measures, while financially battered U.S. customers evidence a downsizing mindset and the nation glides inexorably closer to a 2016 deadline for all automaker fleets to average 35 miles per gallon.
So while the Geneva show is mostly about what makes sense for an auto sector evolving toward less dependence on fossil fuels, the makers of luxury performance cars continue to respond with their own individual visions of how that future will be addressed. In many senses, it's becoming evident the makers of premium vehicles may in fact have more of an opportunity to capitalize -- as customers able to spend but unwilling to compromise may represent the best market to accept pricey new fuel-saving innovations.
The possibilities for synergy between the environmental movement and the luxury auto market may be almost limitless: even Ferrari, after all, is showing a hybrid-electric concept at this week's Geneva show.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:00 PM under Analysis , Business , Companies , Featured , Ford , News , Technology , Volkswagen, Audi | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Seems Exposed in Electronics Investigation Methods
With Congressional investigators saying Toyota Motor Corp. "failed its customers" and 
independent engineering experts testifying electronics and software programming for electronically controlled throttles perhaps are not as foolproof as Toyota believes, the first day of testimony in hearings about millions of recalled Toyota vehicles has Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration appearing incompetent, indifferent and perhaps even scoffing about potential dangers and consumer concerns.
Several members of the House of Representatves Committee on Energy and Commerce in a hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday are calling Toyota dismissive and NHTSA ill-responsive and blow-offish.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:09 PM under Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
NHTSA Investigates Toyota Corolla Steering
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is launching a formal investigation into 
consumer complaints regarding steering on 2009-2010 Toyota Corolla models, an investigation that may lead to a recall of the bestseller.
The agency said it had received 150 complaints. Toyota Executive Vice President Shinichi Sasaki told reporters in Japan this week that NHTSA had received more than 80 online complaints. NHTSA's inquiry will cover 500,000 vehicles.
The Washington Post cited one complaint on a 2010 Corolla read: "When driving on the highway (60+ mph), the vehicle will all of a sudden start to wander back and forth in the lane, for a few hundred yards. Then as quickly as it started, it stops. The wandering has almost created four collisions so far."
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:38 AM under News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyoda Leads Quality Task Force But Is a Washington No-Show
Toyota Motor Co. President Akio Toyoda, in a press conference held in Japan, said he would 
personally lead a global task force to improve quality-control management, but he would not appear at Congressional hearings in Washington next week.
In his third news conference in two weeks, Toyoda also said the automaker is examining steering complaints on its Toyota Corolla. A recall of the Corolla, one of the world's best-selling cars, is possible.
Toyoda further confirmed the automaker plans to install brake-override systems in its future models. He said Toyota also will make better use of the onboard black boxes in its vehicles to alert management to problems.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:58 AM under Featured , Personalities , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
COMMENTARY: Costs, Congress and Toyota's Fall from Grace
My boss reckons one consequence of Toyota Motor Corp.'s new and extraordinary quality-safety blunders is that the price of new cars is going to go up.
Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl suggests in a piece posted Thursday on AutoObserver that consumers should prepare themselves to pay for the increased safety the furor over the Toyota revelations seems to be demanding. And they will likely have to pay for the correspondingly amped-up regulatory oversight that also will be an inevitable outcome once Washington gets involved at the end of the month.
Our vehicles have become astoundingly, statistically safe. The question of the moment is: are we willing to pay whatever's required to move them closer to being absolutely safe?
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:00 AM under Commentary , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Prices Take Some Hit, Edmunds.com Reports
Recalls, stop-sales orders and the accompanying bad press have put downward pressure on prices of new and used Toyota vehicles, but the hit is not as huge as might be expected, according to an analysis by Edmunds.com.
New vehicles specifically covered by Toyota recalls are selling for an average of 0.5 percent - or $150 per vehicle - less than earlier this year, according to the most recent adjustments made to Edmunds.com's True Market Value pricing.
Used Toyota vehicles covered by recalls are selling for about 3 percent less than earlier this year, according to Edmunds.com. However, dealers --- either being cautious or opportunistic -- are paying about 6 percent less for Toyota trade-ins than they did before the recalls were announced.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:51 AM under Analysis , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Recalls 437,000 Hybrids Globally, Including Toyota Prius
Toyota Motor Co., as expected, announced Tuesday the global recall of 437,000 hybrid 
models, including the Toyota Prius and Lexus HS 250h, to fix faulty braking systems.
The latest recall covers four models and brings the total number of recalled vehicles for various problems to about 8 million worldwide.
Toyota Motor Co. President Akio Toyoda announced the hybrid recall at a press conference in Japan Tuesday. As he did at a press conference last Friday, Toyoda, grandson of the company founder, apologized for causing customers to worry about Toyota's quality and safety and vowed to "redouble our commitment to quality."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:58 AM under Featured , News , Personalities , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Tiptoes Around Toyota Storm With Its Own Hybrid Fix
Careful -- at least at the moment -- what you call it when it comes to fixing hybrids. You 
might want to say "recall," but Ford's got a better idea, to coin a phrase.
Almost in lockstep with embattled Toyota Motor Corp. reportedly on the verge of announcing a recall or brake software recalibration on its Prius, Ford Motor Co. also announced a decision last week to reprogram the braking strategy for its Fusion Hybrid and Mercury Milan Hybrid.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:40 AM under Ford , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Will They or Won't They? Toyota Mum on Potential Prius Recall
The beat goes on for Toyota Motor Corp. and its problems with keeping vehicles on the 
acceleration or deceleration trajectories drivers desire.
After two recalls involving millions of conventionally powered Toyotas, the microscope has swung to the franchise player, the Prius hybrid-electric vehicle.
Reports are mounting that the new-generation 2010 Prius does not brake consistently -- and that Toyota knew about it without telling customers.
The company had identified a lag when the Prius transitions from the regenerative braking that recharges its batteries to the conventional friction brakes as the driver slows the vehicle.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:21 AM under Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Announces Fusion, Milan Hybrid Brake Fix
In response to customer complaints about unusual brake feel, Ford has announced it will update software on the brakes of some 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrids and 2010 Mercury Milan Hybrids.
"We have received reports that some drivers have experienced a different brake feel when the hybrid's unique regenerative brakes switch to conventional hydraulic braking," Ford's statement issued Thursday afternoon said. "While the vehicles maintain full braking capability, customers may initially perceive the condition as loss of brakes."
Ford's announcement comes as Toyota tries to figure out what to do about complaints regarding the Toyota Prius' brakes.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:56 PM under Featured , Ford , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Supplier 'Has Fix' For Faulty Accelerators
Elkhart, Indiana's CTS Corp., the supplier at the unfortunate nucleus of a massive recall involving eight Toyota Motor Corp. models and that also has forced Toyota to suspend production of new vehicles, reportedly has redesigned the component and is ready to begin production of the redesigned parts, according to a report from Reuters and confirmed by Toyota in a statement.
"We have the fix. It is a much more robust pedal that is meeting the tougher specifications from Toyota," CTS Chief Executive Vinod Khilnani said.
Not yet known, however, is if the redesigned accelerator pedal module also will be the remedy for the 2.3 million existing models affected by the recall.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 2:15 PM under Business , Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Clarifies Some Recall Info; Recall Expands to Europe, China
A top Toyota executive, in a briefing with Edmunds.com staffers, clarified some points of the 
automaker's recent actions regarding the recall and subsequent sales and production suspension of eight best-selling Toyota-brand models. He described symptoms that suggest unintended acceleration in these vehicles could occur and provided an update on a remedy for the problem.
Meantime, Toyota expanded its stop-sale to Europe and Asia as well as to the U.S. Toyota Corolla/Matrix-based Pontiac Vibe, a model from a brand that General Motors has discontinued. The Vibe had been built at the New United Motor Manufacturing GM-Toyota joint venture plant in Fremont, California, that is being closed by Toyota. Toyota also added about 1 million vehicles to the floormat recall initiated last fall.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:25 AM under News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Saab Revived, New 9-5 Coming to U.S. Next Quarter
General Motors Co.'s completion of a deal to sell its Saab Automobile AB unit to Dutch exotic-car 
maker Spyker will see production of the all-new 9-5 flagship begin in volume in April and U.S. sales in the second quarter.
"I'm happy for Saab employees and Saab customers all over the world," said John Smith, GM vice president, global planning and alliances.
Smith also said the Saab 9-4, a crossover based on GM's "Theta Premium" or TE platform that underpins the Cadillac SRX, also will soon be produced by the new company, although he was not specific about when the 9-4X will begin production.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:54 AM under Business , Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM to Develop, Build Electric Motors
General Motors Co. announced Tuesday it will enhance its ability to develop and build future 
electric vehicles by designing and producing its own electric traction motors, effectively the "engines" that propel fully electric vehicles.
GM says the decision to design and manufacture its own traction motors makes it the first domestic automaker to make the commitment to in-house development. The company says it is investing $246 million in electric motor and electric drive facilities in the U.S.
Tom Stephens, GM vice chairman, global product operations, said in a media event with reporters the company believes committing to developing its own traction motors will save money, improve performance and allow better optimization of the entire electric drivetrain.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:30 AM under GM , News , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Fusion Hybrid Beats Toyota Prius as Consumer Favorite Hybrid
The Ford Fusion Hybrid won the Consumer Favorite in Edmunds.com's hybrid vehicle survey, 
narrowly beating the Toyota Prius.
The Ford Fusion Hybrid earned 26 percent of the votes, closely followed by the Toyota Prius with 23 percent.
"Ford's midsize hybrid sedan, which helped boost Ford's overall sales performance in an otherwise dismal 2009, has been praised for its smooth operation, fuel economy, looks and interactive information system that helps drivers modify their behind-the-wheel behavior to increase fuel economy," according to Edmunds' GreenCarAdvisor.com Senior Editor John O'Dell.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:16 AM under Ford , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Detroit Show: Environmental Message Front and Center
This year was not one of the Detroit auto show's classic "horsepower and headers," over-the-top extravaganzas.
AutoObserver senior editor Bill Visnic points out that the 2010 Detroit auto show is rather unlike most Detroit shows past: while many manufacturers had horsepower on display, it was small and environmentally oriented vehicles that - almost by necessity - basked in the spotlights at Detroit's hometown show.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:40 AM under Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Buzz Kill for 2011 Honda CR-Z Sport Hybrid from Tokyo to Detroit
When the Honda CR-Z Concept was presented at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Show last October, 
the reception among enthusiasts on Edmunds' Inside Line was upbeat and hopeful, with readers offering comments like "Woot!" and "Should get CRAZY high gas mileage!" and "This is the perfect car for me."
If there was a concern, it was only waiting for the production version to arrive.
Well, this week, it's here. Honda unveiled its showroom-ready 2011 CR-Z Sport Hybrid at the 2010 North American Auto Show in Detroit. Good news, right? Judging from the latest round of reader comments, maybe not.
Early reactions include, "Color me disappointed" and "They completely butchered the concept " and even "This makes my soul hurt."
So what happened in just three short months?
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:18 AM under Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Makers Cautious as Subdued Detroit Show Starts Pivotal New Year
Most of the energy at this week's Detroit auto show epicentered at Ford Motor Co.'s display, 
with eddies splashing out to General Motors Corp.'s guardedly optimistic stand and Audi AG's gleaming base of operations.
But the majority of automakers were laying low, and media crowds were visibly reduced at the show with a reputation for over-the-top product introductions and boastful talk about the coming year.
There was no avoiding the 2010 Detroit auto show's subdued and geared-down mood, fashioned from the collective attitude of automakers licking their wounds and hoping the worst is past.
It also was yet another evolution of the show itself: there was plenty of room thanks to fewer automakers opting to display and fewer journalists opting (or fewer existing) to attend. A surprisingly expansive area of main-floor real estate was occupied by seemingly inappropriate electric vehicles of all manner, few of them of the road-going passenger variety.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:49 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Personalities , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Subaru Plots Follow-Up of 2009 Success
It was a great year in 2009 for Subaru of America Inc.: a new all-time sales record of 216,652 
units. And Subaru plans to keep it that way, avoiding sales peaks-and-valleys of the past.
Thomas J. Doll, Subaru of America Inc. executive vice president and COO, told AutoObserver at the Detroit auto show here that Subaru now is a better-placed, more-established brand than it was when it set sales records in the past.
In effect, Doll said Subaru's now a strong enough brand to sustain its plump new sales levels. And improve, even.
"We're kind of at the beginning of what this franchise is capable of doing," he said.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:13 AM under Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Taurus Wins First Edmunds.com Technology Breakthrough Award
The 2010 Ford Taurus is the winner of the first annual Edmunds.com Technology 
Breakthrough Award.
"The 2010 Ford Taurus offers a long list of high-tech features at a great price," said Doug Newcomb, Edmunds.com senior technology editor.
The award was given at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:52 AM under Ford , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's Lutz Details Automaker's 2010 To-Do List
General Motors' Bob Lutz, in an editorial on AutoObserver's sister site, Edmunds' Inside Line,
lays out the automaker's 2010 to-do list.
Top to bottom of the list is a focus on product.
"GM builds cars and trucks and crossovers. That is what we do," writes Lutz. "In 2009, we were given an opportunity to continue doing so, and we must not squander that opportunity.
"Therefore," adds Lutz, "we are resolved, if you will, not to lose sight of the fact that if we don't build the best cars, trucks and crossovers on the planet, that opportunity will go for naught."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:53 PM under Commentary , GM , Personalities , Technology | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Are Folks Getting Used To Driving Less?
Latest behavioral trend for automakers to fret about: For the second consecutive year, 
Americans are driving less.
Miles traveled in 2009 by passenger and commercial vehicles on U.S. roads dropped to 2.93 trillion from 2.94 trillion in the same period in 2008, the Federal Highway Administration said. The measured period for 2009 was the 12 months that ended in October, and travel through the rest of calendar 2009 was unlikely to reverse the trend.
Ballooning fuel prices in 2008 and the national economic meltdown in the fourth quarter of that year led to an expected decrease in U.S. driving, the first in a quarter century.
But when the bottom dropped out of fuel prices in 2009, it was expected driving would exceed the 2008 figure -- but rising unemployment and continued pressure on household budgets and commercial activity led to a second consecutive cutback in miles driven.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 7:31 AM under Analysis , Companies , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds.com Cites 10 Top Automotive Technologies of the Decade
Ten years ago, most people had never heard of many of the technologies that are mainstream today.
"In the '90s, satellite radio and iPods weren't around. Only hard-core computer geeks were tweaking cars to add MP3 capability, and navigation systems were still only available as expensive in-dash systems," remembered Edmunds.com Senior Technology Editor Doug Newcomb. "Bluetooth hands-free phones were still years away and Bose was the best known of only a handful of premium car audio offerings."
As the decade comes to a close, Edmunds.com has identified the following top 10 in-car technologies of the last 10 years.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:54 AM under Commentary , Companies , Ford , Technology | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
The Best and Worst Ideas of 2009
Desperate times require desperate measures, as the saying goes, and 2009 was about as 
desperate as it gets in the auto industry.
Companies sometimes do the most interesting things when they're desperate -- and that maxim seems particularly relevant to auto companies. Because their products are so visible, with such potential emotional impact. Because their executives and designers and engineers are in charge of the process that creates those products.
Desperation in 2009 -- as defined by coming up some 6 million sales short of the industry's glory days of just three years ago -- generated products and strategies that ran the gamut from ridiculous to sublime. Some ideas were inspired; some were just tired.
Here are a few of the best and worst ideas from the auto industry in 2009:
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:22 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Personalities , Technology | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
The Euro View on the Decade
We know our U.S.-oriented prism is limiting so we turned to Europe's Just-Auto.com for its view on the decade.
With the Just-Auto's blessing, we excerpt here Dave Leggett's take on the Top 10 things - people, events and trends that shaped the automotive decade.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:38 AM under Commentary , Companies , Ford , GM , Personalities , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Mercedes Joins Engine Downsizing, Electric Trends
In the U.S., it's a looming 35-miles-per-gallon fuel-economy mandate. In Europe, it's 
continually tightening restrictions on carbon-dioxide emissions.
Whatever the case, even luxury manufacturers - who, at least in the U.S., used to simply pay the fines for non-compliance - have their backs against the wall when it comes to environmental correctness. Power and heavyweight prestige are what they sell, but soon, there will be no choice but to improve fuel economy and reduce the emissions.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:53 AM under Business , Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Beijing Automotive Buys Some Saab Assets
General Motors confirmed Monday morning it had reached an agreement with Beijing 
Automotive Industry Holdings Co., Ltd. to sell some Saab assets to the Chinese automaker.
Meantime, talks with potential bidders to buy the rest of the Swedish automaker continue. The deal with BAIC could improve GM's prospects for finding a buyer for Saab, though Saab's survival remains questionable.
"This arrangement (with BAIC) is excellent for both parties, now and for the future," Jan Anke Jonsson, Saab Automobile managing director, said in a statement. "We have developed a good relationship with BAIC and look forward to working with them to integrate this Saab technology into their future vehicles."
No financial details were revealed.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:05 AM under Featured , GM , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
EPA Clears Way for CO2 Legislation
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Monday officially said it considers carbon dioxide potentially dangerous to the environment and human health. Its final ruling on the long- and still-debated issue sets the stage for coming regulation for passenger vehicles and other transportation sectors.
The European Union and other nations welcomed the EPA's action as the United Nations opened an important conference in Denmark dealing with climate change. The two-week conference will see representatives from some 190 nations attempt to create a global agreement on curbing CO2 output.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:26 AM under Companies , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Invests $336 Million in Chevrolet Volt Factory
General Motors announced Monday that it will invest $336 million in the Detroit-Hamtramck 
assembly plant to begin production of the Chevrolet Volt electric car in 2010.
GM said that brings its total Volt-related investments in Michigan to $700 million, covering eight facilities.
"We expect the Detroit-Hamtramck plant will be the first facility in the U.S. owned by a major automaker to produce an electric car, Jon Lauckner, GM vice president of global product planning, told the company and government officials gathered at the plant Monday.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:50 AM under GM , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Suzuki Reportedly in VW's Hands by Year-End
Maybe tiny Suzuki Motor Corp. no longer has to be concerned that sales for its American 
Suzuki Motor Corp. unit have been evaporating towards near-nonexistence: information from Europe says the burgeoning Volkswagen Group has plans to take over Suzuki by the end of the year.
A report in Britain's Car magazine, authored by Georg Kacher -- a writer with historically reliable and highly-placed sources -- says VW has been negotiating for months to acquire Suzuki and that the company had planned to announce the consummation of the deal at the Tokyo motor show in October, but last-minute contractual negotiations delayed the timeline.
Now, Kacher says in Car, VW should announce by the end of the year it's completed a deal to own Suzuki, making the Japanese minicar specialist VW's 11th brand.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:08 AM under Companies , Featured , GM , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
First Chevrolet Volts Go on Sale in California
General Motors' Bob Lutz said the first Chevrolet Volts will go on sale in California beginning 
late next year, fulfilling GM's long-held promise that the Volt would be in production by November 2010.
Lutz, speaking to the Motor Press Guild at the opening of the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show Wednesday, announced GM's new partnerships with three California utilities. Those utilities will receive a total of 100 Chevrolet Volts for their company fleets. He said consumers and fleets would take delivery roughly at the same time.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:18 AM under GM , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Geely Seeks $1 Billion from China Banks to Buy Volvo
Ford's sale of Volvo to Chinese automaker Geely appears to be edging toward completion, 
as major hurdles are cleared.
Geely, the preferred bidder for Ford's Volvo unit, reportedly is seeking at least $1 billion in loans from Chinese banks to finance its bid for the Swedish auto company.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:17 AM under Business , Companies , Ford , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Can 'Blue Drive' Be Hyundai's Next Big Marketing Win?
The "value" message always has been a given.
But now after seemingly completing its second major brand-co 
nfirming objective - convincing the public and third-party metrics-makers it builds quality products - Hyundai Motor America is off on its next mission: to become the industry's fuel-economy leader.
So says HMA powertrain director John Juriga after announcing last week Hyundai's newest engine family, a direct-injection variant of the company's global Theta 4-cylinder engine range, as well as a new 6-speed automatic transmission.
The new Theta-II 2.4-liter engine, said Juriga, will generate a class-leading 200 horsepower when it is launched with the all-new 2011 Sonata sedan, which goes on sale early next year.
The new Theta-II engine and 6-speed automatic are the early cornerstone's of Hyundai's "Blue Drive" initiative to achieve world-class fuel-efficiency and reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:20 PM under Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Latest Hybrids Probably Won't Help Build the Market
In order to prod soccer moms across the nation to plug a visit to the BMW dealership into their Blackberrys, BMW North America Inc. this week nonchalantly announced the price for its first "full" hybrid-electric vehicle, the ActiveHybrid X6: $89,725.
Welcome to hybridization as seen by German luxury marques, who, given their choices for showcasing hybrid technology, seem to be more intent on using their new hybrids to prove why their diesel-powered models make much more sense in terms of actually appealing to consumers.
At nearly $90,000, the ActiveHybrid X6 has a total of 485 horsepower, weighs more than 5,600 pounds, delivers a 2-mpg improvement over than the 6-cylinder X6 (4 mpg better in the city and 1 mpg worse on the highway than the V8 X6) - and still has plenty of extra-price options.
In the spring, BMW will follow up with the ActiveHybrid 7, the hybridized version of its 7-Series flagship. The car is certain to crack the 6-figure price barrier.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 9:30 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , GM , In the Media , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Tough New Roof Test Whittles Down Field of IIHS 'Top Safety Pick' Winners
A rigorous new roof-strength standard means a lot fewer new models earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's "Top Safety Pick" award for 2010.
This year, just 27 individual models were named Top Safety Pick by the IIHS, compared with last year's record 94 models that earned the award. Most of the reason so many new vehicles couldn't grab the brass ring comes down to a newly instituted roof-safety test presumed to indicate superior protection in rollovers, which are involved in about one-third of all fatal accidents.
"With the addition of our new roof strength evaluation, our crash test results now cover all 4 of the most common kinds of crashes," said IIHS president Adrian Lund in a release. "Consumers can use this list to zero in on the vehicles that are on the top rung for safety."
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:00 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , In the Media , News , Technology , Volkswagen, Audi | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chevy Volt Less Than One Year Away
Engineers at General Motors Co. working on the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle yesterday told the media development remains on track and that the start of production for GM's game-changing, fuel-saving 4-seater now is less than a year away.
When GM unveiled the Volt at the Detroit auto show in January, 2007, the promise of production seemed tantalizingly far-flung - and improbable, given the myriad technical problems GM admitted had to be solved. But chief engineer Andrew Farah says the accelerated development program is on schedule and GM will begin producing the Volt in less than a year's time.
And despite the recent drama involving the proposed sale of GM's Adam Opel AG European operations and the company's eleventh-hour decision to keep the division, Farah says Opel's version of the Volt, the Ampera, remains on target to hit showrooms about a year after the Volt.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:00 AM under Companies , GM , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Shows Chevrolet Cruze at LA Show; Will Announce Volt Marketing Plans
General Motors Co will unveil the U.S. production version of its Chevrolet Cruze small sedan at the Los Angeles auto show in early December.
The Cruze goes on sale in the third quarter of 2010. GM boasts it will achieve highway fuel economy ratings of up to 40 miles per gallon. The Cruze already is on sale in foreign markets.
GM also said it will announce plans for initial retail markets for the Chevrolet Volt extended range car during the auto show. GM has promised the Volt will be on sale in November 2010.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:47 AM under GM , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds.com Recommends Shift From MPG Emphasis
Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver, late last week submitted a recommendation to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation to make fuel-economy information on new-vehicle window stickers more useful by shifting to a cost-of-energy figure rather than today's emphasized miles-per-gallon numbers.
Edmunds.com believes beginning to focus on annual or monthly energy-cost figures will better prepare consumers and the industry for the increasing number of alternative-propulsion vehicles coming into production. Fully electric, extended-range electric and plug-in hybrid models all will rely less (or not at all) on burning liquid fuel - and translating their energy usage to MPG equivalents so far has proven to generate unrepresentative numbers that make for difficult comparisons between different types of vehicles.
"Consumers have used the existing MPG ratings primarily to get a sense of the relative cost of operating a vehicle on a day-to-day basis," said Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl. "However, using energy equivalents can easily cause consumers to draw erroneous conclusions."
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:00 AM under Companies , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Nissan-Renault's Ghosn: World Ready for EVs Now
The Nissan-Renault alliance is making a major push to accelerate the adoption of fully electric vehicles despite persistent skepticism the public - and the world's vehicle infrastructure - is ready to adopt such a paradigm shift, says the alliance's chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn in a guest editorial at Edmunds.com's Inside Line enthusiast website.
In the exclusive column, Ghosn explains why Nissan-Renault is making a leap of faith for EVs and underscores that once all the environmental and energy-independence debates are set aside, he also believes EVs can provide a new style of emotion to the driving experience.
Ghosn also enumerates why Nissan-Renault believes it is well-positioned to hasten the adoption of EVs through its steady involvement in initiatives for developing and manufacturing high-performance batteries as well as infrastructure.
Ghosn said the company believes EVs could comprise as much as 10 percent of global sales by 2020. Research conducted by Nissan-Renault showed 9 percent of consumers in Japan would choose and EV as their next vehicle; 8 percent of consumers in the U.S. responded similarly.
Nissan Leaf electric vehicle (photo courtesy Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:52 PM under Companies , In the Media , Personalities , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
New-Gen Buick Midsizer Flaunts German DNA
General Motors Co.'s Buick division today released images and information for the 2011 Buick Regal and is openly billing the new-age Buick as a sport sedan.
Given the new Regal's origins with GM's second-generation global midsize chassis that was engineered by Adam Opel AG - the Germany-based European division GM just retrieved from the clutches of mega-supplier Magna and Russia's Sberbank - there might be reasonable credibility for the sport-sedan claim.
In addition to being based on the German-engineered Epsilon II architecture also used by the well-regarded new Opel Insignia (not to mention Buick's new LaCrosse sedan), the 2011 Regal also will be built in Germany at Opel's Russelsheim assembly plant.
The Regal's lines may be some of the crispest ever to be seen in a Buick showroom and GM is calling out the Acura TSX, Volkswagen Passat, Mazda6 and even the Volvo S60 as competitors. The Regal goes on sale in the second quarter next year - and in a significant sign of the times, only 4-cylinder power will be on offer.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:55 PM under Business , Companies , GM , News , Technology | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
BMW: Consumer Values Evolving - But Luxury Brands Will Survive
With luxury automakers taking a beating from the global recession and the geared-down "new" economy left in its wake, some are writing the epitaph for premium cars.
But in a meeting with the media this week, BMW North America LLC officials said that although the economic meltdown indeed has caused shifts in consumer thinking and "America has been changed by this recession," premium brands will continue to be a force in the U.S. market.
BMWNA president Jim O'Donnell said yesterday at the company's headquarters that "premium automakers will help shape the future of mobility" because high-end brands historically have been the first to develop and introduce new innovations.
And given the pressure for new solutions to the automobile's environmental impact, O'Donnell said, "It is our belief that the premium market - and the BMW Group as the leader of this segment - will continue to fill an important and necessary role of bringing innovation and technology to market to meet customer, social and regulatory needs and providing direction for the entire industry."
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:00 AM under Business , Companies , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Some Good Ideas from Chrysler's Turnaround Plan
After a day-long session in which executives from Chrysler Group LLC and its managing 
partner Fiat S.p.A. made public the company's financial and product strategies that will carry it forward for the next five years, the overall impression is of a plan based on optimistic growth assumptions combined with dubious new-product directions.
But not all of Chrysler's five-year outline is unreasonable or illogical. Some aspects, if executed properly and promptly, can help Chrysler distinguish itself from the competition. The three best ideas to come from Chrysler's new business plan: a diesel engine for Jeep; a revamp of Chrysler's mid-size sedans; and a plan to pay back government loans.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:54 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Featured , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford's New Inflatable Seatbelts to Launch with Next-Gen Explorer
Hoping to mitigate crash-related injuries to a vehicle's rear-seat passengers, Ford Motor Co. 
unveiled what it is calling the auto industry's first seatbelts with integral air bags that inflate in an accident to provide additional protection.
The new rear-seat inflatable seatbelts will be offered for the new-generation Ford Explorer crossover, which begins production next year, said Sue Cischke, Ford group vice president of sustainability, environmental and safety engineering.
Although several automakers and safety-systems suppliers have in recent years shown concepts for inflatable belts, Ford claims it will be the first to use them in a production vehicle.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:36 AM under Featured , Ford , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
AutoObserver Twittering from Chrysler Business-Plan Unveiling
Chrysler Group LLC is underway right now with what is one of the year's most crucial auto-industry events: the company's plan moving forward for the next five years under management by Italy's Fiat S.p.A.
Chrysler is revealing new models it's working on, how it plans to fix and improve its existing products and improve its quality and business practices.
AutoObserver is in attendance and editors will be Twittering with highlights throughout the day-long overview.
Follow on Twitter at @AutoObserver
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:56 AM under Chrysler , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Dodge Lays Out Future Product Plan; Hornet-Like Vehicle, New CUV
Ralph Gilles, Chrysler's head of design and CEO of the Dodge division, laid out the division's future product plan at the marathon meeting outlining Chrysler's five-year plan under Fiat.
The biggest news is that Dodge finally will introduce a new B-segment hatch in the vein of the highly acclaimed Dodge Hornet concept shown some time ago, and Dodge will debut a completely new seven-passenger crossover based on Fiat technology.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:35 AM under Chrysler , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
For Once, Rising Gas Prices Could Help Auto Industry
Don't look now, but gasoline prices have crept up to their highest level of 2009. Typically that means trouble for the auto business, but if gas prices stay high, this time the outcome may be different.
Demand for fuel-efficient vehicles seems to be, drastically more challenging nationwide fuel-economy standards are looming and most automakers are drastically retooling the model lines to answer.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:06 AM under Analysis , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fiat Engine Tech Impressive - But Would U.S. Buyers Accept the Cost?
In exchange for becoming the operating partner and 20-percent owner of Chrysler Group LLC, Fiat S.p.A. said it would work to incorporate its new efficiency-enhancing powertrain technologies into Chrysler-badged vehicles and other models the two companies may introduce into the U.S. market.
Fiat recently launched one such technology, showing the media the first car powered by an engine using the company's innovative "Multiair" variable-valve timing system.
The technology seems genuinely impressive - it cuts fuel consumption by a solid 10 percent while increasing power and torque by a similar amount - but the car in which the first Multiair 4-cylinder engines are launched, the Alfa Romeo Mito ("me-too") subcompact, are markedly more expensive than most Americans would consider reasonable for such a small car.
The mid-level Mito, with a 133-horsepower Multiair 4-cylinder that most closely matches the power U.S. buyers expect from the 4-cylinder engine in a compact car, costs about £14,645 in the United Kingdom, auto-enthusiast magazine Car reports. In straight exchange-rate conversion, that amounts to about $24,000.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:13 PM under Chrysler , Companies , News , Technology | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Wins Most Awards Ever from Popular Mechanics
Ford Motor Co. set a new record in Popular Mechanics Automotive Excellence Awards by 
winning more categories in a single year than any other automaker in the history of the awards.
Ford vehicles winning 2010 awards, which recognize the best in design, execution and technology, were the: 2010 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, Best Performance; 2010 Ford Transit Connect; Best Workhorse; and the 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, Best Off-Road Ability.
"Ford's sweep of three categories in this year's awards speaks to the onslaught of great products coming from Dearborn," said Ben Stewart, automotive editor, Popular Mechanics.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:41 AM under Ford , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Word on the Street: The Secret of Subaru's Success
It's no secret that Subaru has been one of the biggest automotive success stories of 2009. 
During one of the worst economies on record, the brand has bucked the industry's downward trend of sales to steadily gain U.S. market share, climbing from just 1.1 percent of all vehicles sold in January 2008 all the way to 2 percent in September.
But what's the secret to Subaru's success? Great products? Savvy marketing? Or perhaps just being in the right place at the right time? Car shoppers and enthusiasts on Edmunds' CarSpace Forums have been debating this topic at length over the last few months, and here's a peek at what they've had to say.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:54 AM under Commentary , Technology | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
'Old' GM May Offload Plant on New-Age Automaker
The "old" General Motors Corp. - now known by the name Motors Liquidation Co. - could be 
on the verge of completing a deal that would bring in some revenue to pay back some of the former GM's creditors, according to a report over the weekend from the Wall Street Journal.
Motors Liquidation reportedly is ready to sell its assembly plant in Wilmington, Del., to Irvine, Calif., new-tech automaker Fisker Automotive Inc. The company, whose CEO is Henrik Fisker, a former designer for BMW AG, has made headlines in recent years with his Fisker Karma extended-range electric vehicle, a slinky, nearly-$90,000 sport sedan set to go on sale next year. The Karma will be produced in Finland under contract with known low-volume vehicle assembler Valmet Automotive.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:22 AM under Companies , GM , News , Personalities , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chinese Automaker Investment Pays Off for Buffett
A stake purchased in Chinese automaker/batterymaker BYD is paying off for billionaire 
investor Warren Buffett.
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. last September paid $230 million for a 10-percent stake in BYD. Since then, the stock has risen from the $1.21 a share that Buffett paid to $10.55 a share, the Detroit News reports.
The stock-run up has made company founder Wang Chuanfu the richest man in China, according to the Hurun Report, a list of the wealthiest Chinese.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:21 AM under Business , Companies , Personalities , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Manufacturers Offer Richest Incentives Since Cash for Clunkers
After dismal September car sales due to the hangover from the government's Cash for 
Clunkers program, auto manufacturers have ramped up incentives in October as they have ramped up production to refill the inventory pipeline, according to Edmunds.com.
The incentives show manufacturers are extremely eager to sell off 2009 models left in inventory. But automakers are also offering incentives on newly launched 2010 models.
"This year has been a wild ride for automakers, and it's not over yet," said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. "No segment is unaffected by the current round of incentives, though luxury models and trucks are being discounted particularly heavily."
Low-interest financing, including zero-interest financing, and cash rebates dominate the landscape, but subsidized lease programs, almost non-existent in the past years, are proliferating as well.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:43 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cultural Preferences Shaping Battery Business Relationships
At the first-ever "Business of Plugging In" conference in Detroit Tuesday, industry interests 
studying the development and marketing of plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles said the question of who is best to develop and manufacture batteries for plug-in hybrids for now seems to be determined by nationalistic preferences.
A panel discussing the future of development for the advanced batteries, which are critical to providing the electric-only driving distances desired for plug-in hybrids, mostly agreed specialist suppliers - not automakers - will be the best companies to develop and produce the batteries.
The differences come when talking about what role automakers will play, however.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:43 AM under Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Plugging In Conference Kicks Off
"The Business of Plugging In" conference kicked off in Detroit Tuesday morning with about 600 people registered. The focus will be electric vehicles going mainstream.
AutoObserver's Senior Contributing Editor Bill Visnic will cover the converence for AutoObserver and Edmunds.com's Green Car Advisor. Catch his tweets from the conference at www.twitter.com/autoobserver.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:39 AM under Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Japan Makers Attending Party for Themselves: The Tokyo Motor Show
Imagine having a football, baseball or soccer game and the visiting team doesn't show up.
That's sort of what's going on this week at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show, where thanks to global belt-tightening and the ever-present perception of the Tokyo show as a home-team-dominated affair, the major U.S. and European automakers are effectively not coming to the game.
Although carrying on with the show is up to them alone, the Japanese makers have toned down the Tokyo show's typical hyperbole - even for Tokyo's typically far-out concept cars, not to mention the production or near-production unveilings. Environmental themes will dominate and any ostentatious displays of power and performance will be limited.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:01 AM under Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Coskata Fires Up First 'Flex' Ethanol Plant, in Pennsylvania
Coskata Inc. has pushed toward the front of the pack of second-generation ethanol producers 
by firing up its new "semi-commercial" facility for manufacturing cellulosic ethanol in Madison, Pa., near Pittsburgh. The $50-million result of research and construction is 65 feet tall and includes an 8,000-degree torch that processes the pine chips which serve as a raw material.
The opening of the facility last week moves the Warrendale, Ill.-based company closer to building a full-scale commercial plant, which Coskata anticipates opening by late 2012.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:58 AM under Business , GM , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Aftermarket Maker, Apple Aim to Put Keyless Remote Suppliers Out of Business
Despair surely reigns in the electronics divisions of several major automotive suppliers with this week's unveiling of an Apple iPhone-based aftermarket system to remotely start your vehicle as well as perform all the functions of a traditional keyless remote.
After all, the electronics boffins have themselves already nonsensically eliminated the need for actual keys, so now Apple and the aftermarket are taking the exercise one step further, eliminating the need for OEM remote key fobs.
Directed Electronics said this week it has an iPhone app that will allow a vehicle properly wired with its Viper SmartStart hardware to be started remotely. The app also enables conventional door and trunk lock/unlock features and "panic" alarm operation.
And unlike current OEM and aftermarket remote starters, the company says the Viper SmartStart system allows the vehicle to be remotely started from almost any distance, provided both iPhone and vehicle have access to cellular signal.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 9:17 AM under Business , In the Media , News , Technology | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota-Subaru Sport Coupe To Break Cover at Tokyo Show
The affordable sport coupe that Toyota Motor Corp. desperately needs to prove it's still got passion is the same car that will symbolize how enmeshed giant Toyota has become with Fuji Heavy Industries Inc.'s tiny Subaru. And that car will be on display at the Tokyo motor show later this month.
Plans for the so-called "Toyobaru" coupe have been public since 2008, but reports of its engineering details have fluctuated and even its status as an approved production-car program has been questioned. Now with the FT-86 concept car, things seem to be solidifying, according to Peter Nunn's report at Edmunds.com's Inside Line.
Toyota may not have its version of the car in showrooms until late 2011, however.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:11 AM under Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Make Mercedes Payment Through iPhone App
Mercedes-Benz Financial boasts that it is the first automotive financial services company to allow 
customers to manage the account on their Mercedes car loan, including making a payment, using an Apple iPhone app.
The financial company is launching a marketing campaign called "The coolest way to pay."
The free download, available at the Apple App Store, allows customers to make payments, view their account summary and request payoff information on existing accounts on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Account holders must first register online at Mercedes-Benz Financial.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:37 AM under Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Aftermarket Performance Icon Holley Goes Chapter 11 -- Again
In a tale that chronicles the dwindling generation of do-it-yourself auto modifiers, storied 
aftermarket performance-parts company Holley Performance, which made its name manufacturing carburetors bearing its name, last week filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in two years.
Holley, whose name became synonymous with carburetors for all manner of high-performance engines and later branched out to own a handful of brands well known for bolt-on performance parts, first entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early 2008 and emerged later that year, transferring the company's equity to holders of its second-lien debt.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:22 AM under Business , Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford's Turn To Scratch Microsoft's Back
Microsoft Corp. said Ford is among a handful of companies that will upgrade to the new 
Windows 7 operating system and help the company promote the new system that goes on sale next month.
Sounds like "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" deal.
Ford uses Microsoft's Sync communications and music system in many of its vehicles, and Microsoft, including its famous founder Bill Gates personally, has helped Ford promote it.
Now it's Ford's turn to help out Microsoft.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:49 AM under Companies , Ford , News , Personalities , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota's Lexus Advertises on Paid CNN App
Toyota's luxury division Lexus is among initial marketers to advertise on CNN's iPhone and iPod Touch application, making its debut Tuesday.
CNN followed the Wall Street Journal in charging for news on such mobile devices. The one-time fee is $1.99 for the news feeds that can be personalized by location or topic and shared by email, Twitter and Facebook, CNN said. Content includes articles, videos, photos and user-generated material. CNN said it has taken almost six months to develop the app. The Wall Street Journal begins charging $2 a week for its mobile app beginning in October.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:28 AM under News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Industry EV Maneuvers Charging Up; Detroit Show to Feature Multi-Maker EV Area
With General Motors Co.'s India subsidiary this week inking an electric-vehicle development 
deal with an Indian EV specialist and once hybrid- and electric-averse European automakers unfurling serious EV plays, accelerating OEM and battery-making initiatives seem to demonstrate EVs are going to be more than a fad.
So much so that next year's Detroit auto show - in the home of the industry responsible for bringing internal-combustion personal transport to the masses - will prominently feature a first-ever, multi-maker display promoting electric cars.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:23 AM under Companies , Featured , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fuel-Efficiency Research Funding Approved by House
A bill to invest $2.9 billion for auto-industry research into technologies to improve fuel efficiency was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives this week in a move that could further help bolster the staggered U.S. auto industry, particularly the Detroit-based automakers.
The money is to be spent over five years, starting with $550 million next year, an increase of more than $100 million over funding that already was approved by the Obama Administration to hasten the pace of fuel-saving technologies and alternative fuels such as hydrogen and electricity.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:23 AM under Companies , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
VW Phaeton May Rise from the Dead
Volkswagen reportedly is considering bringing its Phaeton luxury car back to the U.S., but 
this time with a diesel engine, a top executive told reporters at the Frankfurt auto show.
Volkswagen Group CEO Stefan Jacoby said VW wants to bring back the Phaeton, which launched in the U.S. 2003, reached its peak of 1,939 sales the next year and was pulled out of the market in 2007 due to slow sales.
"I have to admit that it was a mistake to take this car out of the market," Jacoby said in a media briefing at the Frankfurt auto show as reported by the trade publication Automotive News. "We think that the Volkswagen brand is a good place for this. We are looking at various alternatives for the re-launch of Phaeton."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:43 AM under Business , Companies , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Confirms C-Max Coming to U.S.
At the Frankfurt Motor Show Tuesday, Ford Motor Co. said it will bring the new generation of 
its popular European compact people-mover, the Focus C-Max, to the U.S. sometime near the end of 2011.
The C-Max, the all-new generation of which was unveiled in Frankfurt, has been a widely acclaimed hit for Ford of Europe since the original went on sale in 2003.
Derrick Kuzak, Ford's group vice president in charge of global product development, told a group of reporters at its Dearborn, Mich., headquarters Monday the initial U.S.-market C-Max will be the 7-passenger variant (to be called the Grand C-Max) that is longer and taller than the standard 5-passenger C-Max and has a sliding rear door on each side. Both are based on Ford's new global C-segment architecture, also used for the Ford Focus.
Ford marketing sources say it has not yet been decided how the vehicle will be badged in the U.S. - the Focus name, for example, may not be included in the car's branding.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:35 AM under Featured , Ford , Technology | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
Frankfurt Motor Show: Enviro Plays, Luxury the Big Question
Press days for the Frankfurt auto show, one of Europe's most important international auto 
shows, kick off Tuesday, and the lineup of production models and concept cars oriented largely for the European market evidence an auto industry anxious to continue moving the environmental needle - but also grappling with how to keep luxury relevant.
Luxury is where the big profits lie, but many industry analysts say consumers - pounded by the eroded global economy and wracked retirement accounts - are girding for a prolonged downshift in their automotive desires that may leave luxury marques sucking wind.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:08 AM under Commentary , Companies , Featured , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Hyundai, Mitsubishi Out of Chrysler Engine-Making JV
Two of the three partners in the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance are bowing out, leaving Chrysler Group LLC with a four-cylinder global engine family and lots of engine production 
capacity at a highly efficient plant in Dundee, Michigan
Hyundai Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. cut their ties with the GEMA venture last month, selling their shares to Chrysler for an undisclosed amount. The Dundee site began producing the jointly developed engines in October 2005. While two plants in Asia also produced the engines for Mitsubishi and Hyundai, the plan was for the two companies to also take engines supplied by the Dundee GEMA plant for vehicles Hyundai and Mitsubishi built in North America.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:16 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Magna Consortium Gets Opel, but GM Retains Large Hunk
General Motors Co. announced Thursday it will sell a majority interest in its European Adam 
Opel AG and Vauxhall units to a consortium comprised of Canada's Magna International Inc. and Russia's Sberbank.
But a key aspect not prominently discussed in GM's months-long process to shed its currently unprofitable European operations: The company will retain a significant 35 percent interest.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:19 PM under Companies , GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Poised To Grab Medium-Truck Share With New Power Stroke Diesel
Medium-duty truck buyers are due for a potential treat when Ford Motor Co. launches 2011 
models of its Super Duty F-Series next spring powered by the company's all-new Power Stroke 6.7-liter V8 turbodiesel.
The new, in-house-developed engine ends Ford's decades-long supply arrangement with Navistar International Corp., a relationship that ends this year after a long and publicly nasty dispute.
The engine, which Chief Engineer Adam Gryglak said is a total clean-sheet design, is something of a technical tour de force: It has an innovative twin-turbocharger setup packaged as a single unit, a reversed exhaust-port design in which exhaust exits on the inner portion of the engine's vee and Ford's first medium-truck use of weight-saving compacted graphite iron for the engine block.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:26 AM under Business , Featured , Ford , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Mini Launches Mobile App for Roadside Assistance
The fun, sometimes frivolous but often helpful mobile-device applications just keep proliferating and BMW AG's Mini USA -- often an innovator in clever methods to bond with its customers -- is introducing an "app" for roadside assistance, an idea that is likely to be copied by other automakers and third-party road-service providers.
Available to Mini owners with iPhone or Blackberry devices, the Mini Road Assist app enables a one-button connect with roadside-assistance services and, most importantly, uses the devices' built-in location identification software to relay the exact position of the disabled vehicle.
Although many onboard services such as General Motors Corp.'s well-known OnStar offer the same capabilities, they often aren't much use if locked out of the vehicle or the battery is dead.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 7:52 AM under Companies , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
New Cadillac GM Pondering the Diesel Equation
WARREN, MI - Bryan Nesbitt has been on the job as Cadillac's new general manager less than a month, and at a recent media event here, the former vice president of General Motors Co.'s North American design isn't afraid to admit he's still getting up to speed on direct product issues for the company's premium-vehicle division.
One, he told AutoObserver, is diesel engines.
GM product-development higher-ups are adamant that diesels are too costly for the U.S. market. They require complex and expensive exhaust aftertreatment ("onboard chemical factories" is one term repeatedly employed) to comply with the world's toughest diesel-emissions standards - and U.S. diesel fuel is not taxed advantageously, as it is in Europe, where diesels have captured more than half of the region's light-vehicle market.
That includes an outsized presence in Europe's premium sector, where diesel has made distinct inroads because of its combination of efficiency and primary technical advantage: huge torque output, the perfect attribute for engines used in heavy and large luxury models.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:13 AM under Business , GM , News , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
COMMENTARY: Two Dozen New Models May Overcrowd GM's Four-Brand Garage
It's not unusual for General Motors Co. and other big car companies to show the media a 
couple year's worth of pending new models. The difference this week was that GM showed the goods - and allowed reporters to tell all about what they saw.
With the U.S. Treasury Department holding some $60 billion of its markers, GM must quickly convince all its stakeholders the company's got stuff people will want to buy. Good stuff - better than the stuff it insisted was good in the past. The kind of stuff that generates revenue that pays back the kind of debt GM's run up.
Notwithstanding the 230-miles-per-gallon Chevrolet Volt coming next year, GM brags it has some two dozen new-model launches scheduled between now and 2011, but this quantity indicates nothing about the more-important factor: whether a significant number of these new models are winners.
What GM wouldn't allow was photography. But we'll describe with a division-by-division analysis of the new products, most of which are coming by 2011:
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:25 AM under Commentary , Featured , GM , Technology | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
Updated Data Revises Some Hybrid Payback Times
Armed with more detailed 2010 model-year data regarding hybrid-electric vehicle pricing,
incentives and equipment levels that affects payback times, data analysts at Edmunds.com
are issuing revised payback times recently listed for several hybrid models.
Most notably, the battle between Toyota Motor Corp.'s new Prius and the equally new 2010 Insight from Honda Motor Co. Ltd. draws considerably closer than Edmunds.com's analysis originally reported.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:45 PM under Analysis , Companies , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Feds Push National Texting-While-Driving Ban
Using the often-played bargaining chip of federal highway funding, the U.S. Senate is pushing
a bill for a nationwide ban on text messaging while driving.
Thirteen states and the District of Columbia already have such laws, but the bill proposes a two-year time frame for the remaining states to adopt similar laws and formulate a penalty structure.
Virginia Tech's Transportation Institute this week released the "duh" results of a study showing commercial truck drivers were 23 times more likely to crash or experience a near-miss accident if texting.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:50 AM under News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Another Cash for Clunker Glitch: Mileage Ratings Change, Disqualifying Some Deals
The qualifications for the Cash for Clunkers program, officially known as the Car Allowance
Rebate System (CARS
) that launched Monday, apparently are a moving target, Edmunds.com
has learned.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed that last Friday -- the day the rules for Cash for Clunkers were released and dealer sign-up opened -- the agency "refreshed" its combined mileage ratings. It is the combined mileage ratings of the vehicle being traded in as a clunker and of the new vehicle being purchased that determine if the deal qualifies under the program that gives a $3,500 or $4,500 voucher toward the purchase of a new vehicle.
In some cases, the "refreshed" ratings show the potential trade-ins with a higher mileage rating than previously indicated by the EPA, and make them ineligible for the Cash for Clunkers program.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:46 AM under Companies , Featured , News , Technology | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
"New" GM Has Busy First Week
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT - The "new" General Motors, which emerged from bankruptcy just last Friday, had a busy first week
The automaker announced a series of executive retirements, departures and re-assignments, likely the first of many as it sheds about a third of its executive ranks. The top three executives, it was revealed in government filings, will retain their previous pay. Unretired executive Bob Lutz had his first misstep in the communications role he now heads. And the automaker got back to the business of building, promoting and selling vehicles
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:55 AM under Business , Featured , In the Media , News , Personalities , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's "Mr. Environment" Retires, Report Says
DETROIT - Larry Burns, General Motors vice president of R&D and strategic planning, plans
to retire from the auto company. His departure is the one of many upcoming retirements and involuntary departures as the new GM sheds a third of its top executives.
Burns informed GM CEO Fritz Henderson of his decision to retire a month ago, the Detroit Free Press reported Tuesday.
Dubbed GM's "Mr. Environment" in a 2007 profile by The New York Times, Burns was the automaker's most visible spokesman on green issues, long before it was trendy and often when it was at odds with more traditional-minded executives.
Burns is considered a pioneer in the development of hydrogen-powered fuel cells for vehicles. His group oversaw the development of such vehicles as the GM Hy-wire with its by-wire operations and skateboard chassis containing fuel cells a hydrogen tanks; the also hydrogen-powered Chevrolet Sequel; and the recent Segway-based GM P.U.M.A., unveiled at this year's New York auto show.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:44 AM under GM , Personalities , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
New GM Goes High-Tech, High-Touch
DETROIT -- The new General Motors will be closer to the customer and will employ high-tech as well as low-tech ways to do so.
Next week, the new GM will launch a "Tell Fritz" Web site that allows consumers and others to send ideas, questions and concerns directly to GM CEO Fritz Henderson.
"I will personally review and respond to some of these every day and will encourage other executives to participate as well," Henderson said at a Friday news conference.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:07 AM under GM , News , Personalities , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
New GM Experiments With Car-Selling on eBay
DETROIT -- The new General Motors that emerged from bankruptcy Friday is planning
an
experiment with eBay for online car buying.
"We're working on new ways to make car buying more convenient for our customers, including an innovative new partnership with eBay in California to revolutionize how people buy vehicles online," GM CEO Fritz Henderson said at a press conference.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:40 AM under GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's Opel Still Up for Grabs; BAIC Offer in Contention
General Motors is seriously considering an offer for its Opel unit in Europe from Chinese
automaker Beijing Automotive as talks with Canadian auto supplier Magna International and the German government continue.
BAIC made a non-binding offer for Opel this week that requires less government help, cuts fewer jobs and provides for expansion of Opel in China more than an offer by Canadian auto supplier Magna International.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:19 AM under Companies , GM , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Best Buy Gearing Up Electric Vehicle Sales
Best Buy, the nation's largest consumer-electronics retailer, has quietly begun offering
electric-powered scooters, bicycles and Segway Inc. transporters in 19 locations in California, Oregon and Washington, the Wall Street Journal
reports.
Best Buy told the newspaper that its electric vehicles push is part of a re-imagining of the company's product mix involving a corporate division known as Best Buy Labs, which is looking to make better use of the company's Geek Squad electronics technicians.
Industry experts told the Journal that electric vehicles won't be a cash cow for Best Buy anytime soon. But many concur that the investment could prove wise over time, noting that Best Buy has a history of sharp turns that have kept it ahead of competitors.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:10 AM under Business , Companies , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
How's This for Energy Policy?
Portugal 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 charging stations, the country is attempting to prod demand for affordable, mass-market electric vehicles projected to go on sale next year. By 2020, officials claim Portugal could have 180,000 EVs in use and 25,000 public charging sites.
Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:15 PM under In the Media , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Government Launches Cash for Clunkers Web site; Rules Being Written
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government launched a Web site Monday to provide consumers
with information on the so-called Cash for Clunkers legislation passed last week.
The site, www.cars.gov
, explains how the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) program works, provides a list of frequently asked questions and the verbage of the law, links to the government's fuel economy ratings on vehicles
and allows consumers to sign up for updates.
The rules for the program have yet to be written, a process likely to take 30 days.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:22 AM under Companies , In the Media , News , Technology | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
New Incoming Rounds in Hybrid War
By Bill Visnic
When gasoline prices plunged early this year, sales of hybrid-electric vehicles went South, too.
Quickly.
The timing may be unfortunate, but major hybrid players Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. launched new hybrids this spring -- and both seem determined to grub out a larger portion of the yo-yoing hybrid market. That battle, the latest summertime jump for gasoline prices and the U.S. auto market's continuing gyrations are once again cranking up the attention on hybrids.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:51 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Miata Designer Matano, T. Boone Pickens Part of Start-Up Car Company
MONROE, La. -- Mystery solved. Or at least the players behind it.
Mazda Miata designer Tom Matano and Texas billionaire investor T. Boone Pickens are key figures behind a car plant being established in Louisiana to build environmentally friendly vehicles by a start-up company that has never before built cars.
V-Vehicle Co., of San Diego, is a start-up company being financed by California venture capitalists. Its CEO is Frank Varasano, a former executive vice president of Oracle Corp. who is described as the project's visionary.
Company chairman is Ray Lane of the California venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, which has been extensively involved in environmentally friendly projects and companies, including Fisker Automotive. John Doerr, a managing partner with the California venture capital company, is a V-Vehicle board member. Former Vice President Al Gore recently joined the firm. Matano will direct design.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:23 PM under Business , Companies , Featured , GM , News , Personalities , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Mystery Company To Assemble Cars in Louisiana
Baton Rouge, La. -- A company described as a well-financed start-up reportedly is close to
choosing a shuttered north Louisiana site to start a new automobile manufacturing facility -- its first, creating up to 1,500 jobs, two elected officials from the region told the Associated Press.
A formal announcement on the mystery company could come Wednesday from Gov. Bobby Jindal, Rep. Jim Fannin told the wire service.
Fannin said the vehicles would be the company's first, they would be fuel-efficient ones and they will be built at a former Guide Corp. plant.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:08 AM under Business , Companies , GM , Rumors , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chevrolet Ready To Be Lead Horse in GM Revival
By Bill Visnic
PLYMOUTH, Mich. -- Through the months of the unfolding General Motors Corp.'s bankruptcy story, one plotline has been clear and unwavering: the Chevrolet brand will be the backbone -- and linchpin -- of GM's attempt to restructure and revitalize with a lot fewer brands and a lot smaller operational footprint.
At an event this week to launch the new 2010 Equinox compact crossover, Chevrolet North America Vice President Ed Peper reiterated GM isn't planning to wear the bankruptcy label for long, and added that Chevrolet is ready to drive GM's recovery. He said Chevrolet is loaded with coming products that should resonate in the new patterns of the U.S. auto market.
(Read more...)
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Lexus Says Luxury Car Sales May Be Coming in From the Cold
By Bill Visnic and Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- Admitting the industry and economic downturn has taken a hard toll on luxury-car sales and possibly altered, at least for awhile, customers' thinking about their "wants" versus their needs, the sales boss for Toyota Motor Sales USA's Lexus luxury division says the worst may have passed.
Mark Templin, Lexus group vice president and general manager, says luxury has been beaten down -- maybe even disproportionately in relation to the battered overall auto market -- but he believes customers will come back to luxury cars, despite enduring a once-in-a-generation recession.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:57 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Pulls Plug on 2010 Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid
DETROIT - General Motors has pulled the plug on the 2010 version of the Chevrolet Malibu hybrid
due to slow sales and high inventory levels, the Wall Street Journal
reports.
A GM spokesman told the paper the automaker has a "sufficient stock of 2009s" and starting up production in the near future is "possible, but not likely."
(Read more...)
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Penske: Envisioning Saturn as a Global Motors
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- Roger Penske's dealership group doesn't hold a single Saturn franchise, but now he's offered to buy from General Motors the whole kit and caboodle.
Penske's vision, as he laid it out in an exclusive interview with Edmunds' AutoObserver.com Friday shortly after GM and the Penske Group announced they had made a deal for Saturn, is twofold: to sell GM-made models in Saturn showrooms while shopping the globe for other vehicles to sell, eventually convincing the offshore manufacturers of those vehicles to make them in the United States.
(Penske announced on Sept. 30 it terminated discussions with GM for the purchase of Saturn.)
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:49 AM under Business , Companies , Featured , GM , News , Personalities , Technology | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
Diesel-Fuel Price Plunges; Will Engines Be Revived?
By Bill Visnic
The price of diesel fuel dipped to less than the price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline earlier this month, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The price inversion followed what the EIA said is a "traditional" spring transition for the price of the two fuels. But it also ends extensive auto-industry hand-wringing about the price of diesel, which for some time has not followed historic patterns and many blame for derailing ambitious plans to launch diesel-powered light vehicles in the U.S. market.
(Read more...)
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VW Links With China's BYD for Hybrid or Electric Cars; Ford May Follow
Volkswagen has signed a letter of intent with China's BYD on hybrid or electric cars. Ford
and another European automaker are rumored to be working on similar arrangements with BYD.
BYD, which stands for Build Your Dream, has been a Chinese company to watch. Formed in 1995, BYD is now the world's second-largest producer of lithium-ion batteries, mostly for cell phones, and has been making cars only since 2003.
The company has been displaying a plug-in hybrid, the BYD F3, at global auto shows, including one in Detroit.
(Read more...)
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Fuji Heavy To Sell Hybrid Car, Introduce New Diesel
Subaru parent, Fuji Heavy Industries, may introduce a hybrid vehicle by 2012 and will develop a new diesel engine by 2011 or 2012 to meet more stringent environmental standards, company president Ikuo Mori told reporters in Tokyo, according to Bloomberg News. The automaker has said it plans to use a hybrid system developed by Toyota, its biggest shareholder.
Mori also said Subaru in the U.S. is encouraging its dealers dualed with Chrysler to switch to Fuji Heavy's finance company; there are about 20 dealers that handle both brands.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:24 AM under Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford: Perfect Timing for EcoBoost Celebration
By Michelle Krebs
Once again, Ford has lucked out in terms of timing.
As President Obama was announcing stricter fuel economy and emissions standards in Washington, D.C., Ford was celebrating the production of its new EcoBoost engine in Cleveland.
The opportunity to promote Ford, which has tried to set itself apart from General Motors and Chrysler by not taking government assistance -- and staying away from bankruptcy -- was not lost on company CEO Alan Mulally, who flanked President Obama at his White House press conference.
(Read more...)
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New Fuel Rules: Automakers May Build Them, but Will Customers Buy Them?
By Michelle Krebs
President Obama declared the new combined fuel-economy and emissions standards historic. In a press conference in the White House rose garden, surrounded by environmentalists and captains of the global auto industry, Obama said the new rules mark the nation's first comprehensive effort to curb vehicle emissions while cutting dependence on imported oil -- a turning point toward a "clean-energy economy."
Still, the new standards fall short on one critical element: What will make consumers buy the new clean vehicles required by the law?
The government can dictate that automakers build highly fuel-efficient vehicles that emit few pollutants, but will customers buy them? Recent history illustrates that customers are not stirred by their conscience but by their wallets, buying smaller, fuel-economy cars only when gas prices rise to the point of hurting them financially.
"Defining what should be built does not create demand," asserted Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl. "There are tons of great fuel-efficient cars out there today but most consumers aren't interested, and the new fuel-economy standards don't appeal to deal with the demand side at all."
(Read more...)
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President Obama To Announce Fuel-Economy, Emission Standards Tuesday
WASHINGTON -- President Obama is expected to announce new fuel-economy and greenhouse-gas standards at a White House press conference Tuesday.
The new standards are expected to raise fuel economy for cars to 35 mpg by 2016, Washington sources are saying. That's four years earlier than federal law had required.
The trade-off is that the state of California apparently has agreed to back off from its effort to establish its own greenhouse-gas emissions standards for automobiles, sources are saying. California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to attend President Obama's press conference, the Web site Politico.com reports.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:11 AM under Companies , Personalities , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chevrolet Volt: First Media Test Drives Given
The dance of the seven veils continues as General Motors recently began offering early, early test drives of its highly anticipated 2011 Chevrolet Volt.
Edmunds' Inside Line Senior Editor Dan Pund was among the early test drivers of the engineering development car, commonly known in the industry as a "mule."
Pund called his test drive more of a progress report than a final assessment and reports its development is coming along nicely. But much more is yet to be known about the Volt, that is supposed to come out near the end of 2010.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:19 PM under Commentary , GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Nissan: EV Business Will Be "Real" Business
By Bill Visnic
NOVI, Michigan -- Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. is ratcheting up its electric vehicle talk and expanding pilot programs around the nation in preparation for a battery-powered electric car it plans to mass-market sometime around 2012.
And Larry Dominique, vice president-product planning for Nissan Americas, promises that unlike previous efforts to mainstream somewhat weird electric vehicles, Nissan plans a full-blooded sales and marketing effort -- and that the still-unseen vehicle will be no oddity.
(Read more...)
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Edmunds.com Jumps on the Earth Day Band Wagon With Tire-Check Marathon
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- On Earth Day, drive into a Santa Monica automotive business and get your tire pressure checked. The city is seeking the Guinness World Record for number of tires checked and properly filled in a day, and attempting to educate local residents about the importance of this simple task.
"Our studies show that a driver wastes $800 per year on fuel when driving on a severely under-inflated tire," reported Edmunds.com Senior Editor and "Green Team" committee member Joanne Helperin. "With approximately 250 million vehicles on the road in the United States, and a government estimate that the average vehicle tire is under-inflated by 26 percent, there is remarkable potential for saving billions of dollars and tons of fuel."
(Read more...)
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2010 Toyota Prius Priced Above 2010 Honda Insight
TORRANCE, California -- Toyota announced pricing on its 2010 Toyota Prius that puts it
higher than the 2010 Honda Insight.
The 2010 Toyota Prius will start at $22,750, including a $750 destination charge, when it goes on sale in late May, putting it higher than the 2010 Honda Insight, which starts at $20,470 and went on sale March 24.
However, Toyota's pricing strategy includes the rollout later this year of the 2010 Toyota Prius I, a stripped-down base model that will start at $21,750 -- still more expensive than the cheapest Insight.
(Read more...)
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Toyota Prius Beats Honda Insight in Edmunds' Inside Line Comparison Test
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- The 2010 Toyota Prius beat the 2010 Honda Insight in a
comparison test conducted by Inside Line
, Edmunds.com's
online enthusiast car magazine.
"The 2010 Toyota Prius is quicker, it stops shorter and, with its smoother ride quality and quieter cabin, it's the one you want to be in when commuting," says Erin Riches, Edmunds' Inside Line senior editor.
In the comparison test, the 2010 Honda Insight was praised for its steering and for the responsiveness of its continuously variable transmission (CVT).
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:12 AM under Analysis , Companies , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
One Million Plug-In Hybrids by 2015? Maybe. Profitable? Probably Not
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT -- Most members of a panel of electric vehicle and battery experts at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress here say President Obama's goal of having 1 million plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles on the road by 2015 is possible -- but will be difficult.
But when asked if automakers or battery suppliers will be able to make a profit on the coming generation of electrified vehicles -- hybrids, plug-in hybrids and extended-range electric vehicles such as General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet Volt and others -- that need advanced (but more expensive) lithium-ion batteries, the chances are even slimmer.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:54 AM under Business , Companies , Featured , GM , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
BMW Gets Loopy - and It's Not Even Octoberfest Yet
By Bill Visnic
Maybe they're growing the hops just a little too close to the medicinal marijuana over there in Germany. A media report this week says BMW AG is considering abandoning its legendary inline six-cylinder engine design in favor of a V6 layout.
A V6 in place of the magnificent inline six-cylinder engine design on which the very foundation of the company was built? Magnifying the madness, the proposed sacrilege comes from no less than BMW's high-performance Motorsports division.
Yes, the M division is considering ditching the hallowed I-6 when it's time for the next-generation M3 around 2013, Ludwig Willisch, top dog at BMW's M division, was reported as saying at Motor Trend.com.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:47 AM under Commentary , Companies , Featured , Rumors , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Smallest Cars Perform Poorly in Crashes With Bigger Cars, IIHS Confirms
WASHINGTON -- Turns out, auto engineers have been right all along: size matters and you
can't defy physics in crashes.
The latest report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) shows that even the best small cars do poorly in head-on collisions even with only somewhat bigger midsize sedans from the same manufacturer.
"Minicars as a group do a comparatively poor job of protecting people in crashes, simply because they're smaller and lighter," Adrian Lund, president of the insurance industry-funded group, said in a statement. "In collisions with bigger vehicles, the forces acting on the smaller ones are higher."
The IIHS notes that frontal crashes are the most dangerous traffic accidents, causing about 15,000 out of roughly 40,000 U.S. traffic deaths annually.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:29 AM under Analysis , Companies , News , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Global News: UK Electric Car Subsidy Criticized; Nissan, Renault Do Electric Cars in China; Tesla Opens EU Stores; Australian Sales Fall
In global news, the auto industry criticized Prime Minister Gordon Brown's subsidy for electric cars, Nissan and Renault announced plans to supply China with electric cars by 2011; U.S.-based Tesla is expanding to Europe; and vehicle sales in Australia tumbled in the first quarter.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:38 AM under Companies , Ford , GM , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's Tom Stephens: Lutz Successor Is a Serious Engineer - and Serious Enthusiast
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT -- The ouster of General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner grabbed all of the headlines at the start of this month, but, at the same time, another changing of the guard was taking place quietly inside the auto company.
GM career engineer Thomas G. Stephens took over April 1 for the industry's most consistently anointed "car guy," Bob Lutz, who stepped down from daily responsibilities and will remain a GM advisor until his official retirement at year-end.
Stephens is an executive with no paltry credentials -- and plenty of his own car-guy chops.
(Read more...)
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New Toyota Prius Has To Address Tough Market and Tough New Rival
By Bill Visnic
ORLANDO, Florida -- Acknowledging that low gasoline prices have hampered hybrid sales growth and that rival Honda Motor Co. could be a threat to its dominance in the hybrid-electric vehicle market, a Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. executive says the company remains confident hybrids are a strong growth opportunity.
At a media preview of the heavily redesigned 2010 Prius hybrid here, Ed La Rocque, Toyota's national car marketing manager, confirms Toyota has a plan to address Honda's new Insight hybrid, the recent U.S. launch of which has whipped analysts and industry watchers into a frenzy because the Insight's base price ($19,800) undercuts the current Prius by thousands.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:34 AM under Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
New York Auto Show: VW's Jacoby Sees Little Recovery Until 2010
NEW YORK -- U.S. car and truck sales may come in at under 10 million units this year and may not rebound until next year, said the head of Volkswagen's North American operations.
"We may not see a recovery until the end of this year, or even into next year," Stefan Jacoby, president of Volkswagen of America, said in a speech Wednesday at the New York auto show.
(Read more...)
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New York Auto Show: Chrysler's Press Plays Up Fiat Alliance Benefits
By Michelle Krebs
With the tiny Fiat 500 as his prop, Chrysler President Jim Press used the stage of the New York auto show to play up the benefits of a proposed alliance with Italy's Fiat.
"Imagine the possibilities this marriage could have," said Press. "This car is roughly the same size as [Chrysler's] Hemi engine," Press quipped of the 500. "It's the perfect car to get around New York City."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:26 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler Selects A123Systems as Battery Supplier
By Bill Visnic
With barely three weeks to concoct a workable alliance with Fiat S.p.A lest the Feds roll out the bankruptcy carpet, Chrysler LLC had enough extra time on its hands this week to announce its latest team-up: a strategic alliance with Massachusetts-based battery developer A123Systems.
Chrysler said in a press release that the deal "reinforces both companies'" commitment to expand battery manufacturing technology in the United States, reducing dependency on foreign sources of energy and greenhouse gas emissions."
(Read more...)
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Cadillac Put Out of Some European Markets by Distributor's Woes
The future of General Motors' Cadillac division in Europe is becoming increasingly cloudy,
with the automaker reportedly withdrawing its luxury brand from half of Europe's 25 markets due to the financial struggles of its distributor, the Netherlands-based Kroymans Corp.
In another blow to its European aspirations, Cadillac confirmed to AutoObserver earlier this week that it has shelved plans for a new long-needed diesel engine for its rear-drive cars, like the CTS and STS, sold in Europe, where diesels are a must-have for luxury cars.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:06 AM under Business , GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
China's Geely Buys Ford Supplier; Close To Buying Volvo?
HONG KONG -- China's Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd., known to be in talks with Ford to
buy Volvo, announced Friday its purchase of Australian partsmaker Drivetrain Systems International, claimed to be the world's largest supplier of automatic gearboxes. Ford is among Drivetrain's customers.
Geely, China's largest private carmaker, is believed to be furthest along in talks to buy Volvo from Ford. Ford confirmed earlier this week that it was in talks with multiple interested parties about purchasing Volvo.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:49 AM under Companies , Ford , Rumors , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cadillac Kills Crucial Diesel Engine for Europe
By Bill Visnic
General Motors Corp.'s Cadillac division, long ambitious to expand its brand in Europe, has canceled a long-needed diesel engine that was earmarked to power Cadillacs sold in that market.
The loss of the diesel engine -- currently a virtual requirement to successfully compete in Europe, particularly in premium-vehicle segments -- is another blow to Cadillac's European aspirations and is certain to cause a serious setback and realignment of Cadillac's strategy. Or even an outright surrender in Europe.
GM and Cadillac sources confirm the diesel for Europe has been canceled, but division spokesperson Joann Krell said the engine's official status, as with many diesel engine programs recently shelved, is "indefinitely delayed."
(Read more...)
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Global News: Volvo Cars Has Poor Resale Value; GM Guarantees Technology for Saab; Porsche Secures $13.5 Billion Loan
In Global News Wednesday, Ford Motor Co. is negotiating with three bidders for Volvo, General Motors and Saab agree to share technology for five years, and Porsche obtained $13.5 billion in financing.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:16 AM under Companies , Ford , GM , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Abu Dhabi Investor Becomes Daimler's Biggest Shareholder
By Michelle Krebs
Even the seemingly strong and mighty need help in this dismal economic environment as was proven over the weekend when Germany's Daimler AG, parent of Mercedes-Benz, sold nearly $3 billion worth of shares to an Abu Dhabi investment firm. The stock sales will generate much-needed cash for the automaker and give Daimler a single large shareholder to ward off any potential takeover by an outsider.
The two companies announced Sunday night that Aabar Investments PJSC would buy 96.4 million of new Daimler shares for $2.7 billion. Aabar, with a 9.1 percent stake in Daimler, now becomes Daimler's largest shareholder.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:31 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Obama on Leno: Talking Auto Industry
By Michelle Krebs
President Obama didn't spend much time during his historic appearance on The Tonight Show
talking about the auto industry to car-crazed host Jay Leno. But what he did say made it sound like he understood that new-car sales are simply too low for the industry to be successful.
President Obama noted that the U.S. car sales are running at an annual rate of 9 million vehicles, well below even the usual rate of replacement for worn-out vehicles, and that 14 million new cars a year would be more normal.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:09 AM under Commentary , Companies , GM , In the Media , Personalities , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Global News: Toyota Prius Plug-In Trials in France; Chinese Cars in Israel; Canadian Economy to Shrink
In news from around the world Wednesday, Toyota has partnered with French utility company EDF to road test the plug-in Prius, a Chinese vehicle brand is set to launch in Israel, and Merrill Lynch forecasts dramatic retraction of Canada's economy in the first quarter of 2009.
(Read more...)
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Global News: Mazda Seeks Government Help; Toyota To Slash Prius Price; China Incentivizes Rural Car Sales; Kia Cuts Russia Sales Targets
In global news Tuesday, Mazda said it was seeking financial help from the Japanese government, China is giving incentives to rural dwellers to buy cars, and Kia slashed its forecast for Russia.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:44 AM under Business , Companies , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Daimler Shops for Michigan Property, Tax Incentives
DETROIT -- German automaker Daimler AG plans to locate an engineering center near Ann Arbor, Michigan, home of the University of Michigan, to develop hybrid technology, if it receives tax incentives and finds suitable property, state and local officials say.
The subsidiary, to be called Mercedes-Benz Hybrid LLC, would employ about 223 engineers and technicians and would receive tax credits valued at $7.5 million over 10 years.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:40 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Except for Europeans, Vehicle Manufacturers Ditch Diesel Plans
By Bill Visnic
Plans to use clean-running diesel engines for U.S. passenger are being shredded almost daily as troubles in the auto industry deepen, with the latest backtracking said to be coming from Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.
Nissan confirmed in early 2008 it would launch a sophisticated 3.0-liter V6 turbodiesel -- developed by partner Renault S.A. -- for the U.S.-market Maxima flagship later this year. That plan now is likely to change, as industry sources speculate Nissan will join several other makers to recently retreat on diesel-launch strategies.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:55 AM under Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
BMW Still Likes Hydrogen - Sans Fuel Cell
By Bill Visnic
BMW AG, long a promoter of hydrogen fuel for fairly conventional internal-combustion engines, said this week its engineers, with the help of other technical partners, have developed a hydrogen-fueled IC engine with diesel-like thermodynamic efficiency.
BMW said the engine, which uses high-pressure injection of gaseous hydrogen directly into the specifically designed combustion chamber, is up to 42 percent efficient, which rivals contemporary diesels, which represent the current top of the combustion-engine food chain -- not to mention most other propulsion alternatives.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:41 AM under Business , Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Development of Cancelled GM Diesel Was Complete
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT - General Motors Corp. caused a stir when it confirmed yesterday that it is shelving an innovatively designed diesel engine that was earmarked to provide something of a fuel-efficiency revolution for its light-duty pickup trucks and possibly its full-size SUVs.
The Duramax 4.5-liter V8 diesel design "was complete," according to a GM spokesperson, who added that GM engineers "were doing the vehicle engineering development work associated with integrating the diesel into the vehicle." GM had billed the Duramax as a 2010 engine and was set to begin building the engine at a longstanding powertrain manufacturing site in Tonawanda, New York.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:42 AM under GM , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Cancels Smaller Diesel for Light-Duty Pickup Trucks
General Motors has put on "indefinite hold" its previously announced plan to add a Duramax
4.5-liter V8 diesel engine to 2010 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra light-duty trucks.
The ailing automaker cited the current economic climate as the reason for the decision, adding that it "remains optimistic that the Duramax 4.5-liter V8 diesel may be a viable option in its future portfolio," according to the company's statement.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:32 AM under GM , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Builds 100,000th Hybrid; Honda Prices Insight Below Prius
KANSAS CITY, Missouri -- Ford produced its 100,000th hybrid vehicle Tuesday. The silver Escape
Hybrid rolled off the assembly line at the carmaker's Kansas City Assembly Plant.
At the same time, Honda announced that its 2010 Honda Insight will cost more than $2,000 less than the least expensive 2009 Toyota Prius.
Ford has built the most hybrids of any of the Big Three, but still trails Toyota and Honda. In 2008, Ford sold 19,524 Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrids. Toyota sold almost 159,000 Prius hybrids. Still, as Edmunds' Green Car Advisor reports, Escape hybrid sales bucked the industry's downward sales trend in February with a 55-percent sales increase.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:51 AM under Business , Companies , Ford , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
President Obama's Auto Advisors Visit Detroit
DETROIT -- Representatives of President Barack Obama's automotive task force are visiting
Detroit Monday. Their trip includes a tour of a Chrysler assembly plant and General Motor's Technical Center and a test-drive of the Chevrolet Volt.
All the while, auto company executives will try to convince them further federal assistance is a worthwhile investment for taxpayers.
Their visit comes as Republicans cranked up the volume on their opposition to support Detroit automakers and yet another survey showed the American public generally is opposed as well.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:59 AM under Business , Commentary , Companies , Ford , GM , Personalities , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Fusion Ads Break, Focusing on Fuel Economy
By Michelle Krebs
DEARBORN -- Think Ford and most consumers don't think cars first. Or fuel economy.
Ford marketing executives hope to reverse both notions with its massive ad campaign for the 2010 Ford Fusion and the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid that kicks off this week. Quite simply, Ford bills the Fusion in all of its forms -- from the four-cylinder to the V6 to the hybrid -- as the most fuel-efficient midsize sedan in America.
In a campaign that's as large as that for the Ford F-150 pickup, Ford focuses mostly on fuel economy as well as technology, including Ford Sync, in its print ads, that began running in newspapers this weeks, and on television commercials, the first of which air Tuesday evening on American Idol.
(Read more...)
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GM Defends Chevy Volt; Calls Critical Study Faulty
By Bill Visnic
A study by engineers from Carnegie Mellon University examining the economics of electricity-intensive "plug-in" hybrid-electric vehicles - a coming class of high-efficiency models typified by General Motors Corp.'s 2011 Chevrolet Volt - bases its primary argument on an outdated assumption, said one of GM's highest-ranking engineers.
The Carnegie Mellon study concluded that plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEVs) using large, high-capacity battery packs to enable propulsion for comparatively long distances solely on electric power are not the most economically viable path to higher-efficiency vehicles. It said PHEVs with more modest and less-costly battery capacity are the optimum approach.
GM's highly publicized Chevrolet Volt is categorized by the company as an "extended-range" electric vehicle, but in effect is a PHEV with the kind of large-capacity battery capability the Carnegie Mellon study said is not a cost-efficient solution.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:36 AM under Featured , GM , Technology | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Study Short-Circuits Chevy Volt as GM Stock Yo-Yos
By Bill Visnic
Shares in General Motors Corp. got on board for another broad U.S. stock market plunge Monday as a new study from researchers at uber-egghead Carnegie Mellon University says electricity-intensive hybrids such as GM's Chevrolet Volt "extended-range" electric vehicle won't be the ultimate environmental answer GM touts.
The Carnegie Mellon study, reported on by Edmunds Green Car Advisor Friday, is another setback for battered GM, whose stock price last week briefly visited a low -- $1.52 -- not seen since just after the Great Depression and today was again struggling to stay above the $2 mark as the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid to its own new lows. GM last week also reported an annual loss for 2008 of $30.9 billion, an amount exceeded in GM corporate history only by the $38 billion GM lost in 2007.
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Toyota Says Market Has Room for 2010 Prius and New Honda Insight
By John O'Dell
Gas is down around $2 a gallon again. Honda is about to introduce a $19,000 (give or take) hybrid. The economy's in the tank. People are pinching pennies like crazy. And new-car sales are at their lowest levels in decades.
Sounds like a great time for Toyota to hit the market with its third-generation Prius, a car likely to be priced thousands of dollars above its prime competitor, the new Honda Insight hybrid.
But that's exactly what Toyota's doing. Toyota expects the 2010 Prius, which arrives in showrooms in June, will reverse the model's sliding sales and bring 100,000 buyers into the market in the last seven months of this year.
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Beijing Auto Denies Interest in Chrysler
Chinese automaker Beijing Automotive Industry Co. denied Monday that it was in talks with 
Chrysler about buying assets or technology from the Detroit automaker, Reuters
reported.
The denial came in response to a Chinese Business News report, citing an unnamed executive at Beijing Auto, that the companies had initial talks.
Though Chrysler no longer has a car-making venture with Beijing Auto, the Chinese company still produces Chrysler 300 models for the local market.
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Toyota Hits Global Loss, But Exec Says Pent-Up Demand in U.S.
By Bill Visnic
Saying the company expects auto sales levels to begin recovering in the second half after "bouncing around the bottom" the first six months of this year, Don Esmond, senior vice president, automotive operations, Toyota Motor Sales USA, says the industry seasonally adjusted selling rate should begin to rise toward more tolerable levels later this year.
After recording January sales, the U.S. industry's SAAR projected to less than 10 million units. And Toyota today reported the global auto sales plunge that began in the second half of 2008 will drag it to its first net operating loss in 59 years, as the company expects to record a loss of some $3.85 billion for the year ending in March.
The loss comes on the expectation Toyota will sell nearly 1.5 million fewer vehicles around the world than it originally projected.
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GM Plant for Cruze, Volt Engines Delayed Again
General Motors confirmed Wednesday it extending the delay in construction of its four-
cylinder engine plant in Flint, Michigan. The plant is to build the 1.4-liter engines for the Chevrolet Cruze and Volt.
Last month, work was suspended pending a review in the first quarter, GM said at the time. No specifics about the most recent delay were provided.
GM insists the engine plant should be done in time for the start-up of production of the Cruze at the Lordstown, Ohio, plant and the Volt at the Hamtramck plant in Detroit.
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Chrysler-Badged Fiats Two Years Away
Chrysler Vice Chairman Jim Press announced at the National Automobile Dealers Association gathering in New Orleans this weekend that a Chrysler-badged Fiat could be introduced in less than two years. The company is reportedly looking at the Fiat 500, Panda and Punto models, but has not decided on a platform.
At the same time, Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli sent a letter to company employees Friday confirming the development of a new Dodge Durango SUV as well as a Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 sedan.
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Speedway Adds Testing for Connected Vehicles
DETROIT -- The Michigan Department of Transportation and Michigan International
Speedway (MIS) announced Monday a partnership for research and development of connected vehicle technologies.
The Brooklyn, Michigan, track, which hosts various racing events including NASCAR, will be offered to automakers, supplier and aftermarket companies and government agencies that manufacturer, develop and test technologies that allow cars to communicate with one another to prevent collisions and improve mobility and fuel efficiency. The track will allow testing in a closed and safe environment before the technologies go onto public roads.
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Diesel Pickups Dumped By Detroit?
By Bill Visnic
Remember those diesel-engine light-duty pickups we're supposed to be seeing this year? Get ready to hear the words "back burner" in relation to those product plans.
General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC all said as long ago as 2007 they would have diesel engines, respectively, for the GMT 900 pickup line (Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra); the Ford F-150 and the Dodge Ram. GM is developing an in-house 4.5-liter V8; Ford, an in-house 4.4-liter V8 derived from a European diesel and Chrysler said it would collaborate with longstanding diesel-engine partner Cummins Inc. to produce a V6 diesel.
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GM Initiative To Be Incubator for Battery-Engineering Education
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT -- In announcing a plan to assemble in Michigan the lithium-ion battery packs for the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle, General Motors Corp. also is forming an education cooperative that aims to train a new breed of engineer that can commingle electrical and automotive knowledge.
Part of GM's multi-faceted approach to build a foundation for the domestic development and supply of advanced batteries for the auto
industry is a $5-million, five-year program that establishes at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor the GM/U-M Advanced Battery Coalition for Drivetrains (ABCD).
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Buffett Invests in RV Business
By Michelle Krebs
As investor Kirk Kerkorian was selling off the last of his shares in the U.S. auto industry, another elder American investor was easing into the business.
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. reported to government regulators Monday that it had purchased $40 million in recreational vehicle maker, Coachmen Industries Inc., which assembles Viking travel trailers in Middlebury, Ind.
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Ford Promises Big Slim-Down With Next-Gen Platforms
By Bill Visnic
DEARBORN, MI -- Already talking big about the efficiency gains projected from its new downsized engines and six-speed automatic transmissions, Ford Motor Co. will engage a full-scale war against weight in its next product-development-led gambit to become the green-focused car company executives believe Ford must become to reemerge as a success in the U.S. and global auto markets.
The big cut in ever-bloating vehicle weight will come as Ford phases in the next-generation platforms for its product range, says Derrick Kuzak, group vice president of global product development.
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Toyota Delays Mississippi Plant Launch; Slashes Forecast, Details Cost Cuts Next week
Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it is delaying plans to open its newest U.S. plant in
Mississippi, which was to have built the next-generation Prius hybrid.
Citing the steep decline in the auto market, Toyota said it would complete construction of the building but would hold off on installing equipment, delaying the start of production that was slated for 2010.
The delay of the Mississippi plant is part of a massive cost cutting the Japanese automaker has undertaken. Next week, Toyota is expected to slash its 2009 sales forecast by at least 1 million vehicles and outline plans to cut costs at its year-end news conference December 22, Reuters news service reports.
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7 Myths About Detroit Automakers, Detroit Free Press
The debate over aid to the Detroit-based automakers is awash with half-truths and misrepresentations that are endlessly repeated by everyone from members of Congress to journalists. Here are seven myths about the companies and their vehicles, and the reality in each case.
This column by Detroit Free Press auto critic Mark Phelan originally was published on November 17 and was updated last Friday to debunk the myths as Congress was about to fashion an automotive rescue package.
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Ford, Rivals Stress New Parsimony to Congress
By Bill Visnic
Scrambling to enlist the aid of the federal government in surviving the nation's drastic economic downturn, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC are submitting today their restructuring "blueprints" that will have at least one element in common: symbolic pay cuts for their chief executive officers and pledges to accelerate the introduction of higher-efficiency models and technologies.
Ford CEO Alan Mulally will work for $1 per year, Ford announced, and it is believed GM CEO Rick Wagoner will do the same when his company releases details of the company's plan later today. Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli already had offered to work for $1.
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Detroit Three: Making the Sales Pitch of a Lifetime
By Michelle Krebs
The Detroit Three are putting the finishing touches and obtaining the blessings of their boards and upper management for the biggest sales pitch of their lives this week. They are preparing the viability plans due to Congress on Tuesday in order to obtain the $25 billion in bridge loans they are seeking.
Executives from General Motors, Ford and Chrysler worked through the Thanksgiving holiday putting together plans after Congressmen criticized them for lacking such plans in the last round of hearings. While each company's plan is individual to their unique circumstances, all are expected to detail even deeper cuts, including executive compensation and perks, than have already been made and an acceleration of environmental and fuel-saving initiatives. Their plans also are expected to include even more concessions from the United Auto Workers (UAW) union.
Meantime, the Detroit Three's plea for help is likely to get a boost from the continued deterioration of auto sales in the U.S., where automakers report November results Tuesday. Sales are expected to hit 25-year lows. That sales slide is spreading globally with a number of markets reporting dismal sales on Monday.
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Honda Planning V8 -- but Not Until 2015
By Peter Nunn
Maybe dreams do come true, after all. Americans who have long yearned for Honda to develop a production-car V8 engine may finally be getting their wish -- if recent comments made by Honda president Takeo Fukui are any guide.
In a recent media interview, Fukui was quoted as saying that Honda was now planning to strengthen the Acura brand with a production V8.
Why? Because the 3.7-liter V6 currently installed in the newly face-lifted RL, the range-topper for Honda's upscale Acura sales channel -- wasn't "sufficient" to compete with other premium brands, he said.
Just don't take it to mean a Honda V8 is around the corner.
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In the Background, Cellulosic Ethanol Moves Forward
By Dale Buss
It's hardly front-page news at a time of high drama over the entire future of the domestic auto industry, but the cellulosic-ethanol business is advancing by baby steps at a time of significant financial peril for many of its members - and for the entire economy.
Startups linked with General Motors Corp. represent a huge microcosm of the unevenness of the so-called "second-generation" - non-food-based - ethanol business. Coskata Inc. has just inked a major deal with U.S. Sugar to site a 100-million-gallons-a-year ethanol plant in Florida that will use sugar-cane leftovers as the raw material.
But competitor Mascoma Corp. just laid off 10 percent of its executives and workers.
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Nissan-Renault CEO Ghosn Supports Retooling Loans
Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said he supports the idea of
government-backed, low-cost loans to help carmakers retool to produce more-fuel-efficient vehicles, and said Japan and Europe should offer such programs.
Ghosn, who is the keynote speaker for the opening press day of the Los Angeles auto show Wednesday, also told the Wall Street Journal that the global credit crunch hasn't eased, and he warned that Nissan's profits will likely go to "zero" in its fiscal second half. Renault's operating profit margins for 2008 will be well below earlier goals.
"We have to recognize 2009 will be one of the most challenging years for our industry and the whole economy in the last 50 years," he said.
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Don't Be Lulled Again by Cheap Energy, Report Says
By Bill Visnic
The International Energy Agency has issued a warning that failure to invest globally in trillions for new-energy exploration in the next 20 years could lead to a fresh global energy crisis.
The IEA says that despite worldwide efforts to reduce energy usage, consumption of crude oil, for example, is forecast to climb from today's 85 million barrels per day by more than 20 percent to 106 million barrels per day by 2023. The agency urged energy giants - and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) - not reduce expenditures in oil exploration and production in the face of plunging crude-oil prices.
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BMW: Plump Price Premium for U.S. Diesels -- but Tax Break, Too
By Bill Visnic
Sure, BMW North America Inc. is going to charge more for the diesel-engine versions of the 2009 3 Series sedan and X5 crossover when they show up in U.S. dealerships late this year.
Whether the diesel price premium is reasonable or outrageous depends on what you're using for comparison.
In a Web teleconference with automotive reporters, BMW announced the diesel-powered 335d, which delivers 23 mpg in the city and a fat 36-mpg highway rating and runs a six-second 0-60-mph time, will start at $44,725. That's $10 grand more expensive than the least-expensive 3 Series, the $34,225 328i.
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Now That Gasoline Prices Are Plunging...
By Bill Visnic
Even those predicting a retreat from this summer's $4-per-gallon fuel prices didn't call for prices to plunge so far, so fast.
Regular unleaded gasoline in some parts of the country once again begin with a "1." The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said last week's national average for regular unleaded was $2.40, but even that number reflected a drop of some 61 cents from a year ago and a crash of 25 cents in just a week.
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Want the $25 Billion? Here Are the Hoops To Jump Through
By Bill Visnic
The U.S. Department of Energy Thursday issued the draft rules for automakers seeking the long-ballyhooed $25 billion in loans Congress recently approved for automakers (and suppliers) to retool factories to produce a new generation of more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Sure, strings had to be attached, or the automakers would burn through the dough like sailors on shore leave. But saying there are hoops to be jumped through in this "interim final rule" is an understatement.
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New 'Juice' for Chevy Volt Development
By Bill Visnic
General Motors Corp. reportedly has settled an important matter in the development of its Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle: the company is said to have decided on the supplier for the critical lithium-ion batteries necessary for the Volt to travel as far as 40 miles on a single charge.
GM reportedly will award the high-profile contract to Michigan-based Compact Power Inc., an arm of South Korea's LG Chemical. The company has been in competition for the Volt battery contract with a different, competing lithium-ion chemistry developed by Massachusetts-based A123 Systems and its systems integrator, Continental Automotive Systems.
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Chrysler Hybrids Dead With Plant Closure
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT - Chrysler hybrids, we hardly knew ye.
Just a week after Chrysler LLC gets final Environmental Protection Agency confirmation of mileage for its first-ever production hybrid-electric vehicles, the 2009 Dodge Durango Hybrid and 2009 Chrysler Aspen Hybrid, the company has announced it is accelerating the closure of the Newark, Del., assembly plant that builds them.
Edmunds.com blogsite Edmunds Green Car Advisor reports the models have been in production for only a couple of months, adding that a Chrysler spokesman says the company is hastening the closure of the Newark plant because of freefalling sales of fullsize SUVs. Production at Newark ceases Dec. 31, almost a full year ahead of Chrysler's previously announced schedule.
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I Drive, Therefore iDrive, Other Auto Electronics, Must Improve
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT - At the Convergence 2008 Conference here, a biannual gathering of the auto and electronics industries that examines issues of meshing the two industries, automaker representatives agree electronics content in automobiles will continue to increase - while simultaneously insisting they must safeguard quality.
The quality issue resonated for most participants in a Convergence panel addressing broad issues regarding electronics usage in the auto industry.
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2008 Paris Auto Show: Similar Shapes of Things To Come
By Bill Visnic
PARIS -- There's a lot of talk these days about how auto styling is converging -- or being ripped off.
At the 2008 Paris Auto Show earlier this month, there wasn't much mistaking the distinctive shapes presented by France's home-market biggies, Citroen and Peugeot; French styling remains unique (and largely uncopied, perhaps for a reason).
But a number of vehicles on display at the show looked strikingly similar to other vehicles on the show floor -- or ones we've seen elsewhere.
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Chrysler Venture for Fuel-Saving Transmission Likely Dead
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT -- A cornerstone of a heavily hyped Chrysler LLC initiative to develop a host of fuel-efficient technologies is on the skids, as Chrysler acknowledges it now is taking legal action against the partner enlisted to help it manufacture advanced, dual-clutch automated manual transmissions.
Chrysler announced last week it is suing Getrag Transmission Manufacturing LLC and its German parent company for misrepresenting Getrag's ability to secure financing for a $455-million joint venture between Getrag and Chrysler to build the fuel-saving dual-clutch transmissions at a new plant in Tipton, Indiana.
Asked if the lawsuit means the venture is dead, a Chrysler spokesman told AutoObserver, "'Dead' might be a little harsh. The matter is in litigation. Hopefully it will be resolved there."
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2008 Paris Auto Show: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
By AutoObserver Staff
PARIS -- Everyone loves coming to the Paris auto show. Mostly this is because it is not the
Frankfurt auto show, with which it alternates on the yearly schedule of auto shows.
When you go to the Frankfurt auto show, it is all about the Germans. It is all about BMW and Mercedes, really. They're telling you, "We understand machines and technology, and that's why we own the history of the automobile. You can buy a ticket if you wish and come visit us in our big tents in Frankfurt and worship the spectacle of our technical competence."
Paris is the City of Lights, and the French car manufacturers like to demonstrate that they have the same competence as the Germans, only with romance and flair. The French tell you, "Yes, our cars might look funny, but we understand joie de vivre, the joy of life. Of course our cars might look freaky and whacked out, but you are stupid if you don't understand."
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2008 Paris Auto Show: Mood in the City of Lights Is Dark
By Bill Visnic
PARIS - This city is supposed to be about celebration, but automakers stuffing their wares into the Paris motor show's vast exhibition halls were hardly in a gay mood last week. As the press crowded in to take the auto industry's temperature, the patients responded like they were suffering from a year-long head cold.
The rows of gleaming product - white seemed to be a favorite color - couldn't brighten the mood of automaker executives now burdened not only with the certainly of aggressive European carbon dioxide-curbing legislation but with an increasingly constricting sales environment and the ominous undertow of the U.S. financial-sector meltdown.
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Got CO2? They Definitely Do at the Paris Auto Show
By Bill Visnic
PARIS - Yes, there are some who doubt the science of global warming. Not to mention the probable connection of man-made carbon-dioxide (CO2) and rising global temperatures.
But there's no doubt automakers in Europe - and European auto buyers - are deadly serious about CO2 emissions. Particularly following last week's ruling in the European Union that set presumptive "limits" of 120 grams per kilometer of CO2 emissions as a fleet average all automakers selling in Europe must meet beginning in 2012.
At last week's Paris auto show, we lost count of the vehicles that were in some fashion emblazoned not with horsepower figures or even attractive prices, but CO2 emissions. Often those on-vehicle billboards were presented at a size and prominence that could be considered slightly more than eye-catching.
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2008 Paris Auto Show: Renault Unveils Truly Green Concept
By Nick Kurczewski
PARIS - This year's Paris auto show has seen many almost every major car manufacturer go green, as electric and hybrid vehicles seem to cover every square inch of the exhibition halls. But Renault has taken a strangely literal twist to the eco-friendly theme. The French company has installed green-tinted windows in the electric powered Z.E. Concept that made its debut here in Paris.
Exactly why the Z.E. sports this toxic-green-colored glasswork, we're not sure. An interactive information center off to the side of the chunky-looking concept was pretty sparse with specifics. What we did learn is that the Z.E. is powered by lithium-ion batteries that have a six year lifespan.
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Automakers Ask European Union for $55 Billion in "Green" Loans
Automakers doing business in Europe have requested of the European Union 40 billion euros ($55 billion) in low-interest loans to help them develop fuel-efficient vehicles. The loans are patterned after the $25 billion signed into U.S. law by President George Bush last week.
The group of 15 carmakers requesting the funds - those that make up the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) -- include Volkswagen, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Fiat and Renault as well as General Motors, Ford and Toyota.
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European Carmakers Want "Green" Loans - Theirs and Ours
European automakers plan to ask the European Commission for $55 billion in loans to develop environmentally-friendly vehicles, similar to loans approved this week by the U.S. government, to put them on a level playing field. At the same time, however, some European automakers also want a piece of the U.S. funds, the Financial Times reported in Friday's edition.
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said unanimous agreement exists among automakers to ask the European Union's executive body for the loans. "We will approach the European Commission for a similar idea to the U.S. Forty billion Euros ($55 billion) is a good number given the bigger size of the European industry. We need a level playing field," Marchionne told the Financial Times in an interview on Friday.
(Read more...)
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Honda Aims to 'Mainstream' Hybrids with Coming Insight
By Bill Visnic
PARIS - Honda Motor Co. Ltd. is taking the hybrid fight directly to chief rival Toyota Motor Corp. when it launches its all-new Insight hybrid-electric car in April: the Insight will be "substantially" less expensive than any other hybrid currently sold in the U.S. - including Toyota's market-dominating Prius and Honda's own Civic Hybrid.
Calling the original Insight - a quirkily styled, limited-purpose two-seater - a pioneer that introduced hybrid-electric technology to the U.S., Honda CEO Takeo Fukui said at the introduction of the near-production Insight concept at the Paris auto show that the new Insight "will also be our pioneer to take hybrid technology into a new era of affordability." The best development and sales path for hybrids, he added, is to make them affordable enough that hybrids are attainable by "mainstream customers."
(Read more...)
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Small Cars and Hybrids - What Else? - Headline This Week's Paris Show
By Bill Visnic
In the first major auto show since the bottom dropped out of the U.S. economy and the industry ponders a summer of dismal sales in both the U.S. and Europe, the Paris auto show
opens to the media on Thursday, where the most prominent wares will be small, fuel-efficient cars and hybrid-electric (or fully electric) vehicles.
What's it all mean? Consumers are downshifting their consumptive habits, and the auto industry is scrambling to adjust - particularly for the U.S., which unlike Europe has little experience with exorbitant fuel prices and the vehicles required to answer the issue. Trucks and SUVs? What are those?
Everybody wants to see smaller footprints; that will be reinforced at the Paris show. The fact that most new production models unveiled at Paris will remain rather conventional demonstrates the industry's "transformation" to more electric-intensive propulsion systems is merely beginning.
Nonetheless, hybrids and so-called "extended-range" electric vehicles are certain to grab the lion's share of attention.
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China's BYD Gets a Boost From Warren Buffett Investment
By Michelle Krebs
China's fledgling battery maker-turned-automaker got a huge shot in the arm Monday when a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway announced it will buy a stake in company.
Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings will pay $230 million for a 10-percent stake in BYD to support its "green" technologies, the company said told Reuters news service.
The deal gives MidAmerican a foothold in the Hong Kong-listed company, which is developing electric-hybrid cars it expects to start selling in China later this year, Europe and Israel by 2010 and North America thereafter. It gives the Chinese company a much-needed boost in funding for further development and credibility.
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September Vehicle Sales: Lowest Level Since Early '90s, Edmunds.com Forecasts
SANTA MONICA, Calif. - September vehicle sales to be reported by automakers on Wednesday are expected to drop to their lowest monthly level since 1993, Edmunds.com forecasts.
September new vehicle sales, including both retail and fleet sales, are expected to be 1.05 million units, a 19.7 percent decrease from September 2007 and a 15.7 percent decrease from August 2008, Edmunds.com predicts.
"February 1993 was the last time that fewer than one million new vehicles were sold in a month, and we're coming remarkably close to that volume again," said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds' executive director of Industry Analysis. "Traditionally, October sales are even worse than they are in September, so we don't likely have much to look forward to next month."
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:11 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Detroit Three Closer To Obtaining $25 Billion
Detroit automakers moved a step closer to obtaining the $25 billion in loans to re-tool their factories to make more fuel-efficient vehicles.
On Wednesday, the U.S. House passed a bill by a 370-58 vote that included a low-interest federal loans to automakers. Congressional leaders took steps to fast-track the money. The Senate was expected to pass the bill Thursday and President Bush is expected to sign it.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:14 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler To Go Electric Across the Line
By Michelle Krebs
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Chrysler unveiled a trio of all-electric and extended-range electric cars Tuesday and announced it would eventually offer some type of electric version of every model in its line.
Chrysler said the trio of electrified vehicles displayed Tuesday at its corporate headquarters and provided them for media test drives. Chrysler executives said one of the models shown would go into production and on sale to consumers in 2010 in the U.S. followed by sale in Europe. The automaker would not identify which one would be first. Chrysler further said it would offer an all-electric or range-extended electric version of every model in its product portfolio in the next several years, though they gave no specific timeframe.
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Public Opposes Automaker Loans, Survey Says
Not that it matters at this point, but almost two out of three people surveyed oppose government loans to help automakers, according to the latest Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll released Wednesday.
Congress could vote on as early as today - and likely pass -- a bill that includes $25 billion in low-interest loans to help General Motors, Ford and Chrysler develop more fuel-efficient vehicles.
At the same time, the Bloomberg/LA Times as well as a new Washington Post-ABC News poll show Americans growing increasingly pessimistic about the economy. Auto execs are the first to say consumer confidence is a key indicator for where auto sales go.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:25 AM under Chrysler , Ford , GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Congress Tunes-in To Plug-Ins
By Bill Visnic
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed an expansive tax bill that had many automakers on full alert because it included provision of a tax credit for hybrid or fully electric vehicles with batteries that can be recharged from the electric grid - so-called "plug-in" vehicles.
If passed by the House, which is expected, the bill provides for as much as a $7,500 tax credit for purchasers of a plug-in vehicle. The credit, starting at $2,500, would increase in proportion to the vehicle's installed battery capacity up to the $7,500 maximum.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:51 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Chooses Its Best-Ever Cars; Money-Making Trucks Noticeably Absent
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT - As part of its GMnext centennial celebration which concluded this week, General Motors Corp. released a list of its "Top 10 Production Vehicles" from the thousands of models it has developed since the company's inception in 1908.
And the "Like a Rock" crowd won't necessarily be pleased - although GM's full-size pickups often were best-sellers and profits from pickups and SUVs filled the corporate coffers for much of the 1990s and early part of this century, there's nary a truck or SUV on the list.
GM says the choices were selected by company archivists and historians and reviewed by "GM senior leaders." None of them must have been truck guys. Or Camaro guys. Or - okay, you get the idea: the list may be skewed by a kind of historian's mindset, and is unlikely to fully please even the most ardent GM supporter.
The company avoided further controversy by refusing to actually pick a No. 1 model. Instead, it lists the 10 most significant models in chronological order:
(Read more...)
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GM's "Future Leaders": Christopher Borroni-Bird
By Dale Buss
With so much pressure from every quarter on General Motors and other automakers to make huge leaps forward in fuel-efficiency -- and now! -- Christopher Borroni-Bird has become a major player on the most important stage in the global automotive industry.
And he understands the urgency of the task.
"There's more urgency than even six months ago," said the 43-year-old U.K. native, who is GM's director of advanced vehicle technology concepts in Detroit.
(Read more...)
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GM's Day-Long Anniversary Fete Highlighted by Volt, Lots of Chat
DETROIT - By lunchtime on the day General Motors Corp. chose to celebrate its 100th anniversary with a massive celebration here and an ambitious interactive program on the Web, it was apparent the world's largest automaker had the tech requirements figured out. There were no major glitches and GM deftly executed a global multimedia presentation - drawing from four additional regions around the globe - that would have done Microsoft proud.
The culmination, however, was the official unveiling of the vehicle that has emerged as the symbol - and rallying point - of GM's drive to remain as pertinent in the next 100 years of personal transportation: the Chevrolet Volt "extended-range" electric vehicle.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:01 AM under Business , Companies , Featured , GM , News , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chevy Volt Styling Is A Short-Circuit
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT - If images circulated on the Web
this week are representative of the Chevrolet Volt General Motors Corp. plans to deliver in two years, the General had better hope potential customers appreciate the engineering - because the Volt's design is a corporate brownout.
AutoObserver's all-day cruise around auto-related Web sites noted heavy-traffic comment about the leaked images of the Volt extended-range electric vehicle; some are mildly complimentary, but critics seem to outnumber approvers by at least four to one.
The most common reactions range in a bandwidth from disappointment to derision. The Volt concept car was widely applauded, and although GM subsequently warned certain aggressive aspects of the Volt concept would be sacrificed on the altar of production-car realities, the overwhelming blandness oozing from the images of what is purported to be the production Volt is inescapable.
(Read more...)
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Whatta Re-Voltin' Development: Chevy Volt Images 'Leaked?'
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT - Media manipulation or "human error?" Only General Motors Corp.'s public-relations office knows for sure.
Either way, images of the production version of the Chevrolet Volt "extended-range" hybrid-electric vehicle - possibly the most heavily hyped, highly anticipated vehicle in GM's history - made it to the Web Monday in what GM reputedly attributed to an accident. Until now, the Volt - which remains under a pressurized development schedule and is not slated to reach showrooms for more than two full years - had not been fully seen in final production form.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:32 AM under Commentary , Featured , GM , In the Media , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Honda Stabs At Toyota with New Prius Rival
Honda Motor Co. Ltd.'s made it official, showing today an image of the all-new Insight, a hybrid-electric vehicle that, while carrying the same name as the company's first-ever production hybrid (1999), is an entirely different vehicle.
The new Insight is not a 2-door commuter car; instead, it is a 5-door hatchback that Honda says will use a less-costly version of the company's Integrated Motor Assist system to help markedly undercut the price of the market-dominating Toyota Prius. Honda says the new-generation Insight will debut at the Paris International Auto Show on Oct. 2 - and be on sale in the U.S. next spring.
The car will be built at Honda's Suzuka, Japan, assembly plant, and Honda projects sales of 200,000 units annually, half of which are earmarked for North America. The new Insight reputedly will be positioned lower than the existing Civic Hybrid, and will be part of a multi-vehicle hybrid strategy Honda proposes to combat rival Toyota, whose name is becoming synonymous with hybrid technology.
Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:17 PM under Business , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Six Other Ways Auto Marketers are Taking it to the Internet
By Dale Buss
Automakers are moving forcefully into the online-marketing arena using a number of innovations in which their industry, arguably, has become the leader.
In Wednesday's part two of this three-part series on Internet marketing, Edmunds.com's
AutoObserver
featured six ways that automakers are succeeding online. Here are the remaining six:
(Read more...)
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U.S. Market Shift Structural, Not Cyclical, Ford Exec Says
By Michelle Krebs
MAASTRICHT, THE NETHERLANDS -- The recent and rapid downshifting of U.S. consumers from large pickup trucks and SUVs to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles is not a cyclical but a structural change, says Derrick Kuzak, Ford's group vice preident of Global Product Development.
Kuzak, speaking to media in Europe at a drive of Ford's small cars, including the all-new Fiesta, disagrees with some contrarian analysts who believe Americans, as gas prices drop, will return to buying big fuel guzzlers. Instead, he sees Americans' sensitivity to the environment and concerns for energy security combined with stricter government regulations on emissions and fuel economy driving a permanent shift toward fuel efficiency.
(Read more...)
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Auto Marketing on the Internet: Six Ways It's Getting Done
By Dale Buss
Over the last year or so, automakers have moved closer to the forefront of big-brand marketing online as they dramatically increase their expenditures on Internet advertising.
In doing so, OEMs are drawing on a dozen methods. Here are six of them. Look for the other six on Thursday in part three of this series on Edmunds.com's
AutoObserver
:
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:46 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Questions for General Motors' Troy Clarke
Is the current downturn cyclical or are fundamentals changing so that the market will never return to normal?
We think there are cyclical elements of it and some structural elements of it, and we think there are more structural elements than cyclical elements at this particular point in time. When I say that, though, I'm talking about a market that should be running in the 14-million unit range, not a market that's running in the 12.7-million unit range... We think that is still somewhat of an anomaly...We think the market should be running probably just a little north of 14 million units."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:53 AM under Business , GM , Personalities , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cadillac Busts A Fuel-Saving Move, Will Go Four-Cylinder
By Bill Visnic
Signaling fuel-economy concerns are making an impact in the luxury market, General Motors
Corp.'s Cadillac division let it be known last week - in the midst of the snobby Pebble Beach Concours d' Elegance, no less - that Cadillac will be using four-cylinder power for its upcoming new entry-level model.
The use of four-cylinder engines is something of a line in the sand in the luxury market, an option consumers in the past have embraced with mixed results. And believing four-cylinder engines imply a frugality and dearth of "power" inconsistent with the nature of the beast, many luxury marques - in recent years of low U.S. fuel prices, at least - have steadfastly refused to cross the line into small-engine territory.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:37 AM under Analysis , Featured , GM , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Argentum Motors: Little-known Indian-French Company Could Upstage Toyota Prius, Chevy Volt
By Nick Kurczewski
SURAJPUR, INDIA - Like the sort of whisper quiet electric car it aspires to build, Argentum Motors has been operating in near total silence as it plots its course in the Indian automotive market, and finalizes plans to manufacture electric vehicles.
During an exclusive interview with AutoObserver, B V R Subbu, founder and board member of Argentum Motors, and former president of Hyundai Motors India, said that the company's electric car could be on sale in Europe and North America as early as next year and could debut at the upcoming Paris auto show.
If this happens, Argentum's electric car would beat range-extender Chevrolet Volt and next-generation Toyota Prius to the U.S. market by one year. The Indian company would also have a three-year head start on the electric vehicle program being developed by Renault-Nissan, which promises global sales of an electric car by 2012.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:30 AM under Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Stock Price Jumps on Glimpse of Volt
By Bill Visnic
Think General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet Volt concept car has lost some of its power as a supercharged hype-machine?
Hardly.
GM director of advanced design Bob Boniface this morning displayed mere images of the production-representative front and rear of the advanced "extended-range" electric vehicle at the annual Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars, a longstanding elbow-rubbing confab of industry big wheels.
Result: by 1:00 p.m., GM's stock price soared by as much as 15 percent, ending the day hiked by a still-healthy 10 percent.
(Read more...)
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Honda: Core Values Seeing it Through These Troubled Times
By Bill Visnic
TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan - Honda didn't bother with fullsize pickups and SUVs. It didn't do fleet sales. It's never seen the need for a V8 engine.
The company's corporate willpower may have exposed it to criticism and cost it some sales - particularly at the acme of the pickup and SUV craze. But those core values - what American Honda Motor Company Inc. executive vice president Richard Colliver calls its "north star" - have sustained the company during the U.S. market's sprint away from large, thirsty vehicles, and straight back to the compact cars and fuel-efficient light trucks Honda's always been producing.
(Read more...)
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33,000 Potential Buyers Raise Hands for Chevy Volt - Symbolically
More than 33,000 people have signed up on a symbolic waiting list to buy a Chevrolet Volt.
Lyle Dennis, a New York neurologist, created the customer sign-up on his GM-Volt Web site
in May to show GM that the Volt would be in high demand. Tuesday he announced 33,000 people had signed up on his waiting list.
Now Dennis is on a crusade to push GM to compel GM to build enough Volts, available initially only in modest volumes, "to build enough cars for us."
(Read more...)
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Toyota Ready for Challenge of U.S Market Swing
By Bill Visnic
TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan - Admitting that even famously "flexible" Toyota Motor Corp. was caught by surprise by the speed and intensity of rising fuel prices in the U.S., one of the company's top manufacturing executives says the company nonetheless reacted quickly to rapidly altered consumer demand and is rapidly making adjustments in its massive manufacturing structure.
Steve St. Angelo, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Inc. and senior vice president-Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc., also told AutoObserver the company's major strategic moves to address shifting consumer desires in the U.S. - pulling the trigger on U.S. production of the Prius hybrid-electric vehicle for 2010 and drastically ramping down production of the Tundra full-size pickup, which started this month - demonstrate Toyota's confidence in its renowned manufacturing flexibility.
And the willingness of the company's Japan-based senior management to react appropriately to rapidly changing market conditions.
(Read more...)
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Ford: Fuel-Saving Business Case Lies With Gasoline Engines
By Bill Visnic
DEARBORN, MI - At a press event here to showcase its '09 models, Ford Motor Co.'s top engine-development honcho says the company's gambling its development dollars on gasoline engines, not diesel, as the best path to improved fuel economy and improving the company's sustainability "profile."
Dan Kapp, director-powertrain research and advanced engineering, said Ford essentially is betting the farm on its upcoming "Ecoboost" suite of gasoline-engine enhancements to improve fuel economy, reduce emissions, and, by definition, jack up the company's Corporate Average Fuel Economy numbers towards the eventual federally mandated goal of a 35-mpg fleet average by 2020.
(Read more...)
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Engine Sharing: Even Desperate Times Don't Call for This
By Bill Visnic
Alert to the American medical community: new evidence proves severe lack of corporate operating capital causes dull and even impaired judgment.
How did I arrive at this breakthrough mental-health discovery? Reading early this week that General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. reputedly are considering co-development of engines.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:00 AM under Analysis , Commentary , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , In the Media , News , Technology | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Ready for Smaller Engines When Customers Are
By Bill Visnic
PONTIAC, Michigan -- The world's largest car company is ready to respond to the public's newfound craving for increased fuel economy with a range of smaller engines. But customers are going to have to indicate they're really serious about downsizing their powerplant expectations.
Thomas G. Stephens, General Motors Corp.'s executive vice president, global powertrain and global quality, said at the recent inauguration of the company's new Powertrain Engineering Development Center here that he's delighted with the engine options at his disposal for answering growing demand for better fuel economy. But that's going to mean U.S. customers will have to signal their readiness to accept smaller engines -- in effect reversing a long trend for ever-larger engines and more horsepower.
(Read more...)
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Diesel's U.S. Success Still in Doubt, But VW Says No Delay
By Bill Visnic
Although German powerhouses BMW AG, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and perhaps most importantly, mainstream maker Volkswagen AG, all are ready to launch in the U.S. a new generation of diesel-engine vehicles, the once seemingly assured "breakout" of new-age diesel technology in North America now is clouded, thanks largely to the persistently high price of diesel fuel.
But there's another factor: comparatively unremarkable "official" fuel economy figures that may not be the game-changer some advocates had hoped. Fuel economy - the diesel engine's traditional trump card - may be taking a hit because of technical changes required to make the new-age diesels complaint with nationwide emissions regulations.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:45 PM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Eyes UK Plant for Volt
General Motors reportedly is considering a plant in England for the European production of
its innovative Volt.
The Financial Times reports in Wednesday's edition that GM is considering its Vauxhall Ellesmere Port plant on Merseyside as the possible European production center for Volt.
The London paper said the prospect of the Merseyside plant being used for the venture was raised on Tuesday by GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster after meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the British motor show, which opened this week.
(Read more...)
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Harbour-Topping Chrysler JV Engine Plant Attracting Foreign Attention
By Bill Visnic
The Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance engine plant in Dundee, Mich., currently is one of the auto-manufacturing sector's more intriguing stories. Currently making three variants of the 4-cylinder "World Engine" for one-third owner Chrysler LLC, GEMA also happens to be North America's most productive powertrain plant, according to the industry-benchmark Harbour Report.
But despite its Harbour-topping performance, some inconvenient circumstances have conspired to make GEMA barely half-utilized - and foreign auto companies sniffing for North American engine-making capacity are taking notice. Sources say several automakers may have toured the GEMA facility - including one name that keeps popping up: BMW.
Regardless of who's interested in GEMA, one thing is certain: its vast amount of unused capacity, combined with industry-leading productivity, has made GEMA an extremely tempting prize in a country that - thanks to the ever-dwindling value of the dollar - has emerged as a low-cost manufacturing region.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:47 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Rumors , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM: Remapping for a More Euro-Style Vehicle Landscape
By Michelle Krebs
The days of the U.S. being out of step with the rest of the world in terms of the vehicles Americans drive are nearing an end.
"We were the anomaly. We were the region with the artificially cheap fuel that created huge -- you could say unhealthy demand - for very large vehicles. But that has flipped," said Bob Lutz, General Motors' vice chairman in charge of product development, in a conference call with bloggers, including AutoObserver
, Tuesday.
(Read more...)
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GM's Bob Lutz Runs Out of Juice
GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz is the greatest champion for the Chevrolet Volt, which runs on electricity but has a back-up gasoline engine to generate power for the battery. He became even more of a fan of the concept when his battery-powered motor scooter ran out juice.
In June, Lutz took delivery of a Vectrix electric scooter, an event captured on YouTube as he took his first test drive.
However, one on of his first solo, long-distance rides, Lutz ran into trouble. "The gauge showed I had 19 miles of power left," Lutz related on a conference call of bloggers Tuesday. "But when it hit 17, it came to a complete stop. I had no battery left.
(Read more...)
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Renault-Nissan Plots its Electric Car Future, One Small Country at a Time
By Nick Kurczewski
LISBON, Portugal - Renault-Nissan continues to hinge its very big plans for its future electric vehicle on the cooperation of some of the world's smallest countries. The auto giant recently announced that it will market its upcoming zero-emission electric car in Portugal, beginning in 2011.
This is the third phase in Renault-Nissan's military-like electric car strategy, which targets small countries where the usual limitations of an electric vehicle (short driving range, limited recharging points) are less of an obstacle.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:35 AM under Business , Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Hybrid Vehicles Not Best Value Over Time, Edmunds.com Finds
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- High gas prices, the housing crisis and general economic
uncertainty are motivating consumers to look for the least expensive cars to own and operate. But a new study by Edmunds.com
shows that many compact and subcompact vehicles are actually better choices than hybrids for consumers looking to save money.
The Chevrolet Aveo topped the list of best values based on Edmunds' True Cost to Own data, which accounts for total vehicle costs over a five-year period. No hybrids made the top 10 list.
"When consumers think about cars that will save them money, hybrids are typically top of mind because of their fuel efficiency," said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com executive director of Industry Analysis. "But when you take a look at the real-world costs of car ownership, you realize that many subcompact and compact cars are actually a much better value proposition."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:20 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Tata, Chrysler Connect on $5,000 Electric Vehicle
The buzz is increasing on expanded collaboration between Chrysler and India's Tata Motors, which was catapulted on the world's automotive map with its announcement of the $2,500 Nano earlier this year.
India's Economic Times reports that Tata and Chrysler's Global Electric Motorscars (GEM) have developed an electric-powered version of the Tata Ace delivery vehicle with plans to sell it in U.S. The price being bandied about is $5,000 U.S.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:38 AM under Chrysler , Rumors , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Mercedes Confident Fuel Prices Can't Scuttle New Diesels
By Bill Visnic
MANCHESTER, Vermont - Mercedes-Benz's silent and strong 3-liter V6 diesel now is 50-
state emissions-compliant and generates about 20 percent better fuel economy than a comparable gasoline engine. The problem for Mercedes: in many areas, diesel fuel is more 
than 20 percent more expensive than gasoline - effectively erasing the advantage of the fuel-efficient engine on the buyer's bottom line.
Not to worry, said confident Mercedes executives and engineers at the worldwide launch of the '09 ML 320 BlueTec, GL 320 BlueTEC and R 320 BlueTEC here. The reason for their optimism is twofold: first, diesels still offer a financial gain. Second, they expect diesel fuel prices to retreat.
(Read more...)
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Honda Hybrid May Be Called Insight; Set To Out Prius the Prius
By Peter Nunn
TOKYO -- Surging gas prices, global warming and the need to go green make this absolutely the most perfect time for Honda to roll out an all-new, cutting-edge gas-electric hybrid. Honda's eagerly awaited, long overdue rival for the Toyota Prius is set to land in American driveways in the first half of 2009.
Smaller than a Civic and with a unique five-door hatchback style, Honda's "New Dedicated Hybrid Vehicle" may well revive the Insight name when it goes on sale. Strong rumors in Tokyo also suggest that this "new Insight" will adapt and repackage the Civic Hybrid's IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) front-drive powertrain and first appear in public in concept form at this October's Paris Auto Salon, ahead of its full official launch at the Detroit auto show in January.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:17 AM under Analysis , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Said to be Studying Crash-Dive Retooling Program
By Bill Visnic
In a move that was not entirely unexpected, Ford Motor Co. reportedly is studying a plan to implement a hasty and wide-ranging retooling of many of its North American assembly plants, shifting them from production of large pickup trucks and SUVs to smaller, lighter and more fuel-efficient vehicles.
The Detroit News
reports manufacturing executives and local labor leaders will meet in Dearborn on Friday to discuss the plan, which reportedly centers on retooling several plants from production of traditional body-on-frame pickups and SUVs to models and vehicle architectures currently being used in Europe.
It is a strategy many industry analysts have said must be undertaken by all the truck-reliant Detroit automakers. The only surprise, perhaps, is the haste with which Ford is reacting -- a lightning stroke relative to past Detroit responses to major macroeconomic and consumer-preference shifts.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:20 PM under Analysis , Business , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (7) | digg this | del.icio.us
German Supplier ZF Watching Exchange Rates
By Bill Visnic
LAURENS, South Carolina -- It hasn't yet made any major moves, but German Tier 1 supplier ZF Friedrichshafen AG has its eye on the fluid currency exchange-rate environment, conceding the eroded dollar means the U.S. now can be viably considered as a potential low-cost manufacturing region.
ZF, primarily known for its transmission development and manufacturing, also is a prime maker of all manner of chassis, driveline and steering components, and already has more than 20 facilities in North America, said Paul Olexa, vice president of driveline sales, ZF Group North American Operations, at a recent media event here.
But Olexa said ZF is carefully watching the currency situation -- and the moves of several German automakers that long have been the company's chief customers. ZF has considerable content in Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and BMW AG vehicles built in the U.S. respectively at Vance, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina -- and both companies have jacked up plans for U.S. production in response to the weak dollar.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:44 PM under Business , Companies , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Where There's Smoke There's Nickel-Metal Hydride
By Bill Visnic
For months, somebody on Wall Street has been convinced something's going on at Rochester Hills, Michigan's, Energy Conversion Devices, parent company of the Cobasys LLC joint venture that develops and produces nickel-metal hydride batteries for all manner of consumer devices, including some of General Motors Corp.'s hybrid-electric vehicles.
Despite the fact ECD stock has no earnings, pays no dividend and the company's operations have not had positive cash flow for the past five years, the stock price has tripled since January and gained almost another 10 percent yesterday with reported news GM may be trying to acquire Cobasys.
(Read more...)
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Toyota Considering California Production of Prius, Report Says
Toyota reportedly is talking with General Motors about producing the hybrid Prius at their
joint production plant in California, Japan's Tokyo Shimbun
reported Friday.
Toyota did not confirm the report. A company spokesman told AutoObserver: "We are always considering what should be the optimum structure of our production efforts. But nothing has been decided about building the Prius
at NUMMI."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:21 AM under Rumors , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fuel Economy Emergency: Six-Speed Transmissions to the Rescue
By Bill Visnic
Automakers scrambling for quick fixes to polish up vehicle economy numbers in the eyes of fuel-price-fatigued U.S. customers are reaping real results from their -- and the supplier community's -- investments in the new generation of six-speed automatic transmissions.
The powertrain sector's shift to six-speed automatics has been coming since as early as 2001, but $4-per-gallon gasoline and $5 diesel fuel has turned up the heat on vehicle engineers to deliver more or less immediate efficiency enhancements for existing vehicles.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:39 AM under Analysis , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
With Turbos, New All-Wheel Drive, Saab Sitting Better
By Bill Visnic
BOSTON -- Buyers in Saab's single largest market suddenly are very concerned about the price of gasoline, and there's maybe no premium brand in the industry better positioned to give 'em what they want, said Roger McCormack, Saab Automobile USA's new marketing director.
The big players such as Ford Motor Co. and even Saab's ever-patient owner, General Motors Corp., are all starting to talk about what it's going to take to improve fuel economy, and a big chip on the table is smaller "downsized" engines strapped with turbochargers to help mimic the performance of the big V8s and V6s from which Americans are starting to wean themselves.
That's a tune Saab's been playing for 30 years, says McCormack, who believes it may help give the niche Swedish maker a leg up in the coming fuel-economy wars -- a leg only a tiny number of buyers cared about during the horsepower wars that dominated the U.S. market for nearly the last two decades.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:20 AM under Business , Featured , GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Honda Goal: Offer More Hybrids; Sell More Hybrids
By Michelle Krebs
Despite its mixed results with hybrids in the past, Honda sees the future being hybrids, and ultimately fuel-cell vehicles.
To that end, Honda plans to introduce four new hybrid models by 2015 to meet its eventual goal of selling 500,000 hybrid vehicles a year, a nearly tenfold increase from its current hybrid volume.
Speaking in Tokyo at the company's mid-term business meeting, Honda President Takeo Fukui confirmed what has long been known -- that Honda is working on its own take on the Toyota Prius, an affordable hybrid-only car, which Fukui said will be launched in the U.S., Japan and Europe in early 2009. He also announced Honda will introduce a hybrid version of the sporty CR-Z (pictured) and add a hybrid version of the tiny, already fuel-stingy Fit.
"It is important to move hybrid vehicles, from the current image-oriented stage to the new stage toward full-scale penetration," Fukui said in his speech.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:12 AM under Companies , Featured , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
U.S. Breaking Foreign Oil Addiction, Report Says
As oil hovered around the record mark of $127 a barrel, the page one lead story in London's Financial Times' Tuesday featured this bold headline: "U.S. begins to break foreign oil 'addiction.'"
Based on a Department of Energy report, the article claims the U.S. is starting to break its addiction to foreign oil as more efficient cars proliferate and the use of ethanol expands, cutting the share of U.S. oil imports for the first time since 1977.
(Read more...)
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GM Battery Boss Running on Full Charge
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT -- General Motors' Denise Gray talks a little fast, a little earnestly. We don't think it's because she's nervous -- more like she's got a lot to tell you about things you likely don't understand, and she figures her time is limited.
In a way, her time is quite limited -- Gray is in charge of delivering the most critical component for one of the highest-profile vehicle-development projects GM has ever undertaken, the Chevrolet Volt "extended-range" electric vehicle.
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Toyota Prius: 1 Million Sales and Counting
By Michelle Krebs
The Model T of hybrids.
That's how a former Toyota executive described the Toyota Prius.
And, today, as the Prius hit a hugely significant milestone -- 1 million plus sales since going on sale in 1997 -- that title seems all the more appropriate.
Toyota said Thursday it had sold 1,028,000 Prius cars worldwide -- it is sold in 40 countries -- as of the end of April.
Like the Model T, the Prius has become a brand on its own. Yet, Toyota is looking for even bigger things from the little car -- 1 million sales annually and the introduction of the next-generation model next year reportedly arriving in a number of variations.
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Chevy Volt: Traveling Public Roads and Hitting Its Mark
By Michelle Krebs
WARREN, Michigan -- General Motors inched closer to making the Chevrolet Volt a reality in November 2010 as the vehicle's innovative gas-electric powertrain is being test-driven for the first time on public roads and is hitting its target of 40 miles on pure electric power.
"Today is a big day," GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told Edmunds' AutoObserver in an exclusive interview Tuesday. "Today is the first day it is running on the street on battery power."
Lutz said the Volt's powertrain, comprised of an advanced lithium-ion battery and a small gasoline engine, was installed into a mule vehicle and is being driven on public roads around the automaker's proving grounds in Milford, Michigan. More important, Lutz said, the battery is hitting GM's goal of 40 miles on pure electric power.
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Hewlett-Packard Buying EDS, Once GM Owned
Wall Street is abuzz with the news that Hewlett-Packard is buying Electronic Data Systems for $12.6 billion.
Old-timers in the auto industry may remember that General Motors, with the late and controversial Roger Smith at the helm, purchased EDS, founded by H. Ross Perot, in 1984 for $2.6 billion. GM's purchase of EDS along with Hughes Aircraft and a host of small high-tech companies was part of Smith's vision to create the high-tech 21st Century car company.
It didn't work out that way. Perot, who served on the GM board, complained all too publicly of how hidebound and slow to act GM was, prompting GM to buy out Perot, who went on to form another company and run for U.S. president, and spin off EDS. GM remains one of EDS's largest customers; EDS employees occupy two towers of downtown Detroit's Renaissance Center, purchased last week by GM and used as its corporate headquarters.
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'Big Auto' Lobbying Fares No Better in CA Than in D.C.
By Bill Visnic
Senior representatives from several major automakers comprising the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers met in California yesterday with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, hoping to twist the strong-guy governor's arm about the state's ongoing and uncomfortable pressure on the federal government to allow California to set its own carbon-dioxide emissions standards.
California's proposed standards would require better fuel economy improvements, on a quicker time line, than the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy mandate approved by Congress earlier this year -- and which the auto industry largely resisted. Most automakers would rather not -- to put it mildly -- see California permitted to adopt an even more rigid regulation, so they loaded up the lobbying plane in hopes of doing better in California than they've done in Washington, D.C.
Schwarzenegger, however, appears to have resolutely rebuffed the Alliance and its representatives.
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Hybrids "Paying Off" More Quickly, New Edmunds Data Shows
By Bill Visnic
As gasoline prices go higher, many hybrid-electric vehicles currently on sale are proving to be even wiser investments, says new data from Edmunds.com.
Considerable past discussion about hybrids has focused on "payback" time, or the period required for savings from a hybrid's enhanced fuel economy to recoup the initial higher purchase price a hybrid commands. Detractors often claimed that, from a strictly fiscal view of hybrids, most vehicle purchasers would never save enough in gasoline costs to recover their investment in expensive hybrid technology.
But with every increase in gas prices, the hybrid payback time becomes consequently shorter - to the point where some popularly priced hybrid models can pay back their owners' investment in as little as 18 months, according to the new Edmunds.com study.
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Chery Partners With Arizona Chipmaker for Hybrids, Fuel Technologies
Chinese automaker Chery Automobile Co. Ltd. is partnering with a Phoenix, Arizona-based high-tech company, Freescale Semiconductor, to build a research facility in China to develop hybrids and other fuel-efficiency technologies.
"Through joint research and development, Freescale and Chery intend to drive breakthroughs in next-generation automotive system designs," Paul Grimme, Freescale senior vice president, told the Arizona Republic.
Chery also has an affiliation with Chrysler that is moving forward. Freescale supplies, among other things, advanced automotive chips for the 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon 2-Mode hybrids. Chrysler is about to launch the same 2-Mode technology, cooperatively developed by General Motors, Daimler and Chrysler with BMW, in its 2009 Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango.
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Biofuels Stakes Rise for GM and the Nation
By Dale Buss
With its second major equity investment in a biofuels startup company in the space of five just months, General Motors is moving front and center in what may become a pivotal global economic development of our time: the rapid rise of the cellulosic-ethanol industry.
GM’s announcement on Thursday that it has made an equity investment in a Boston-based company, Mascoma Corp., is a bookend to its January deal to help fund Coskata Inc., based in Warrendale, Ill. The two companies, partially nurtured by academics, use two different processes to yield similar crucial results: the production of ethanol for fuel from non-grain, essentially waste sources.
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GM Partners With a Second Cellulosic Ethanol Maker
General Motors plans to announce Thursday a second partnership with a cellulosic ethanol maker. The automaker is providing no further details until GM President Fritz Henderson makes the announcement in Washington, D.C.
GM already has announced a partnership with an Illinois-based cellulosic ethanol maker, Coskata Inc., and last week said Coskata was establishing a pilot plant in Pennsylvania to demonstrate its innovative process of converting a variety of materials, from garbage to agricultural waste, into ethanol.
GM's partnerships for developing cellulosic ethanol come against a backdrop of increasing outcry for the industry to quit using corn-based ethanol, as food prices rise.
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Toyota Camry Hybrid Outselling V6 Models
By Bill Visnic
Yet another sign consumer interest is turning from horsepower to fuel economy: the hybrid-electric version of the Toyota Camry, one of the nation’s best-selling cars, is outselling V6-powered Camrys by a solid margin.
For March, Edmunds.com data indicate sales of the Camry Hybrid set a new record: 6,930 units, or a considerable 22 percent of Camry’s 31,310 sales last month. Camry Hybrid monthly sales eclipsed 6,000 units only once since the car’s launch, in May 2007, when the 6,853 sold represented slightly more than 17 percent of total Camry sales.
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Toyota Prius: Next Chapter Opens in January
By Peter Nunn
Imagine a Toyota Prius, but faster, cleaner and greener. Such a car is coming soon and will launch at the Detroit auto show in January 2009.
America has fallen for the Prius in a big way, no doubt about that. Five years on, through an extraordinary combination of style, engineering and marketing, Toyota's fuel sipping hybrid remains the absolute gold standard for eco cars in the industry.
The next generation, however, has all the makings of an even bigger hit. That's because it will be a touch bigger so offering more space. It will come with stronger 1.8-liter hybrid performance yet at the same time boast even better economy and class leading emissions, if early word is correct.
In other words, everything Americans like now about the Prius, including its unique design and crusading eco image, but in a 'smarter,' more high-grade package.
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GM Ethanol Partner Announces Pilot Plant
By Bill Visnic
PITTSBURGH – Coskata Inc., developer of a unique process that uses specialized bacteria to produce cellulosic ethanol – and with whom General Motors Corp. formed a partnership last January – announced Friday it will begin construction near here for the first production facility to demonstrate the process.
The demonstration plant, Coskata says, will start early next year and run 24 hours a day to produce about 40,000 gallons of cellulosic ethanol derived from almost any organic waste material, including agricultural waste and municipal garbage that might normally be placed in landfill.
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Strategies Changing Quickly in the Green Game
By Dale Buss
As Earth Day comes around once more, there are a few different scoreboards for tracking the relative progress of automakers in their attempt to win the green derby.
According to Toronto, Canada-based consumer-research firm BrandIntel’s recent survey of online discussion, for example, Toyota, Honda, Mercedes and Volkswagen have the most “green credibility†due to their hybrid and diesel vehicles. General Motors and Chrysler have been stuck among the least-credible because of their large fleets of trucks and SUVs and weaker lineups of hybrids and diesel options. Ford sits in the middle.
But several automakers are forging strategies for changing such scoreboards in their green credentials. A look at a few:
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:46 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler, Getrag Shift Into Drive for New Fuel-Saving Tranny
By Bill Visnic
Getrag Corporate Group and Chrysler LLC have signed the “definitive agreements†for the development, manufacturing and supply of Getrag’s high-tech Powershift automated-manual transmission earmarked for future Chrysler vehicles, Getrag announced earlier this month.
Getrag’s Powershift transmission incorporates the dual-clutch electrohydraulic components designed and developed by BorgWarner Automotive Inc. for its ground-breaking DuoTronic technology, first deployed in production vehicles by the Volkswagen Group, marketed as the Direct Shift Gearbox.
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For Automakers, Green Mantle Could Become a Golden Cloak
By Dale Buss
Toyota clearly donned it for awhile. Ford tried it on for size. American consumers seem to think it fits Honda pretty well these days. But no one covets it more now than General Motors.
We’ll call it the “green mantle:†a figurative decoration on the shoulders of automaker that tells the world, and competitors, that their company is the most environmentally renowned in the industry, both for their products and technologies and – perhaps even more important – in the public’s overall regard.
And taken particularly in the context of an annual worldwide recognition such as today’s Earth Day, it seems at least as important for any corporation to earn the perception of environmental responsibility as to actually be doing something tangible.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:31 AM under Business , Companies , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM to Introduce Buick LaCrosse Hybrid in China
By Michelle Krebs
BEIJING -- General Motors will begin selling the industry's first mainstream hybrid car by the time the 2008 Olympics opening ceremonies are held here. The hybrid system will go into the popular Buick LaCrosse sold in China.
Chinese production of the hybrid LaCrosse begins in June with sales following in July. Specifications on the car, which likely uses the same hybrid system as the U.S.-sold Chevrolet Malibu and Saturn Aura hybrids, will be disclosed at GM's auto show press conference Sunday. They did say the LaCrosse hybrid achieves fuel efficiency 15 percent better than the non-hybrid LaCrosse sold here with 15 percent lower emissins. Price has not been revealed though it will be higher than the non-hybrid model.
The hybrid LaCrosse is part of a grander GM scheme to go green in China, which if confronted with energy and environmental issues of monumental proportions.
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Toyota-Subaru Coziness Could Yield Retro-Corolla, Celica
By Bill Visnic and Peter Nunn
Normally stolid Toyota Motor Corp. hasn’t been shy in doubling of its stake in Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. and openly admitting the two will jointly develop new vehicles – including an all-new rear-wheel drive sport coupe on a dedicated platform.
Whew. Quite un-Toyotalike. This is the company that rarely “buys†anything or anybody, preferring joint ventures, particularly when it comes to vehicle development and vital components. When it decided to build cars with General Motors, Toyota bought nothing; it established New United Motors Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) in California, which jointly makes vehicles for Toyota and GM.
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Chrysler, Nissan: Could More Product Swaps Be in Store?
By Michelle Krebs
When Chrysler and Nissan announced their latest model-sharing plans Monday, company executives hinted they were leaving open the door for further product discussions. The initial opening that led to the Chrysler-Nissan small-car-for-big-truck swap had been cracked in January when the two companies announced Nissan would supply Chrysler with a version of the Nissan Versa to sell in South America.
"We agreed to an open dialogue [in January] to continue to explore future product development and sharing opportunities," Dominique Thormann, Nissan's North American senior vice president for administration and finance, said in a conference call Monday. "And today is one milestone and a culmination of that intention."
One milestone? Could there be others? What could be next?
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Ford, Microsoft Find They're in âSyncâ with Young Buyers
By Dale Buss
One of the few highlights of the industry’s dismal sales picture in recent months has been the Ford Focus.
In an otherwise dismal month and quarter for industry sales, March retail sales for the Focus marked their highest level for any month since August 2005 – with retail sales up 36 percent in March and 35 percent in the first quarter compared with the same periods a year ago. Counting fleet sales, Focus sales were up 24 percent in March and 23 percent for the quarter.
The reason for higher retail sales, Ford says, is in large part because younger consumers were flocking to buy Sync, the in-vehicle connectivity system that has been featured lately in marketing for the subcompact car.
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Toyota, Subaru Are Becoming Increasingly Entwined
By Peter Nunn
TOKYO — Japan is buzzing with news that Toyota plans to raise its stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru's parent company, from 8.7 percent up to around 17 percent.
The story was broken by the Nikkei, Japan's well-connected business newspaper, has since been picked up by other media, not denied
by either Toyota or Subaru.
Indeed, a spokesman from one of the companies admitted privately "the Nikkei got a scoop." All of which seems to back up the Nikkei's claim that Toyota will pick up 64.25 million shares in FHI for around ¥30 billion (some $306 million).
Ever since Toyota became the leading shareholder in Fuji Heavy Industries in October 2005 in the wake of the company’s hasty divorce from General Motors, many in Japan believed it was simply a matter of time before Toyota upped its stake.
So why now? Because up to a point, both companies need each other.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:16 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Capacitors Get a Boost from Suzuki
By Bill Visnic
Battery talk has become favorite dinnertime discussion throughout the industry.
It’s been that way at least since General Motors Corp. started pumping up the volume about its Chevy Volt — a so-called “extended-range electric vehicle†concept car everyone wants to see come to production. But it won’t unless battery developers now working feverishly to perfect lithium-ion chemistry can whip up the right formula to allow the car to run for 35 or 40 miles purely on battery power.
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GM Says 40 Miles Doable, but the âBusinessâ of Chevy Volt Battery Just Beginning
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT — General Motors Corp. executives and engineers said Thursday they’re confident they can hit the ambitious target of 40 miles of battery-driven range for the company’s high-profile Chevrolet Volt “extended-range†electric vehicle.
What the company’s not saying is which of its competing lithium-ion battery developers — Compact Power Inc. (using cell technology developed by Korea’s LG Chemical) or Continental Automotive Systems (cells from Boston’s A123 Systems) — might prevail.
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Think City, the Electric Car that Could Change Everything
By Nick Kurczewski
MONACO -- Jan-Olaf Willums, CEO of Think Global and the driving force behind the company’s new electric car, looked like his own batteries were nearly flat by the time AutoObserver sat down to chat with him at the EVER Monaco ecological car show. Held March 27-30, EVER Monaco is an annual exhibition of alternatively powered vehicles and energy systems. After a full day of interviews and roundtable discussions, Willums’ eyes looked weary, his tie was undone, and he bravely tried to stifle a yawn as we began the interview.
Five minutes into our conversation, the fog had lifted and Willums had hit his stride. His eyes were sharp, and the professorial-looking automotive CEO made it clear Think will not be content to simply reignite interest in electric vehicles. Think wants to revolutionize how customers buy a car, how they consume energy and even how they interact with their vehicle.
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Citroën Shows Its Many Shades of Green at EVER Monaco
By Nick Kurczewski
MONACO -- With Citroën’s history of avant garde design and outrageous concept cars, we were surprised to find its stand at the EVER Monaco ecological car show as daring as a navy-blue suit.
Though many exhibitors during EVER Monaco, held March 27-30, chose to showcase vehicles loaded with high technology, or huggably cute city cars, Citroën’s surprisingly subdued approach proves alternative energy doesn’t always need a fancy wrapper.
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Nissanâs Electric-Powered Future
By Nick Kurczewski
MONACO -- Kazuhiro Doi can engineer you a boring electric car if you want it, but he’d prefer not to. As Nissan’s general manager and technology chief, Doi has the inside line on Nissan’s work in everything from electric vehicles to hybrids, and advanced safety features.
Under Doi’s leadership, Nissan developed a vehicle th at can detect when a driver is too intoxicated to drive. One of his latest projects is the Nissan Mixim, which was at the EVER Monaco ecological car show, held March 27-30.
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Venturi Automobiles: Homefield Advantage at EVER Monaco
By Nick Kurczewski
It’s rare that an interview has to be postponed for royalty. But as Prince Albert of Monaco made his way through the displays at this year’s EVER Monaco ecological car show, that possibility was business as usual for Venturi Automobiles, the world’s only Monegasque car company.
AutoObserver caught up with Venturi’s charismatic CEO, Gildo Pastor, to discuss his tiny company’s latest electric, solar, and even wind-powered automotive technology projects. One eye scanning the floor to make sure Prince Albert’s entourage was not approaching, he also provided us with a few tantalizing hints as to what lies ahead regarding Venturi’s push into the American market.
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Toyota Denies Japanese Government Helped with the Prius
Toyota Motor Corp. denied Wednesday it had received any funding from the Japanese
government to develop its Prius hybrid, The Associated Press reported.
Former Toyota executive and board member Jim Press, now vice chairman and president of Chrysler, had been quoted in the March 24 issue of Business Week magazine as saying, “The Japanese government paid for 100 percent of the development of the battery and hybrid system that went into the Toyota Prius."
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:44 AM under Personalities , Rumors , Technology , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Sparking Controversy, and Confusion, at EVER Monaco
By Nick Kurczewski
The REVA 2.0 electric car proves even tree-hugging technology is not immune to the dirtier world of design infringement, and the confusing cross-pollination between Chinese companies and the electric vehicle marketplace.
Displayed for the first time at the EVER Monaco ecological car show, held March 27-30, the REVA 2.0 is a direct copy of a Smart Fortwo city-car. But the bright-yellow 2.0 on display in Monaco is actually built in China, while REVA Gmbh is based outside of Stuttgart, Germany.
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Chinese Engine Maker to Build First Diesels for Domestic Market
By Bill Visnic
Diesel envy officially hits China with the announcement from China Yuchai International Limited that it will assemble the first diesel engines earmarked for passenger cars in the Chinese domestic market.
China Yuchai, which said in a release it is the nationâs leading manufacturer and distributor of diesels, has broken ground for an the new engine-making facility for Jining Yuchai Engine Company Ltd., a joint venture formed between China Yuchai and domestic automakers Geely Holding Group Co. Ltd. and Zhejiang Yinlun Machinery Co. Ltd.
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Toyota Plans Research Institute Near Detroit
Toyota announced Tuesday it is establishing a North American research institute at its Detroit-area facility and plans to spend $100 million during the next four years on advanced research.
The Toyota Research Institute of North America initially will employ 35 researchers and staff in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Toyota already has a technical center, and plans to add 10 researchers this year and 20 more by 2010. Toyota hinted the institute will be used for its environmental efforts.
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"Green" Convenience Stores, Chevy Dealer Aim To Boost E85 Availability
By Bill Visnic
A Delaware startup company is fronting an ambitious plan to construct 1,000 âGo Green Stationâ convenience store/fueling stations on the East Coast that will sell only ethanol-based E85 and other alternative fuels.
Alternative Fuel Distributors, created last year to âdevelop, construct, own and operate convenience stores dedicated to supplying alternative fuels to retail customers,â said it expects to have 100 of the company-owned and trademarked Go Green Station convenience stores open by first-quarter 2009 in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:48 AM under Business , GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
BMW Hydrogen 7: A Surreal World Trial Run
By Nick Kurczewski
MONTE CARLO, Monaco — A hydrogen economy might still be a decade or more into the future but that hasn’t stopped BMW from continuing its real-world hydrogen trial run, courtesy of some surreal clientele. Prince Albert II of Monaco was handed the keys to a BMW Hydrogen 7 sedan at this week’s EVER Monaco ecological car show.
He joins an elite list of roughly 100 celebrities and VIPs who have been loaned one of BMW’s Hydrogen 7s. The average loan extends from six to eight weeks. A BMW spokesman at the EVER Monaco ecological car show confirmed Prince Albert would have a Hydrogen 7 for a two-month trial.
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Turning to Turbo
By Kate McLeod
The clock is ticking loudly toward 2011. That's when Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations will mandate increased miles per gallon for light trucks and passenger cars.
We know automakers are working all the angles to meet these new higher fuel economy goals. Diesels are tough because Detroit doesn’t make them and the Japanese don’t like them — although diesels that comply with 50-state regulations promise to be on sale later this year.
Hybrids have proven they work, but they are a costly solution to the problem. There’s a third option: the turbo-charged gasoline engine. It is cheaper than diesels — which are themselves all turbocharged — or hybrids.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:31 AM under Technology | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Leave the Lamborghini at Home. Electric Vehicles are Big News (and Big Business) at the EVER Monaco Ecological Car Show
By Nick Kurczewski
MONTE CARLO, Monaco — Corporate raiders and business tycoons beware, the supercar-saturated streets of Monte Carlo are about to be flooded with environmentally friendly automobiles. But don’t worry: A weak American housing market, collapsed banks and the falling dollar have nothing to do with the world-famous principality’s sudden change from its usual chest-thumping four-wheeled displays of wealth.
The EVER Monaco ecological car show opened its doors Thursday; it will run through Sunday. Now in its third year, the annual green-car show is dedicated to all forms of transport powered by fuels offering environmental benefits. The show is proof that, even in the glitzy confines of Monaco harbor, Earth-friendly automobiles are making big waves.
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Sirius-XM Merger Clears Antitrust Hurdle
The U.S. Justice Department has approved the $5 billion buyout of XM Satellite
Radio by Sirius Satellite Radio, saying the merger of the nationâs only two satellite-radio companies does not pose antitrust problems. The two have plenty of competition from other radio and entertainment outlets now and Internet outlets will provide even more in the future, the department ruled.
The deal now requires the approval of the Federal Communications
Commission. Shareholders of the two companies, neither of which has ever turned a profit, approved the merger in November. The companies say the merged entity will save hundreds of million in operating costs, which will benefit customers.
Consumer groups and the land-based radio industry opposed the merger.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:29 PM under Business , Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Saturn Pilot Program to Push Online Shopping
By Dale Buss
General Motors’ Saturn division plans to launch a pilot program within three months that is intended to allow integrated online execution of just about every aspect of a vehicle purchase that can be legally and physically accomplished outside a dealership.
AutoObserver has learned that Saturn’s test — with as many as 10 dealers nationwide — will allow customers to perform several functions on a dealer’s Web site that currently either must be handled in the showroom or executed only piecemeal online, including checking dealer inventories, applying for credit and scheduling a test drive.
The pilot also is expected to test ways to use the Internet to facilitate the evaluation of customers’ trade-in vehicles and to negotiate price using online chat and e-mail between dealership personnel and customers.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:25 AM under Companies , GM , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Shifty Events from New York Auto Show
By Bill Visnic
NEW YORK — There was plenty of industry chatter this week about the connotations of the New York auto show. Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp.’s Pontiac decided to headline a couple of muscle cars that raised hypersensitive environmental eyebrows, not to mention a handful of low-volume, less high-profile models that didn’t issue a particularly positive sustainability message, either.
Lost in the hubris over whether the likes of the Pontiac G8, Dodge Challenger and BMW M3 Convertible are politically correct endeavors were interesting developments in the greasy regions that could end up saving more fuel than a healthy fleet of hybrid-electric vehicles.
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New York Icon Getting a Makeover
By Kate McLeod
NEW YORK -- New York City’s bright-yellow taxicab is so entwined with the Big Apple’s identity that tourists put hailing a cab on their to-do lists, along with riding the subway and seeing a Broadway show. A cab ride in New York is a singular experience; it has character.
Now, it appears, the New York taxicab will be reinvented. The deputy commissioner for public affairs at the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), Allan Fromberg, recently released a request for information (RFI) asking for proposals to redesign New York’s taxicab fleet.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:57 AM under Business , Companies , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds.comâs Car Stock Exchange Off to a Running Start
By Dale Buss
Edmunds.com’s new Car Stock Exchange already is exhibiting some “natural resonance†with online automotive enthusiasts, which “suggests that it may catch on†for the long term, said CEO Jeremy Anwyl.
Less than two weeks after its official launch, the Car Stock Exchange — where consumers invest virtually in the sales performance of their favorite vehicles — “is running ahead of what we thought,†said Anwyl.
“There’s already a lot of buzz building that we didn’t necessarily anticipate right away. There are some small but rabidly loyal audiences (of car enthusiasts) that are already chattering about this thing quite a bit.â€
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Audi "Positioned Well" for Coming Fuel Economy Crunch
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT — Audi of America Inc. is ready for a projected shift in consumer demand toward more fuel-efficient vehicles, said its top technical executive.
At the recent Detroit auto show, Michael Dick, Audi AG’s member of the board of management for technical development, told AutoObserver, “I think we are positioned very well†for any increased focus on fuel-efficiency in the U.S.
“Our history is to make highly efficient cars,†Dick said, noting Audi and its parent, Volkswagen Group, were the first European automakers to introduce new-age, direct-injected turbocharged diesels to the passenger-vehicle market in 1989.
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Automakers Flexing Their Green Thumbs
By Pál Négyesi
With the European Union trying to compel automobile manufacturers to reduce their products'
carbon-dioxide emissions to an average of 120 grams per kilometer by 2012 it is no wonder the halls at the Geneva International Motor Show were echoing with announcements of new technologies to help companies achieve this ambitious target.
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Geneva Auto Show: If These are Eco-Friendly, Sign Us Up
By Bill Visnic
The Geneva auto show turned out as expected: It was a singular stage featuring fuel-efficiency and carbon-dioxide-reducing abilities as essentially the only act. Most automakers showed up in Geneva with actors capable of assuming roles in this new-age play. Those without the talent promoted the understudies’ virtue, that primarily being performance.
But what we liked most about the eco-positive hardware fronted in Geneva is how visually and intellectually appealing some of it turned out to be. In no particular order, our green favorites:
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GM Charged Up About Li-ion for 2010 âMildâ Hybrids
By Bill Visnic
General Motors Corp.’s hybrid electric vehicle engineers announced at the Geneva auto show today they will have advanced lithium-ion batteries ready for the company’s next generation of “mild†hybrids coming in 2010.
The batteries, which GM says are being developed by Japan’s Hitachi Vehicle Energy Ltd., will improve performance and efficiency of the Saturn Vue Green Line and Aura Green Line and the Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid, GM sources say. Fuel economy, for example, will be some 15 to 20 percent better than the same vehicles with conventional gasoline-engine powertrains.
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Mercedes "Breakthrough" Battery Developer Also GM Volt Supplier
By Bill Visnic
Our editor in Geneva, Switzerland, says this week's international auto show there is buzzing about Daimler AG’s reputed breakthrough in the development of lithium-ion batteries for hybrid-vehicle applications.
Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz unit is claiming the “first patented integration of a lithium-ion battery into a series-produced passenger car†when it launches the Mercedes-Benz S400 BlueHYBRID starting in 2009.
Mercedes’ 2009 rollout, in effect, trumps the earliest-known planned deployment of lithium-ion for production vehicles, believed to be General Motors Corp. for its own hybrid applications in 2010, and Toyota Motor Corp, also sometime in the 2010 timeframe. GM, of course, most famously promises its own lithium-ion battery breakthrough for its highly promoted Volt “extended-range†electric vehicle (E-REV), which also is earmarked for introduction around 2010.
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Porsche Becoming Volatile Over CO2 Limits
By Bill Visnic
The globe allegedly is warming up, and so are tempers in Europe as the
Continentâs ongoing dialog regarding carbon-dioxide emissions is
beginning to draw some acrimonious battle lines.
If the questions hit the sore spot, the issue could provide fireworks
at the Geneva auto show, where CO2 is expected to be a prime
topic at nearly every automakerâs display.
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Bush Comments Lend Another Boost to Cellulosic Ethanol
By Dale Buss
The politicians in Washington aren’t on the same page on every issue with the U.S. auto industry. But it’s increasingly clear the most important of them see eye to eye with some major automakers when it comes to cellulosic ethanol.
Remaining presidential candidates have made a point of touting cellulosic ethanol — which can be made from a number of sources other than corn — as an important alternative fuel. On Thursday morning President Bush added to the chorus of support at his White House news conference. He emphasized cellulosic ethanol as a crucial part of the short-term answer to problems of fuel pricing and availability, as well as a long-term solution.
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Fuel-Cell Experiment Misses the Bus
By Bill Visnic
Some cost and durability figures for operating hydrogen fuel-cell powered buses have leaked out, and from them it appears the best thing that can be said is it’s a good thing it’s a demonstration program.
To fulfill a California Air Resources Board requirement that operators of large bus fleets participate in a Zero-Emission Bus demonstration program, in 2005 the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority purchased three buses powered by early versions of fuel cells developed by Ballard Power Systems Inc. of Vancouver, Canada.
Green Car Journal reports a memo directed to the Santa Clara VTA’s board of directors indicated operating the buses has cost the Santa Clara VTA a staggering 32 times more than the overall running cost for comparable diesel-engine buses.
Cost per mile for to operate a diesel bus: $1.61. Cost per mile for the fuel-cell buses: $51.66.
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Hyundai Is Working on the Next Great Niche
By Bill Visnic
CHICAGO — Even before unveiling its redesigned Sonata sedan and a low-slung hydrogen fuel-cell concept car at the recent Chicago auto show here, John Krafcik was already talking about Hyundai Motor America’s next big ideas.
Agreeing the company appears to have most conventional U.S. market segments covered, Krafcik, HMA’s vice president of product development and strategic planning, told AutoObserver the company now is under way with an advanced-planning initiative to identify — or create — new market niches and evaluate the potential for Hyundai to develop appropriate new vehicles.
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Hydrogen-Powered Cars: 16 Million on Europeâs Roads by 2030, Report Says
A new report by the European Union (EU) estimates 16 million hydrogen-powered vehicles will be traveling European roads by 2030, dramatically reducing oil consumption but requiring lengthy and expensive infrastructure changes.
The use of hydrogen fuel is a realistic alternative to fossil fuels and could cut oil consumption by 40 percent by 2050, but infrastructure investments could cost the equivalent of nearly $90 billion (based on todayâs exchange rates), says the EUâs research, reported on by Dow Jones Newswires on Tuesday.
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Siriusâ Boost in Subscribers Narrows Loss
Sirius Satellite Radio, which is offering its services in a increasing number of car models, got a boost in the number of people who subscribe to its service, which helped lower its costs and helped narrow its fourth-quarter loss, the New York-based company reported.
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Toyota to Seed More U.S. Research
By Bill Visnic
News from the U.S. financial media cites a report from Japan as saying Toyota Motor Corp. plans to fund several new advanced-research groups in the U.S.
Media in Japan are reporting Toyota will establish new U.S.-based research teams for alternative energy, safety and advanced materials. The company typically has engaged such long-term research only in Japan.
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Audi: Diesel Is the Practical Choice
By Michael Jordan
Now that BMW has officially announced it will introduce a diesel-powered sedan for America, the German carmakers finally are making good on their promise to bring diesel to the U.S. as a clean-air solution.
BMW certainly isn't alone; Audi plans to announce the introduction of a diesel-powered Audi Q7 for the U.S. Johan de Nysschen, Audi of America's executive vice president, notes diesel-powered vehicles will play an important role in his company's attempt to expand its annual sales to 200,000 -- a long way from the less than 100,000 vehicles the company will have sold during 2007.
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Venturiâs Electric Eclectic, Version 2.0
By Nick Kurczewski
MONTE CARLO, Monaco — As the only automobile company to call the glamorous enclave of Monaco home, it’s no wonder Venturi has turned environmentally friendly vehicles into green-themed status symbols.
The second generation of the companyâs successful solar-electric Eclectic model is due later this year.
First seen at the 2006 Paris auto show, the Venturi Eclectic certainly lives up to its name. Looking like a cross between a dune buggy and a lunar rover, its design evolved around the 2.5 square meters of solar panels on the roof. The Eclectic seats three, and when fully charged has a range of 30 miles.
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Are Customers Finished Buying Tickets to the Horsepower Race?
By Bill Visnic
The evidence is mounting. Big engines and huge horsepower no longer are the keys to the car-buyer’s heart. In fact, it quickly may become the opposite.
Installation rates for V8 engines -- the bread-and-butter powerplant for the horsepower wars that have dominated the U.S. market for more than a decade -- are dropping. And data from Edmunds.com extrapolating the purchase intentions of consumers actively shopping for a new vehicle show those potential customers are markedly less interested in V8 power.
Certainly, it’s a time of deep but swift transition for the U.S. light-vehicle market. At the recent Detroit auto show, there were numerous examples of high-horsepower wares, but they most decidedly were presented in modest tones, taking a back seat to whatever fuel-efficient and eco-friendly model or technology was available. The chest-thumping days of explosive, twin-Hemi concept SUVs are done.
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2009 Acura TSX: European Flavored
By Peter Nunn
TOKYO - Acura's redesigned 2009 TSX sports sedan has broken cover, weeks ahead of its official intro at the New York International Auto Show.
In what's shaping up to be a busy year for Acura, Honda's premium brand, this new TSX announcement comes just days after the revised 2009 Acura RL flagship was unveiled at last week's Chicago Auto Show. Acura has also said it will debut an all-new TL performance luxury sedan later year as Acura's model lineup gets a substantial revamp.
Indeed, John Mendel, executive vice president of automobile operations for American Honda Motor Co., had promised last summer that 2008 would be the year of laying out Acura's new direction.
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Acura Wonât Shy Away From Size
By Bill Visnic
CHICAGO – Honda Motor Co. Ltd.’s upmarket Acura division doesn’t appear to be afraid to buck indications that American customers may be ready to accept smaller vehicles in exchange for better fuel economy.
At the Chicago Auto Show, Dick Colliver, Acura executive vice president of auto sales, flatly said Acura intends to market comparatively large vehicles — and for that reason, amazingly has no plans to sell hybrids. Instead, Colliver said, Acura will use diesels to provide its customers with an environmentally responsible, fuel-efficient powertrain option.
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GM About Energy Solutions, âBuilding What Customer Wantsâ
By Bill Visnic
CHICAGO – Kicking off media days at the Chicago Auto Show, Troy Clarke, General Motors Corp. group vice president and president, GM North America, said GM, like the presidential candidates in the news, has a new platform in order to win the “vote†of U.S. customers. That platform: “energy solutions.â€
Clarke said GM is determined to proceed with future vehicle-development programs that focus on “what people want to buy, not what we may want to sell them.â€
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GM Duramax Investment Presages Diesel Power for Suburban, Hummer
By Bill Visnic
General Motors Corp.’s announcement this week of a large investment to produce a new variant of its largest diesel engine, one that complies with
emissions standards in all 50 states, likely foretells GMâs plan to use the engine for the Chevrolet Suburban SUV, in addition to other large SUVs, pickups and vans already using the current 6.6-liter Duramax diesel V8.
Currently, even the largest versions of the Suburban have made do with GM’s gasoline 6-liter V8. The gasoline-engine Suburban 2500’s 12 mpg city and 17 mpg highway fuel-economy ratings appear to be an increasing liability, however — a liability diesel power could help to alleviate.
But there’s a new complication: Current federal Tier II emissions standards created a new category of vehicles — Medium Duty Passenger Vehicles, which, beginning in 2009, must meet the same emissions standards as every other passenger vehicle on the road.
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First Cellulosic Ethanol Plant Begins Production; Will Fuel Sebring Race
By Bill Visnic
Ethanol derived from cellulosic “waste†sources –- rather than the corn-based stock that produces almost all of the ethanol used today –- takes a big step this week, as the nation’s first cellulosic ethanol plant begins production.
The cellulosic ethanol plant, engineered and operated by KL Process Design Group of Rapid City, S.D., is located near Upton, Wyo. The plant processes soft waste wood into ethanol and is the result of a 6-year cooperation between KL and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Cellulose is the primary structural component in all green plants.
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Diesel, Hybrid Dodge Rams on Tap
In unveiling the 2009 Dodge Ram at the recent Detroit auto show, Chrysler said two more versions of the revamped full-size pickup truck are on tap.
A Cummins diesel version arrives in 2009. It will be followed in 2010 by a hybrid. The hybrid will use the 2-Mode hybrid technology cooperatively developed by General Motors, BMW, Chrysler and Daimler.
That technology already is installed in the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon. It goes into the Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango by year-end 2008, a date pushed back from the original plan of first-quarter 2008.
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Cadillac To Sell CTS-V Overseas
In unveiling the Cadillac CTS-V at the recent Detroit auto show, General Motors announced it would -â for the first time ever -- sell the performance sedan outside of North America.
The 2009 Cadillac CTS-V will be sold in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
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Gas Prices Rise; Hybrids Win Big, Says Edmunds Study
By Bill Visnic
If you’re one of those cynical types who think people are buying hybrid-electric vehicles mainly to demonstrate their environmental hipness, results of a new fuel-price study by Edmunds.com indicate hybrid buyers may not be nearly so superficial:
They’re buying hybrids to save gas.
Edmunds analyzes the number of visits for every vehicle in the market to that model’s Vehicle Details page at Edmunds.com. It correlated those visits to extrapolate what would happen if the price of gasoline rose from its $3.01 price in December to a theoretical $4 per gallon.
Bottom line: Online vehicle shoppers flock to hybrids. And flee traditional midsize SUVs.
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Chevy Volt Web Site Generates Buzz
A Web site for fans of the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, which GM hopes to have in production by the end of 2010, says it has now collected the names of more than 10,000 people who want to buy one of the cars, according to Edmundsâ Green Car Advisor.
In an item posted on its site Saturday, GM-Volt.com said it is logging more than 100,000 "visitors" a month and has a "waiting list" that has surpassed the 10,000 mark.
The site was started by New York physician Lyle Dennis within days after GM introduced the Volt as a concept car in January 2007 at the Detroit auto show.
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Fisker Eyes Detroit To Build Hybrid Sports Car
Fisker Automotive, which unveiled its Karma luxury sports car at the Detroit auto show earlier this month, said it is considering building the plug-in hybrid in the Detroit area.
Former BMW and Volvo exec, Vic Doolan, now Fisker's director of retail development, told the Detroit Free Press the Southern California company is attracted to Michigan for its experienced workforce, unused production capacity, and supplier network.
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Ballard Sale of Automotive Fuel-Cell Assets Approved
Ballard Power Systems Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, said shareholders have approved the previously reported transaction to sell the company's automotive fuel-cell assets to automakers Daimler AG and Ford, Dow Jones reported.
The hydrogen fuel cells said 97.8 percent of shares voted were in favor. The transaction is expected to close January 31. The company said the transaction would lower its risk profile and enable it to concentrate on growth in the fuel-cell market.
Chris Guzy, Ballardâs chief technology officer, told AutoObserver in November the new Daimler-Ford ownership moves commercially viable fuel cells for cars closer to reality.
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New Delhi Auto Expo: Hydrogenâs Three-Wheeled Future in India
By Nick Kurczewski
NEW DELHI, India -- Squeezing into the non-existent passenger space of a vehicle built for one turned out to be the easy part. The driver, seated in the center, and directly behind what looked to be a set of motorcycle handlebars, attempted to fire up the engine once again. A sputter, a grumble from the exhaust, one or two feet of forward motion, and then nothing.
The bright blue three-wheeler came to an abrupt stop.
India’s hydrogen-powered future faces similar false starts and the occasional stumble. But the fact that the world’s third largest economy (in purchasing power) has a roadmap for hydrogen in the first place – not to mention a Ministry of New and Renewable Energy – might come as something of a surprise to those who expect the country’s emissions regulations to be woefully outdated.
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GM Go-Fast Guy to Lead New Hybrid, EV Development Team
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT – General Motors Corp. this week put its top performance-vehicle
development engineer in charge of a new global team oriented to going fast in another fashion: speeding development of GMâs new hybrid-electric and so-called âextended-rangeâ electric vehicles â and the critical battery-storage technology to enable those next-generation vehicles, like the Chevrolet Volt.
Robert Kruse, executive director of vehicle engineering for hybrids, electric vehicle and batteries, is running the new engineering team. Kruse, most recently head honcho at GM’s Performance Division, is well-regarded in the GM empire and should be an ideal engineer-executive to direct GM’s efforts to implement high-tech, electrically oriented powertrains.
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Nissan-Renault's Ghosn: Fuel Costs Will Stay High
DAVOS, Switzerland -- Donât expect low fuel prices to drop again anytime soon, Nissan-Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn told Dow Jones on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Friday.
“The assumption is fuel prices will remain high," said Ghosn.
Ghosn is at the conference to tout Nissan’s commitment to bring out a mass-market, zero-missions electric vehicle by 2010. Consumers will be attracted to the car not just because it saves money on gas but because it is environmentally friendlier, too, said Ghosn.
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Subaru Boxer Diesel Is One-of-a-Kind
By Peter Nunn
MALAGA, Spain -- Never one to run with the crowd, Subaru has just released the world’s first 2.0-liter Boxer Diesel engine in European versions of the Legacy and Outback.
A Boxer Diesel?
Think of it as a brand-new, clean sheet, four-cylinder horizontally opposed turbodiesel engine, developed completely in-house by Subaru and conceived exclusively for European markets.
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Nissan Needs "Interesting" Cars, Wants To Reinvigorate Maxima
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT –- Tom Lane, Nissan Motor Co. corporate vice president of the product strategy and product planning division, wasn’t much in a mood to mince words when AutoObserver spoke with him at the Detroit auto show. He says Nissan needs more small cars.
More importantly: “I would like to have more interesting small cars.â€
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Renault Develops an Electric Vehicle for Israel, and a Small Car Strategy for the World
By Nick Kurczewski
PARIS -- Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn sees Israel as the perfect test bed for selling electric vehicles, due to the country's small size and its residents' driving habits.
Renault has announced an ambitious project to market electric vehicles in Israel by 2011. Powered by a lithium-ion battery pack developed by Nissan, the car will have a range of 60 to 100 miles between recharges. The fully-electric vehicle will be built in Europe and sold in Israel, before eventually arriving in Asia, Europe and the U.S.
The car will be badged as a Renault or Nissan depending on each market.
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Detroit Auto Show Hangover: Impressions from Press Days
By AutoObserver Staff
DETROIT â The Detroit auto show partyâs over â at least for the media; it only just begins on Saturday for the public. The confetti, which came in the form of cattle droppings this year, is cleaned up. The cars and trucks are locked so the public wonât steal radio knobs.
So what did we come away with? Automaker execs always ask: what did you think of the show? What did you like? What didn't you like? What did you think of this or that?
After another spin around the floor, here are some unvarnished impressions of the show from AutoObserverâs writers:
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Michelin Challenge Design Rewards "Smaller, Safer, Better" Concepts
By Jane Nakagawa
DETROIT - Each year the Michelin Challenge Design exhibit at the North American International Auto Show showcases specialty vehicles and technology from around the globe in support of a specific design theme. This year, 272 entries were received from 51 countries. Visitors to Cobo Center will see three full size models, eight scale models and 18 drawings, all representing this year’s finalists.
The theme for 2008 is “Smaller, Safer, Better.†Designers were challenged to come up with innovative solutions to reconcile the inverse relationship between convenience and crash worthiness of small vehicles. How ironic it must have been for the eight-person international jury as they reviewed the entries in this land of abundance.
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GM Launches Partnership With Coskata To Pursue Its Ethanol Dreams
By Dale Buss
WARRENVILLE, Ill. â- Here in a cluster of tiny laboratories, in a nondescript one-story office building, in a cookie-cutter industrial park in suburban Chicago, scientists and engineers â- as of Sunday, officially partnered with General Motors â- may be coming up with one of the most feasible solutions yet to the wrenching problem of global dependence on oil for gasoline.
Itâs called cellulosic ethanol. Itâs created by proprietary strains of bacteria that convert farm waste, wood chips, old tires, landfill plastic and a whole bunch of other organic materials into ethanol. The process was licensed and is being commercialized by a startup called Coskata Inc.
Specifically, the promise is that Coskata plans to produce enough cellulosic ethanol here by later this year to begin fueling the GM test fleet at the Milford (Michigan) Proving Grounds. And if that works, Coskata projects that it could be running its first commercial-scale plant, producing 50 million to 100 million gallons of ethanol annually, by 2011 â- including the two years it will take to build the plant.
âThis can revolutionize the transportation-fuel business,â said Bill Rowe, a three-decade veteran of the water-treatment and process-chemical industry who now serves as Coskataâs CEO. âJust as important, itâs a speed-to-market play.â
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Automakers Hope Sparks Donât Fly After Latest Laptop-Battery Flareup
By Bill Visnic
In a story posted on Edmundsâ Green Car Advisor, automakers voice their concern that recent laptop computer battery fires donât lead to safety concerns for batteries in hybrid cars.
The latest such incident, reported earlier this week, was with a computer outfitted with a lithium-ion battery manufactured by Koreaâs LG Chem â one of two battery makers General Motors Corp. has charged with developing the lithium-ion battery pack for a production version of its tirelessly-touted Chevrolet Volt hybrid-electric vehicle.
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Ford Dishes Up News Tidbits
Fordâs sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to Indiaâs Tata Motors should be wrapped up by the end of March, a rear-drive Lincoln is in the works and the automakerâs future growth will come from outside of the U.S.
Those are just a few of the news tidbits that came out Tuesday during one of the dinner/press briefings Ford CEO Alan Mulally and his management team occasionally host.
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Chevy Volt Developer: Donât Overanalyze CEOâs Tempering Remark
By Bill Visnic
LAS VEGAS -– Is General Motors Corp.’s timeline for development of a production version its Chevrolet Volt hybrid-electric concept car a little too aggressive?
Break out your corporatespeak decoder ring for an answer.
GM Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner set off an explosion of speculation last week when he said in an online chat session –- kicking off GM’s 100th anniversary celebration -– that he “can’t guarantee at this time†the 2010 production launch of the Volt. The 2010 target long has been a cornerstone talking point for Volt chief proponent and GM Vice-Chairman Bob Lutz.
Don't read too much into Wagoner's comment, the engineer in charge of the Volt told AutoObserver.
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Fordâs Better Idea: Smaller but Technology-Laden Engines
By Bill Visnic
It’s far from new, and it’s not exactly unique, but Ford Motor Co. announces this week that within the next five years, it plans to fit more than a half-million vehicles annually with comparatively smaller engines boosted by turbochargers and fueled by injecting gasoline directly into the cylinders.
Ford’s turbocharged and direct-injected “EcoBoost†four-cylinder and six-cylinder engines are good for up to 20 percent better fuel economy vaguely compared with “larger displacement†engines, Ford promises, not to mention a 15 percent cut in CO2 emissions.
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Chevrolet Volt: Is Intro Time Slipping?
By Dale Buss
GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said on Thursday that the company is “currently benchtesting batteries†for Chevrolet Volt and added that, while beginning Volt production in 2010 “would be great,†he “can’t guarantee it at this time.â€
GM previously has indicated that it will launch Volt around 2010, though some outside observers are skeptical that GM will have the batteries ready for the plug-in hybrid.
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GMâs Dream of Mid-Engine Corvette Not Off the Table
By Bill Visnic
With General Motors Corp. unveiling the ultra-high performance ZR-1 and its six-figure price, the possibility of the next-generation Chevrolet Corvette moving to a more exotic mid-engine configuration still is being discussed at the highest levels of GM engineering, planning and marketing, sources close to the situation tell AutoObserver.
The iconic Corvette has used a classic front-engine/rear-drive layout since its inception in 1953. But some factions within the company believe the car should migrate to a mid-engine design for a variety of reasons, not all of them engineering-related.
It is a virtual assurance, however, that a mid-engine design would dictate a price point well in excess of $100,000 – a matter many at GM believe jettisons the Corvette’s heritage for quasi-affordability.
(Read more...)
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Nissan GT-R Goes Underground
By Peter Nunn
TOKYO -- Deep underground, the guests and media throng were waiting. Then, suddenly with lights ablaze and engines roaring, two Nissan GT-Rs sped past in the semi-darkness, sending a flurry of excitement through the crowd lined up against the wall.
A film? Some kind of fantasy? Nope, this was the “Tokyo Underground Night Nissan GT-R X Shutoko Yamate Tunnel,†a full-on media whiz-bang staged on the eve of the new Nissan GT-R super coupe that went on sale in Japan this month.
It’s not every day a new car gets to be launched at night in deep mid-winter in a yet-to-be-opened roadway tunnel in Tokyo, but then the new GT-R is no ordinary car.
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Chevy Volt Designers: Shape, Not Weight, Is More Important
By Bill Visnic
WARREN, Michigan –- General Motors Corp. designers and engineers say they will have to figure out ways to seriously cheat physics if a production version of the company’s Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid-electric concept car is to deliver on the promised driving range of 40 miles propelled solely on battery power.
GM designers revealed at a media event here they have embarked on an all-out battle to minimize efficiency-reducing aerodynamic drag. And the company recently commissioned a new studio and a 45-strong staff dedicated to developing hybrid and full electric vehicles using its E-Flex “modular†propulsion system. Right now, that means the full staff is working on just one vehicle: the Volt.
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Toyota Prius: Outselling Entire Brands
The Toyota Prius has become a brand unto itself; the single hybrid car is outselling entire brands with
their full lines of models.
The Prius more than doubled sales in November compared with November 2006. Prius outsold the entire Acura, Saturn, Buick, Subaru and Mercury brands. It came close to outselling the Cadillac and Volkswagen brands.
That's to name only a few. (See chart below)
And November wasn't even Prius' best month. In November, Toyota sold 16,737 Prius hybrids; in May, Toyota sold more than 24,000.
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GM Design Expands to India and Possibly Dubai
General Motors opened a full-fledged design studio in India this week and is considering a design studio
in Dubai.
GM officially opened GM India Design Studio in Bangalore this week, and GM executives have been on recent scouting missions to Dubai for a possibly design studio focused on luxury vehicles there.
GM Design Chief Ed Welburn told AutoObserver he wants GM’s designers in India to become more involved with actually designing vehicles for their home market, one of the world’s fastest-growing car markets. The India studio will help with designs of future products for global markets, mostly small cars.
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Bose Shops Suspension System to Automakers in '08
BOSTON – After 27 years and $100 million in investment, Bose Corp. is ready to fit its innovative sound-wave suspension system into an upcoming luxury car – if it can find an automaker willing to joint venture with the Boston-based maker of premium audio systems.
Dr. Amar Bose, said in an interview with AutoObserver.com
Tuesday at the New England International Auto Show, that the company would be going out to talk with automakers in the coming year about doing a joint venture to put the innovative suspension system into future cars. Bose said likely candidates for the system will be top-of-the-line luxury cars that are being newly developed.
Bose has been personally interested in developing a new kind of suspension system since the 1950s, one that would deliver the passenger comfort of a luxury sedan with the vehicle control of a sports car. His privately held company has been working on such a system for 27 years, investing $100 million.
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Ballard-Ford-Daimler Venture Speeds Fuel Cell Progress
By Kate McLeod
SHANGHAI, CHINA -- Whiz-bang press conferences on fuel cell technology have been part of the auto show circuit for at least a decade. Journalists have been driving fuel cell cars around parking lots in New York, LA and Chicago for years. Interesting enough, but where’s the beef? When is the public going to be offered a car that is powered by hydrogen?
In a pairing of seemingly strange bedfellows, Daimler and Ford have now formed a joint venture to become more involved in the automotive fuel cell business of Vancouver, Canada-based Ballard Power Systems.
The move suggests a fuel cell car just might be getting closer to the showroom.
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Indiaâs Mahindra & Mahindra: Seeking a U.S. Engineering Firm
Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. is eyeing the acquisition of U.S. companies involved in automotive engineering services and aerospace engineering, company official told reporters Monday, according to Dow Jones Newswire.
Company President Hemant Luthra said Mahindra has identified potential target companies and is currently in talks with them. He wouldnât name them, so the guessing game starts.
Mahindra & Mahindra, like its prime competitor, Tata Motors, in India has ambitious global plans. Both companies are said to be among the frontrunners to purchase Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford. Mahindra & Mahindra has sites set on selling cars in the U.S.
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Ford Forms Advisory Council for Environmental Matters
Ford Motor Co. announced the formation of Transformation Advisory Council that consists of Ford
senior executives as well as outside thought leaders to explore solutions to energy independence and global warming.
Initial outsiders selected for the council are big names -- Amory Lovins, Paul Hawken and Peter Senge.
“This is the start of a world-class group of innovative thinkers who will help propel us along the road to sustainability,†said Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford in making the announcement made Tuesday.
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Chevrolet Volt: It Wonât Look Like the Concept
By Kelly Toepke
Did you like the way the long-slung Chevrolet Volt looks?
Well, forget about it. The production version won’t look like that concept. It's not aerodynamic enough.
"The final version of the Volt won't look like the concept,†General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told reporters attending the Los Angeles show at a dinner Tuesday night. “In the wind tunnel it was a cruel disappointment. We probably would've gotten better drag coefficient if we put it in the wind tunnel backwards. "
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Chevrolet Malibu Again Takes Over Online
By Dale Buss
Today’s the day designated for a second “takeover†of online advertising by the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu –- although this invasion will take a few days, unlike the car’s one-day blitzkrieg on October 17.
Having pronounced its earlier takeover a blazing success, Wednesday Chevrolet also planned to make it nearly impossible for Internet surfers to ignore its new midsize sedan. Chevy bought advertisements that occupy many of the highest-traffic home pages ranging from Yahoo.com to Amazon.com to FoodNetwork.com. Connected to the online effort is a big advertising push for Malibu on and around the Country Music Awards telecast tonight on ABC.
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Hillary Clinton Backs 40 MPG Standard
She wasnât going to get many votes from the captains of Detroitâs auto industry anyway, but now Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has guaranteed they won't vote for her as she upped the ante in the fuel economy debate.
On Monday, Clinton called for a 60 percent increase in fuel economy standards by 2020 for a combined fleet average of 40 miles per gallon and a combined fleet average of 55 miles per gallon by 2030. To soften the blow, she also called for $3 billion in battery research and $20 billion in government-backed âGreen Vehicleâ bonds to help automakers shift to more efficient vehicles. She also promoted tax breaks for plug-in hybrid and government purchases of plug-in hybrids -â 100,000 by 2015.
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GM Takes Delivery of Advanced Batteries for Chevy Volt
The Chevrolet Volt moved yet-another step closer to reality Tuesday when, as scheduled, General
Motors took delivery on the first advance lithium-ion batteries to go into E-Flex operating system that powers the Volt.
The battery delivery buoyed the confidence of GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, who told the Detroit Free Press in an interview that he hoped GM would build as many as 100,000 Chevrolet Volts in the first year of production, set for around year-end 2010.
Lutz told the newspaper that the first-generation production version of the E-Flex will appear in a vehicle that will be called the Chevrolet Volt and will look similar to the concept car unveiled at the Detroit auto show earlier this year.
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Tiremaker Michelin Launches Green Campaign
By Bill Visnic
NEW YORK -- Global tire giant Michelin kicks off a high-profile campaign here to promote a wide-
ranging new initiative to improve the efficiency of automotive and truck tires, promote âgreenâ tire choices and to reduce the impact on the environment of tire production.
Michelin’s efforts are likely to have a significant impact on both consumers and the automaker and truckmaker customers it supplies.
Starting on the evening of October 30 and running for four days, Michelin has enormous “green meters†on New York City’s NASDAQ and Reuters electronic billboards displaying reductions in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions attributable to the company’s “green energy saving†tires for passenger cars and commercial trucks since the launch of the first generation of the tires in 1992.
Electronic billboards in Paris, Shanghai and Berlin also will display the worldwide savings, which amount to a staggering 11.6 gallons of fuel and 240 pounds of CO2 every second.
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Edmunds.com Forecast: Housing Market Woes Continue to Affect October Car Sales
Octoberâs new vehicle sales are expected to be 1.24 million units, a 2.4 percent increase from October 2006 on an unadjusted basis, according to a forecast by Edmunds.com. Automakers will report October sales results on Thursday.
This October had 26 selling days, one more than October 2006. When adjusted for this difference, sales decreased 1.6 percent from October 2006. (The chart below sets forth other adjusted and unadjusted comparisons.)
"Sales are strong for vehicles at the far ends of the price spectrum, as consumers affected by the housing market bust seek bargains while luxury buyers are largely untouched," observed Jesse Toprak, Edmundsâ executive director of industry analysis. âMeanwhile, sales of midrange vehicles like large cars and minivans are suffering."
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Dueling Fuel-Cell Cars: GM Vs. Honda
TOKYO –— Honda announced at the Tokyo Motor Show that at the upcoming Los Angeles show it will
introduce a new hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicle based on the FCX concept, displayed here and at past shows. Honda will begin deliveries of the car to customers in the U.S. and Japan next year.
Honda executives on the sidelines were quick to point out that it will allow customers — both retail and fleet — to actually lease the fuel-cell vehicles on their own in contrast to General Motors’ recent program.
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Tokyo Auto Show: A Race Between Green and Performance
TOKYO â Even before Wednesdayâs first press day for the Tokyo Motor Show, the themes of the event were obvious -- and opposite: green and performance.
And on day one, performance outpaced green.
Nissan won hands down for most crowded press conference at which it unveiled the long-awaited GT-R. Even an hour before the designated starting time, the Nissan conference was jammed with no spots available remotely close to seeing the stage for the unveiling. Media excluded from seeing the unveiling, clamored for the highly sought after press kit., which Nissan refsed to distribute until after the press conference.
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Tokyo Motor Show: Technology, Environment, Performance and Showmanship
By Peter Nunn
Over the coming days, many of the industry’s leading lights will be boarding flights to Japan for the 40th Tokyo Motor Show, which opens its doors to the world on Wednesday, October 24.
What will be big in Japan this year?
First, technology and plenty of it, much of it geared inevitably toward the environment through a fresh array of plug-in hybrids, electrics, clean diesels and more.
Next, speed and excitement, courtesy of a new wave of Japanese high-performance cars, led by the Nissan GT-R and new Subaru Impreza WRX STI.
Third, plenty of show concepts, (28 at the last count), some serious, some less so, and as ever it’s the latter than helps give the Tokyo Show its unique fun and fantasy feel.
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Chevrolet Malibu Day Is Today â Online
By Dale Buss
Today, on the Internet, Chevrolet begins to find out whether its hugely ambitious strategy for the new Malibu sedan is getting some traction. General Motors’ top sales division planned what it not so modestly is calling a “takeover†of online advertising in what really may be the most ambitious such effort yet by any major marketer.
“This will be the largest home-page takeover ever,†crowed Bill Ludwig, vice chairman and chief creative officer of Campbell-Ewald, Chevy’s longtime advertising agency.
The idea is to make the completely new vehicle unavoidable online and lend some early credibility to Chevy’s marketing theme for the 2008 Malibu: “The Car You Can’t Ignore.â€
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Et Tu, Tom Friedman!
In his October 3 column entitled âEt Tu, Toyota?â New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman expresses his shock and utter dismay that his beloved Toyota is siding with Detroit automakers in what he calls a Michigan-style âassisted suicideâ â- opposing stringent fuel-economy standards proposed by the Senate.
In previous columns, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Friedman advocated Toyota take over General Motors and rule the automotive universe on the basis of its pioneering leadership in fuel-efficiency as expressed through a single model, the Toyota Prius hybrid.
Now, Friedman is disappointed and stunned: Toyota, along with GM, Ford and Chrysler, is opposing the tough mileage standards in the U.S. Senateâs draft version of the energy bill, and are lobbying for another bill that is more stringent and separates cars and trucks.
Toyota wasted no time in responding to Friedman's column. General Motors has as well. And so have other industry watchers, including columnists from Motor Trend and Fortune magazines
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Chevrolet Volt: Where Will It Be Built?
Now that General Motors has said it is proceeding with production
of the Chevrolet Volt, the question is where will it be built?
That question may have been answered by negotiators for GM and the United Auto Workers union as they hammered out a new four-year contract overnight.
The UAW gave GM the union-managed health-care fund the automaker wanted, in exchange for GM's commitment to build some future models in U.S. plants by UAW workers. Among those future vehicles was believed to be the Volt.
No word yet on which plant won the prize.
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Design and Engineering Students Unveil Their Bone-Exposed Concepts
After scanning this press release, I knew I had to post it. Two of
those mentioned in the release -â Tyler Mars and Nicolas Ren Stone -- were in students in my Business Practices class at the College for Creative Studies last year.
Mars (right) and Stone (center) are two of the three CCS design students who were paired with three University of Michigan engineering students over the summer in the 19th annual automotive design internship sponsored by the American Iron and Steel Institute. The students’ models were unveiled in a special presentation Wednesday night and will be displayed at the Detroit auto show in January.
This year’s theme was “Inside Out.†In other words, students were supposed to allow the cocoon of steel to show rather than hide it under a skin. The result was three very different concepts:
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Hondaâs John Mendel: Redefining Acura
When Honda renamed the former Arrowhead Pond entertainment and sports
venue in Anaheim, California, the Honda Center, the automaker did what it does with its car owners: it asked customers what they thought.
Specifically, Honda asked what patrons thought about the center’s name change. But, the company got more than what it asked for: it got comments like "now that Honda runs the center, the food will be better and the bathrooms will be cleaner."
“Holy s---,†John Mendel, who was promoted to executive vice president of automobile operations for American Honda Motor Co. this year, recalls thinking as he read the survey responses. “Now we’re being held responsible for hot dogs, beer, bathrooms and everything else.
“But,†he adds philosophically, “that’s the power of the Honda brand. You put the Honda name on something, and there’s a certain level of expectation.â€
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Saturn's Plug-In Hybrid Due Around 2009
Saturn will sell General Motors’ first plug-in hybrid –- a Vue compact SUV that can run up to 10 miles solely
on electricity and switch to an engine for longer trips -â âvery quickly,â Brand General Manager Jill Lajdziak told the Detroit Free Press
in Frankfurt Wednesday.
“In 2009-ish,†Lajdziak said of the plug-in's introduction. The Vue plug-in will become the third hybrid version of the SUV. It will combine lithium-ion batteries and GM’s two-mode hybrid system, which can be recharged from a 110-volt household current.
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Frankfurt Auto Show: Who Will Pay for Going Green?
On the first press day of the Frankfurt auto show Tuesday, automakers unveiled a steady stream of
vehicles in various shades of green -â diesels, biodiesels, bioethanol, E85, hybrids from mild to full, electrics and hydrogen fuel cells.
Automakers boasted of their miles –- or kilometers –- per gallon along with their grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer, as European regulators measure emissions. In some cases, automakers continued to brag about horsepower, insisting that increasingly demanding consumers will not trade-off performance for green.
But being green is neither easy nor cheap. Automakers collectively -- and some individually –- are investing billions in green technologies, and most are developing multiple technologies simultaneously to hedge their bets.
The question being asked is who will pay for going green? Will automakers eat all of the enormous additional expense? Or will customers be willing to kick in to pay a premium for driving green –- or not?
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GM's Lutz Optimistic About Advanced Batteries
Though Toyota insists lithium-ion batteries preferred for plug-in hybrids are far from ready, General Motors is confident it could have more than one kind of lithium-ion battery ready for its Chevrolet Volt by its year-end 2010 target.
GM has development contracts with suppliers for advanced lithium-ion batteries. It may use batteries from more than one of them for its upcoming Chevrolet Volt and various other models using the Volt’s E-Flex system, including the Opel Flextreme, unveiled Tuesday at the Frankfurt auto show
GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told AutoObserver at the show both A123Systems and LG Chem -- battery makers with development contracts with GM but that use different chemistries in their batteries -- are “absolutely confident†they can meet GM’s requirements for the Volt’s battery. GM insists the battery provides 40 miles of pure electric power, charge and recharge 4,000 times, have a 10-year life and is ready for GM’s plan to have the Volt on the road by year-end 2010.
“Everybody feels good about meeting the specifications,†Lutz said. “There’s none of this ‘we hope we can make it.’â€
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John Edwards: Fellow Americans, Sacrifice Your SUVs
Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards is calling for Americans to make a sacrifice for the environment by getting out of their SUVs and into more fuel-efficient vehicles.
"I think Americans are actually willing to sacrifice," Edwards told the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Wednesday. "One of the things they should be asked to do is drive more fuel-efficient vehicles."
It didn’t take long for one automaker to respond.
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Isuzu, Toyota Cooperate on Green Diesels
Toyota and Isuzu announced Monday they will work together to develop a system to make diesel engine exhaust cleaner. Isuzu, an expert in diesel technology, will work with Toyotaâs truck partner, Hino Motors on the green diesels.
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CAFE Bill Gaining Support , Dingell Says
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Dearborn, Michigan, told reporters Monday that 163 House lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors of a bill to require new cars to use fuel at a rate of from 32 to 35 miles a gallon on average, starting in 2022, less stringent than a plan approved by the Senate. Dingell pointed out that means lawmakers are adding their names to the measure at a rate of more than one a day.
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Mercedes Drops Diesel â Temporarily â in Three More States
By Bill Visnic
Itâs two steps forward and one step back for Mercedes-Benz USA, one of the primary players eager to promote new-generation diesel engines to U.S. customers: In a quirky interplay between automakers and regulators, the rollout of â08 Mercedes models earlier this month forced the company to temporarily suspend diesel-vehicle sales in three states: Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Why? Beginning with â08 models, these states officially adopt Californiaâs emissions regulations, which currently are tougher on diesels than are federal emissions regulations. Californiaâs emissions regulations already had been adopted by four other states, meaning Mercedes â- and Jeep, the only other brand selling a diesel-powered light vehicle for the â07 model year -â had been selling diesel vehicles in just 45 states.
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Chevrolet Volt: 60,000 Copies a Year, Sources Tell Bloomberg
General Motors may build as many as 60,000 of its Volt electric cars for their
inaugural year on the market, four times the sales of Toyota's Prius hybrid on its U.S. debut, people with knowledge of GM's plans told Bloomberg News
.
Production at that level may allow GM to sell the plug-in Volt for less than $30,000 (the Prius starts at $22,175 with 60,000 a year sold in the U.S.), the sources said.
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Consumers Drink in Less Mass Media
Automotive marketers take note of an interesting graphic in todayâs New York Times that illustrates less consumer appetite for mass media:
* In 2005, the total hours of media consumed by each American adult: 3,548
* In 2006, the total hours of media consumed by each American adult: 3,530
American adults are watching less broadcast television, listening to less recorded music, and spending less time reading newspapers.
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Automakers Seek Electronics Experts
If The Graduate were remade today, the advice to Benjamin for a certain life of corporate success would center around âelectronicsâ instead of plastics.
Indeed, about the only jobs in Detroitâs auto industry are in electronics to work on hybrids and the like.
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Three Bucks a Gallon and Whatâs a Car Company To Do?
By Bill Visnic
As the U.S. auto-buying public resigns itself to handing over $3 for a gallon of gasoline or more, automakers are hitting high gear to firm up alternative-power strategies that certainly seemed much fuzzier at this time last year.
It’s come time to decide how to best save fuel, and for the next several years, the battle will be between hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) and sophisticated new diesel engines.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:08 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Tesla Management Shuffles
The big news kicking off this week is that Martin Eberhard, the co-founder and CEO of Tesla Motors, has been replaced as chief executive and will become the companyâs president of technology, according to a statement on Monday on Tesla's Web site.
Eberhard will remain with the company as president of technology. Michael Marks, the former CEO of electronics assembler Flextronics and an early investor in Tesla Motors, will take the reins as interim CEO.
Question is, does the management change suggest the company is struggling, experiencing growing pains or simply growing up?
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BMWâs Scorching New M3 Has Hybrid Side â Sort Of
By Bill Visnic
Over at Edmunds.com’s Inside Line, they’re in a lather about the
sizzling performance of BMW’s all-new M3,
which marks the first time the companyâs famed Motorsports Division-tuned 3 Series has used V8 power.
But down deep in the specs for the 2008 M3’s new 420-horsepower, quad-cam 4-liter V8 is a nod to environmental awareness that portends of a coming trend: an innovative energy-management system that enables BMW to subtly eke out a little extra fuel economy without looking like an eco-weenie in front of the autobahn performance gods.
BMW calls the system Brake Energy Regeneration. And although this sounds a lot like the “regenerative braking†we’re always hearing about with “full†hybrid-electric vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius, the Bavarians’ BER system is much more a variation of the “mild†hybrid theme we’re going to be hearing more about in the coming months.
AutoObserver is told several automakers and major suppliers plan to unveil a host of similar new mild-hybrid components and systems at September’s Frankfurt Motor Show. Fuel-efficiency and reduction of carbon-dioxide emissions (cutting CO2 is Europe’s persistent bugaboo) are expected to be headline themes at the Frankfurt confab. These new innovations are geared toward delivering hybridlike benefits at a more palatable cost.
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Chevrolet Volt Generates Buzz From Gun Owners
Forget about granola-nibbling Californians as the mainstay of electric cars. Gun-toting pickup drivers want âem, too.
AutoObserver’s entry on General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt electric car generated quite the buzz when it was picked up on a forum of a gun-owners’ Web site, billed as the “Home of the Black Rifle.â€
The general consensus of those on the gun-owners' Web site was in favor of electric vehicles -- as long as they have the performance, range, price, etc. of their current vehicles. They want them not for highfalutin reasons like energy independence and energy security or environmental cleanliness but for gas and money savings.
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Chevy Volt: The Machine That Changes the World?
After announcing Thursday that it had signed a contract with a little-known
Massachusetts company to develop lithium-ion batteries, General Motors hosted a dinner to introduce the growing team of engineers working on the electric-powered Chevrolet Volt and the newly signed-on battery makers.
David Cole, Ph.D., chairman for the Center of Automotive Research, which hosted the conference at which GM made its announcement, sat next to me. As the discussions with the engineers and, in particular, the battery developers grew deeper throughout the evening, Cole, a retired professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, could not stop saying: “Wow.â€
By evening’s end, Cole, who’s privy to lots of inside information at all the auto companies and has served on boards of technical companies, said he was now very optimistic about the future prospects for the Volt and subsequent GM electrified vehicles. “This is the game changer†unlike anything he’d seen in his long automotive career, he said.
Indeed, if GM succeeds with electrified vehicles like the Volt, the automaker may well turn the auto industry and nearly every business model within it on its ear –- from the kinds of cars we drive (electric versus gasoline) to the way consumers buy cars.
Cole sees the biggest risk to GM’s venture as something seemingly simple: cheap gas.
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Satellite Radio Installation Increasing
Nearly 40 percent of consumers report having satellite radio capability in their new vehicleâs audio system -- marking a considerable increase from 26 percent the previous year, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Multimedia Quality and Satisfaction Study released Thursday.
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Ford Prices Sync: $395 Option
Ford has announced the price of its Sync option, an in-car communications and entertainment system developed with Microsoft, will be $395.
Sync will be available on a dozen 2008-models beginning this fall. It will be standard on Lincolns and widely available as standard or an option on Ford and Mercury models. Ford plans to offer it on nearly all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models within two years.
Sync is voice-activated and accommodates Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones and digital media players.
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GM's Lutz Announces Battery Contract
On the day that the Wall Street Journal ran a story on Toyota delaying its
advanced hybrids due to potential safety problems with its lithium-ion batteries, General Motors announced it will co-develop lithium-ion batteries with A123Systems Inc., of Watertown, Mass.
The agreement is expected to help speed up GM's electric plug-in vehicles and fuel-cell vehicles using GM's E-Flex architecture, introduced in January on the Chevrolet Volt, possibly ahead of Toyota.
GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, speaking at the Center for Automotive Research's annual management conference in Traverse City., Michigan, Thursday, said A123Systems uses nanophosphate battery chemistry that is not only powerful but also safe.
Lutz said the various batteries being developed through contracts GM has signed with suppliers would be ready for testing in October, installed in mule vehicles by year-end and be in demonstration vehicles by next spring. The next phase -- the most challenging phase -- will be to have them in showrooms by the end of 2010.
(Read more...)
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Nissan Cuts Development Time
Nissan claims it is using a new product development process that puts vehicles into production faster and with higher quality.
The process, call V-3P, was detailed by Bob Sump,
vice president of component engineering of Nissanâs technical center in Farmington Hills, Mich., at the Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars Tuesday in Traverse City, Michigan.
The process was used on the redesigned Infiniti G35, the G37 Coupe and the upcoming Nissan Skyline. When used to develop the small and relatively simple Nissan Note and Wingroad, vehicles sold in Japan but not the U.S., design to production took a scant 10.5 months, about half the time of the past.
(Read more...)
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GMâs Volt: More Stretch Than Toyotaâs Plug-In Hybrid, Bloomberg Reports
Kudos to Bloomberg News for reporting what many of us covering the auto
industry noticed but hadnât written -â and shame on us for not doing so: Toyota's recently announced plug-in hybrid
has far less range than does General Motorsâ Chevrolet Volt
concept -â as little as half the range, in fact.
GM intends for the Volt to travel at least 40 miles after being charged; Toyota’s model may go no more than 20 miles on a single charge and possibly as little as 10 miles, Bloomberg reports, quoting sources familiar with the vehicles.
Interestingly, Bloomberg also quotes an unlikely source of praise for GM: Chris Paine, whose 2006 documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car? criticized GM’s decision to drop and destroy the EV-1.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:41 AM under Commentary , Featured , GM , Personalities , Technology , Toyota | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Deal for Italian Diesel Maker Awaits Release by a Rival
By Bill Visnic
General Motors announced in mid-July that it wants to acquire from Penske Corp. a 50-percent stake in Italian diesel-engine maker VM Motori S.p.A.
Lost in the fine print is the fact that, as of this moment, that 50 percent isnât Penskeâs to sell.
Before GM can get its hands on its share of VM Motori, Penske must acquire the 49 percent of Cento, Italy-based VM that currently is held by GM rival DaimlerChrysler AG. Penske and DaimlerChrysler assumed joint ownership of VM Motori in 2003.
A Penske source tells AutoObserver a deal has been under way for DaimlerChrysler to sell Penske its 49-percent stake in VM and is awaiting approval from European regulators. The Penske source says that approval is expected imminently.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:24 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , GM , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
The New Chrysler: Still Connected Under the Hood with Daimler and Others
By Bill Visnic
The “breakup†of Daimler-Benz and the Chrysler Group is nearly complete, with Chrysler’s new owner, Cerberus Capital Management, due to ink the deal any day now. But like a married couple that’s amicably split, the two companies will continue to “get along†-- continuing with many technical, manufacturing
and development ventures neither company is seeking to put asunder.
For one, Chrysler will stay connected in an under-the-hood venture with Daimler and other entities because of the capital-intensive nature of developing new powertrain technologies for global use. Chrysler said recently will spend upward of $3 billion on new, efficiency-enhancing powertrain initiatives over the next several years.
One other reason Chrysler and Daimler will maintain amicable post-breakup relations: the oft-overlooked detail that Daimler will hold a 19.9-percent equity interest in the new Cerberus-owned Chrysler, legally known as Chrysler Holding LLC.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:37 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Technology | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota To Test Plug-In Hybrids in Japan, Europe and U.S.
The plug-in hybrid race is on.
Toyota announced in Japan today that it has developed a plug-in hybrid that it will test on public roads in Japan, Europe and the U.S.
Like other Toyota hybrids, the Toyota Plug-in HV uses a gasoline internal combustion engine, an electric motor and a nickel-metal hydride battery â- not the advanced lithium-ion batteries currently under development.
The five-passenger Toyota Plug-in HV, like the Chevrolet Volt concept unveiled by General Motors at this yearâs Detroit auto show, uses increased battery capacity to allow longer electric-motor-only cruising mode and a battery-charging device that replenishes the batteries using household electricity. That enables the car to run more often in gasoline-free, electric-only mode, such as on short trips in city driving.
(Read more...)
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2008 Toyota Camry Hybrid Price: Less for Less
Toyota announced it has dropped the price of its 2008 Camry Hybrid by $1,000
to $25,860, apparently to boost sales in an intensifying midsize car market with a growing number of hybrids in the category.
Toyota’s move on the Camry Hybrid echoes a similar one on the Prius in April. But there's a big difference between the two.
Toyota achieved the Camry Hybrid markdown through removing standard equipment from the base model to lower the base MSRP; it accomplished the Prius’ price reduction by lowering option prices, not dropping equipment, noted Alex Rosten, Edmunds.com’s manager of pricing and market analysis.
(Read more...)
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GMâs Opel Preparing All-Electric Car, Report Says
General Motors reportedly is working on an all-electric car for the Opel brand that could go into production by the end of 2010.
Opel will unveil the electric vehicle, which uses the E-Flex technology shown in January in the Chevrolet Volt, at the Frankfurt auto show in September, according to a report from Thomson Financial, Germanyâs Auto Motor und Sport magazine. The vehicle reportedly has a range of 60 kilometers without using a combustion engine.
Perhaps the car will eventually arrive in the U.S. -- as a Saturn, since Opel now supplies vehicles and designs to that American division of GM.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:36 AM under GM , Technology | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Buys 50% of Penskeâs VM Motori Diesel Maker
General Motors announced Monday it had reached a joint venture agreement with Penske Corp. to purchase 50 percent equity of VM Motori S.p.A, a designer and manufacturer of diesel engines based in Cento, Italy.
This investment builds on GM’s existing relationship with VM Motori. At the Geneva Motor Show in March, GM announced it will jointly develop a new 2.9-liter V6 turbodiesel engine with VM Motori to launch in the 2009 Cadillac CTS in Europe.
That engine could make its way across the Atlantic in the next-generation Cadillac CTS and the Saturn Aura. Last week, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said in his FastLane blog that GM would introduce diesels in a Cadillac sedan and a Saturn with rollout to crossovers and other models to follow.
(Read more...)
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Toyota Prius: Chapter Three
By Peter Nunn
It’s still the best part of two years away. Nevertheless, the world is already
watching and waiting on the next Toyota Prius
.
Behind firmly closed doors in Toyota City, Japan, Toyota engineers and designers are now working on exactly this vehicle. What will it look like? How will it be engineered? How will it move the sector to enable Toyota to reach its goal of selling 1 million hybrids per year by the early 2010s?
Toyota’s reported vision is for:
· a new, third-generation Prius, slightly bigger than today’s model for debut in 2009;
· a trio of versions, including one smaller than the Corolla and one larger than the current Prius that resembles the Hybrid X concept shown at March’s Geneva Auto Salon;
· traditional nickel-metal hydride batteries, not lithium-ion ones;
· further progress in the Prius becoming leaner, meaner, greener and cheaper.
One thing is for sure: The current Prius is a standard setter and global superstar. Its successor in will have a lot to live up to.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:39 PM under Analysis , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (7) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fuel-Efficiency Realism Dampens Hybrid Aspirations
As consumers become more realistic about the fuel-efficiency capabilities of hybrids, the percentage of new-vehicle shoppers considering a hybrid has declined, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Alternative Powertrain Study released today.
The study finds that 50 percent of new-vehicle shoppers are considering a hybrid -- down from 57 percent in 2006, the first year of the study.
âIn the 2006 study, we found consumers often overestimated the fuel-efficiency of hybrid-electric vehicles, and the decrease in consideration of hybrids in 2007 may be a result of their more realistic understanding of the actual fuel economy capabilities,â said Mike Marshall, director of automotive emerging technologies at J.D. Power and Associates.
(Read more...)
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Study: Diesels To Outpace Hybrids
Yet another study forecasts diesels, of which there are few now, outpacing hybrids in the U.S. in the future.
Siemens VDO Automotive Corp. projects in an article in todayâs Automotive News that U.S. diesel sales will grow to 867,000 units in 2012, up from an estimated 653,000 units this year. Hybrid sales are projected at 510,000 units in 2012, up from an estimated 193,000 units this year.
This forecast could be perceived as self-serving since Siemens VDO Automotive is one of the largest suppliers of diesel fuel-injection systems. Nonetheless, the supplier has the inside scoop on who is planning what vehicles in the future.
(Read more...)
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Ford Uses Soy in 2008 Mustang Seats
Ford said the 2008 Mustang will be outfitted with soybean-based foam cushions,
as part of an effort to cut the use of petroleum in its auto manufacturing. Other models may get the foam as well.
Developed by Ford researchers with seat supplier Lear Corp., the foam is 40 percent soy and 60 percent oil-based. Most manufacturers use an average of 30 pounds of petroleum-based foam per vehicle, with 9 billion pounds of foam sold a year to the auto industry.
Ford said the environmental advantages are reduced carbon dioxide emissions in manufacturing, lower energy use to produce the soy foam and reduced dependence on foreign oil. Currently, the soy-foam costs about the same as conventional foam that is fully oil-based but Ford, which is applying for patents on the technology, hopes with increased volume the cost will drop.
(Read more...)
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Rep. Ed Markey: Stupid Comment of the Week
To you, Rep. Ed Markey, goes the Stupid â- and Insulting â- Comment of the Week for this one:
“Innovations such as the plug-in hybrids should not have been sitting on the shelf for so long,†he said. “After all, this isn’t rocket science; it is auto mechanics.â€
Where to begin?
(Read more...)
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Toyota Prius: The Model T of Hybrids
Toyota’s top North American official reaffirmed the Japanese automaker’s
commitment to hybrids and predicted hybrids will eventually dominate U.S. roads as fuel prices continue to rise.
"Eventually, everything will be a hybrid," said Jim Press, president of Toyota Motor North America, told Bloomberg News in an interview Tuesday.
(Read more...)
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Ford Partners on Plug-In Hybrids
Ford announced a partnership with Southern California Edison to test and develop plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
The utility will get one plug-in hybrid to evaluate and test this year, with as many as 20 vehicles by 2009. Ford hopes to work with the utility to help develop the infrastructure side of the electric car network. The utility will study the vehicles and will place them in the hands of real-world consumers so that Ford can get information on their durability and usage in true life situations.
"By partnering with these two industries... we're hoping that it does accelerate the commercialization and certainly drive some of the cost issues down," said Ford Vice President for Sustainability Susan Cischke.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:42 AM under Ford , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Smart Could Consider Alternate Engines
Smart USA President Dave Schembri told the Automotive Press
Association in Detroit today that before the microcar company considers selling new models beyond the already planned Fortwo, it would consider selling alternate powertrains in the Fortwo.
No models beyond the 1.0-liter three-cylinder gasoline engine-powered Fortwo are planned. The Fortwo is expected to achieve at least 40 miles per gallon when the federal government certifies it, Schembri said. However, Schembri added, Smart would consider electric, micro hybrid and diesel versions in the future before it added more models.
(Read more...)
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GM's Cadillac Sixteen, Buick Velite: RIP
General Motors has scratched the Cadillac Sixteen and Buick Velite
concepts from any plans for future production.
GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, on the automaker’s Fast Lane blog, said environmentally friendly, high fuel-efficiency vehicles take priority over the Sixteen and Velite, which GM had hoped to produce.
Lutz said introducing the 16-cylinder, 1,000-horsepower Sixteen would “not be an extremely prudent thing to do†in terms of GM’s public image and would be “a display of a lack of sensitivity to environmental concerns.â€
In fact, instead of offering a bigger Cadillac, Lutz said Cadillac needs to look at a vehicle smaller than the current CTS.
(Read more...)
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Ethanol Demands Prompt Record Corn Harvest
Demand for corn-based ethanol for vehicles has led to American farmers planting more corn than since the waning days of World War II, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report cited by an Associated Press story.
Farmers are expected to harvest 93 million acres of corn this year, up 19 percent from 2006 and well above the March estimate of 90.5 million acres.
The increased demand for corn to be converted to ethanol has led to high demand -- thus higher prices -- for corn. Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal this month increasingly are worried about inflation, caused by higher energy and food prices (especially milk and corn-fed beef) stymieing economic growth.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:03 AM under News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Unveils European Environmental Plan
GM announced today it will introduce a dramatic Opel concept at Septemberâs Frankfurt show featuring its E-Flex propulsion system, first shown on the Chevrolet Volt at the Detroit auto show in January.
E-Flex is an electric-drive system that extends the vehicleâs range by using a secondary supplemental fuel system. In the case of the Opel concept to be unveiled this fall, it will be a diesel engine. The Volt had a small gas engine. GM unveiled at the Shanghai show this spring an E-Flex system supplemented by hydrogen-powered fuel cells.
GMâs announcement came as part of a larger presentation of General Motors Europeâs environmental strategy, that the automaker says focuses short-term on reducing CO2 emissions and long-term on introducing new propulsion technologies.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:22 AM under GM , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM To Sell Allison Transmission
General Motors, as has been speculated, has agreed to sell its Allison Transmission unit for $5.6 billion to private-equity firms to raise funds for its auto operations.
GMâs has a preliminary agreement with Carlyle Group LP and Onex Corp. to buy Allison, which builds transmissions for GM vehicles, including its large trucks. Canadaâs Onex Corp. had been helping Canadian auto supplier Magna Corp. in its failed bid to buy Chrysler Group.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:35 AM under Business , GM , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Alternative-Fuel Vehicles Gain Momentum
The number of alternative fuel automobiles on the roads has hit 11 million vehicles, according to a survey by R. L. Polk & Co., which tracks vehicle registrations
In the first quarter this year, 434,000 were sold, 27 percent increase over last year's count for the same period:
· E85-capable vehicles jumped 40 percent from 159,882 to 266,859 vehicles;
· Hybrid vehicles climbed 31 percent from 51,285 to 74,056 vehicles;
· Clean diesel technology saw sales decline slightly from 108,100 to 93,012 vehicles.
(Read more...)
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GM Launches Green Films on the Web
General Motors want to convince the world it is green.
To that end, the automaker has produced four videos for its âGM Going Greenâ channel.
The nearly 3-minute videos cover the topics of green buildings, the reemergence of solar power, GM large fleet of hybrid buses and the Challenge X competition in which engineering students competed to come up with the most innovative way to positively alter the automotive world.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:01 AM under GM , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Hyundai Exec Considers How Gas Engines Can Deliver More Bang for the Buck
John Krafcik, Hyundaiâs vice president of product planning and strategy in the U.S., pondered aloud over dinner last night which option would deliver more bang for the buck: investing in pricey hybrids and diesels to meet inevitably stricter fuel economy and carbon-dioxide standards or pumping smaller bucks into refining current gasoline engines.
“I think there’s more to wring out of gasoline internal combustion engines for a lower investment,†he said of the engines that have been around for well over a century.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:43 AM under Commentary , Companies , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Canada Funds Green Research
The Canadian province of Ontario announced Tuesday the creation of a $650 million (Canadian) automotive industry-specific fund to help spur investments in environmentally friendly cars and car parts.
Ontarioâs efforts are significant for a number of reasons:
· the global race is on to become the Motor City of the future in terms of green autos;
· Ontario has as much or more auto manufacturing as the neighboring state of Michigan, headquarters to the Big Three, and recognizes ensuring its future, which clearly is green, is paramount to keeping its auto industry and its jobs;
· the Canadian governmentâs approach is in stark contrast to that of the U.S., using the carrot vs. the stick approach to prod automakers to go green;
· the approach has the buy-in of the powerful Canadian Auto Workers union.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:34 AM under News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Google Promotes Hybrids
Internet search company Google is pushing hybrids.
On Monday, Google with Pacific Gas & Electric unveiled their vision of a future in which cars and trucks are partly powered by the companyâs electric grid and ones that feed electricity back to the grid.
Google also announced it has pledged about $11 million for people and companies who come up with practical ways to speed the development of plug-in hybrid vehicles.
(Read more...)
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Toyota Makes Diesel Deal with Isuzu, Report Says
Toyota said Friday it is in talks with Japanese partner truckmaker Isuzu on developing diesel engines, Japanâs business daily Nikkei reports.
Toyota would outsource diesel engine production to Isuzu, famous for its diesel technology. The 200,000-a-year diesel engines would go into Toyota small cars in Europe, the newspaper says.
Toyota owns 5.9 percent of Isuzu. Isuzu formed a capital alliance with Toyota in November after dissolving its tie-up with General Motors in April 2006. Isuzu still supplies diesel engines to GM for its large trucks.
The Toyota-Isuzu deal is yet another indication of increasing interest by Japanese automakers in diesels. Earlier this week, Nikkei reported Honda plans to sell diesel vehicles in the U.S. and Japan by 2009.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:45 AM under News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Hybrid Sales Increasingly Mirror the Overall Market
As hybrid vehicles increase in volume and proliferate in models, the segment looks increasingly like any
other vehicle segment in the marketplace and mirrors the overall market.
Fueled by record gas prices, hybrid sales in May hit an all-time high of 2.9 percent of the U.S. market, or a total of 45,095 vehicles. That makes the segment bigger than some car companies in volume and market share. Sales of every individual hybrid model increased from April to May.
What has changed is the long lines to buy hybrids and the exorbitant price premiums charged for them. An increase in the number of models and increased volumes of those models are providing consumers with more choice and bargaining room at the dealership so the huge price premiums are largely gone.
Instead, transaction prices generally are dropping and incentives overall are climbing, following the trend of the entire market, according to Edmunds.com’s analysis.
(Read more...)
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Japan: A Change of Heart on Diesels
Honda plans to sell diesel vehicles in Japan by 2009, the Nikkei business daily reports today. Honda earlier said it could introduce a diesel in the U.S. the same year.
Last year, Honda said it had developed a new and simple diesel as clean as gasoline cars. The engine could be on a car in the U.S. by 2009, Honda said at the time. Nikkei reports the new diesels, development of which Honda has been speeding up, would first go on the compact CR-V sport-utility and Accord sedan.
Hondaâs potential sale of diesels in Japan and the U.S. suggests a shift in strategy by some Japanese automakers.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:15 AM under News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ikea Goes Hybrid, Trading Skodas for Civics
Swedish retailer Ikea will convert its entire company car fleet in the U.K. to hybrids as a prelude to a
possible company-wide shift to greener vehicles, the Financial Times
in London reports.
Ikea’s move is significant on a number of fronts:
*the switch will make Ikea Britain’s first big private sector company to change its entire company car fleet to greener vehicles;
* the move is a significant one for the growing market for alternative-fuel cars, given the home furnishing group’s size and global reach;
* the effort is a coup for Honda, which has seen rival Toyota achieve global dominance in hybrids. The cars will be billboards for Honda as the back of the cars will read: “This is a Hybrid company car from Ikea. Ikea’s business will have an overall positive impact on the environment";
* other companies are sure to follow suit as Ikea racks up image points and economic savings.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:19 AM under Commentary , Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chevy Volt Moves Another Step Closer to Reality
General Motors has just awarded two development contracts for the lithium ion battery in the E-flex propulsion system to be used in its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid.
A reliable battery, the biggest challenge in developing electric vehicles, could mean the Volt would be production-ready by 2010, GM has said.
The battery proposals were awarded to one small company and a giant, both offering completely different solutions, GM said.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:32 AM under Business , GM , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Carbon Fiber Prices Skyrocket; Supplies Short
In another sign of these fuel-economy sensitive times, USA Today reports today that prices of carbon fiber, used in cars but also in other goods from hockey sticks to jetliners, are shooting up and supplies are tight.
Carbon fiber, a woven synthetic of hard plastic, is in big demand because it is strong but lightweight, which helps fuel economy in cars and airliners.
Always considered expensive and used only on pricier cars, carbon fiber prices have jumped to $20 a pound from only $5 pounds three or four years ago, the paper reports.
Specialty sports carmaker Saleen has been forced to raise the price of its supercar. Car accessory companies have had to seek alternative grades and sources for carbon fiber.
(Read more...)
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Study Says U.S. Diesel Sales Set To Outstrip Hybrid Sales
A research report released today shows U.S. sales of both diesels and hybrids will grow significantly in the next five years but diesels will outpace hybrids.
The report from UBS and Ricardo predicts diesel and hybrid sales will hit 2.7 million a year by 2012, or about 15 percent of the U.S. light vehicle market. Diesel will outstrip gasoline hybrids by 1.5 million versus 1.2 million.
Increased demand for diesels and hybrids will be driven by U.S. regulators looking to revise fuel economy standards amid concerns for energy security and greenhouse gas emissions. Diesels will gain a preference because of its cost advantage, the report concludes.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:03 PM under Analysis , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Acura Design Studio Opens in California
Honda opened the doors today on its new Acura Design Studio in Torrance, California. The doors are likely to close quickly as the $15 million studio begins developing new concepts and designs for Hondaâs luxury brand.
"This Acura Design Studio will help conceive and design the future of Acura," said Toshihiko Nonaka, president of Honda R&D Americas (HRA), at the opening. "Our goal here is to create emotional designs that create a strong and distinct image for Acura products."
(Read more...)
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Florida Goes Ford Green
Ford delivered a fleet of hydrogen-powered shuttle buses to the state of
Florida Wednesday in conjunction with the state opening its first hydrogen fueling station.
The Ford E-450 shuttle buses have an internal combustion engine, modified to run only on hydrogen fuel instead of gasoline. The buses can travel 150 to 200 miles before refueling, deliver five to 10 miles per gallon –- the equivalent of similar diesel-powered buses –- and release about 1 percent of the carbon dioxide that a Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid does, said Sue Cischke, Ford senior vice president in charge of sustainability.
(Read more...)
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New York Taxis Go Hybrid
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on NBCâs Today
show Tuesday that the cityâs cab fleet will go entirely hybrid within five years, and all of its vehicles for hire must meet new emissions and mileage standards by next year.
New York now has just 375 hybrids among its 13,000 taxis. That number will increase to 1,000 by October 2008 and will grow by about 20 percent each year until 2012, when every cab is a hybrid, the Associated Press reported. The shift to hybrids is part of Bloomberg’s sustainability plan for the city that includes a 30 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.
Ford has a lot at stake in the New York cab business with the large, fuel-guzzling Ford Crown Victoria being the cabbie’s favorite ride, and having the most hybrids in New York's taxi fleet.
Ford was quick to jump on Bloomberg’s announcement, sending out a press release on the virtues of its Ford Escape Hybrid, including its average 36 miles per gallon compared with the 14 miles per gallon of the Crown Vic.
(Read more...)
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Tesla To Supply Batteries To Think
Tesla Energy Group, a newly formed division of electric carmaker, Tesla Motors, announced today that it signed an agreement to develop and supply Think, a Norwegian electric carmaker, with lithium-ion battery packs.
The agreement covers the development and delivery of battery packs starting in December and continuing through 2008. The deal represents up to $43 million in revenues.
(Read more...)
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Saudi Firm Buys GE Plastics
General Electric announced Monday it plans to sell its plastics division, a large supplier to the automotive industry, for $11.6 billion to Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the largest public company in Saudi Arabia.
Heightened competition and increasing price pressures prompted GE to put the plastics division, in its portfolio since 1930, up for sale. Sabic was an obvious buyer with its vast supplies of low-cost Saudi Arabia petroleum at its disposal for making plastics.
GE Plastics, with operations in Detroit, has made news in recent months for its lightweight materials that could change the way car body parts are made in the future.
(Read more...)
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Palladium: A Hot Commodity
Palladium is this yearâs best investment among precious metals, due to high demand, in large part from the auto industry, and tightening supplies, according to Bloomberg News.
A cheaper alternative to platinum, palladium is used in catalytic converters that reduce emissions from exhaust systems of motor vehicles. Palladium use has been increasing in all vehicles, and last year, it was used for the first time in diesel-powered cars. A palladium-based pollution-control device for diesels was developed in 2004 to replace the more expensive platinum-based ones.
The demand for palladium is increasing fast enough to outstrip the supply, Bloomberg reports. Supplies of palladium are declining because Russia, the producer of about half of the global supply, will slash exports for the second straight year, causing palladium prices to jump 37 percent to $500 an ounce by year-end, experts predict.
(Read more...)
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Tesla Raises Funds for Dealerships
California electric carmaker Tesla Motors Inc. said it arranged $45 million in new private capital to set up retail sales and service facilities in five cities where real estate is pricey.
Whether the company has enough to fund development of a second car is unclear. Bloomberg reports the $45 million in new capital will also be used to finance the second model -- a four-door sedan. However, trade journal Automotive News, quoting a top Tesla executive, said the company will have to go public to produce the second car.
The second model, the four-door WhiteStar, is due in 2010. Tesla plans a $35 million factory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to assemble as many as 10,000 of the sport sedans a year, with engineering work being done at a Detroit-area facility. Those cars will sell for $50,000 to $65,000.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:09 AM under Business , News , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
The Price of Fuel-Efficiency
Small and fuel-efficient vehicles are great for the
environment, consuming less gas and emitting fewer pollutants. And they are terrific for consumersâ wallets, socked by increasing gas prices that are threatening to surge to $4 a gallon, according to some reports.
But small, fuel-efficient and usually inexpensive vehicles aren’t so good for the bottom lines of car companies and municipalities.
Today, Honda announced an unexpected 3 percent decline in profit this year, in part, due to the global shift toward small cars that are popular but deliver lower profits.
At the same time, state highway officials, who use gasoline taxes to build and maintain roads, are sounding the alarm that not enough money is coming in for roads due to the shift to smaller, fuel-efficient cars.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:30 AM under Commentary , Companies , News , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Santa Monica Hailed as Pioneer
A page 1 story in the Detroit Free Press hailed Santa Monica, California, as leading the way in shifting the transportation paradigm away from petroleum to other fuels.
The article, entitled âCalifornia city leads in taking foot off the gas,â discusses efforts by Santa Monica, home of Edmunds.com, to convert its gasoline-powered vehicles to alternative fuels a move that started in 1994.
About 81 percent of the cityâs fleet runs on something other than petroleum today. Santa Monica uses an array of vehicles and fuels, from street sweepers running on natural gas to 24 fully electric Toyotas. The city is installing electric chargers in public parks and parking garages to encourage more electric vehicles. The city's goal is to make its entire fleet petroleum-free and be the first in the nation to draw all its electricity from the sun or wind in the next 20 years.
"Santa Monica is leading the way. It's changing the transportation paradigm on what can be done, what is possible," Chelsea Sexton, an electric car and alternative-fuel advocate and former General Motors employee who worked on GM's first electric car program, told the newspaper.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:51 AM under GM , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
New Meaning for Music to My Ears
Trade journal Advertising Age contains an intriguing article in the April 16 edition on how companies and their advertisers are developing sounds for brands.
âWhat does your brand sound like?â the article opens. Those interviewed for the story have various terms to describe branding through sound, including âsonic brandingâ and âpermanent resonance.â Said one advertising exec in the story: Music âtattoos a permanent resonance in your brain,â like learning the alphabet through music or remembering advertising jingles from childhood.
Audi in France took it to another level, creating an album specifically for the female demographic it was targeting for the TT roadster. Ad agency DDB Entertainment Paris paired up with sound designer Beatrice Ardisson, famous in Europe for designing ambient music for Paris hotels, for instance. She already owned a TT and fit the target demographic: a woman of means and âa certain age.â
The result was an album by Ardisson, entitled Take Me for a Ride, intended to depict the feel of what itâs like to drive the TT in the universal language of music.
Sound branding gives new meaning to "music to my ears."
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The Meeting We Wished We'd Attended
We're not fans of meetings, but for this one, we would
have loved to have been a fly on the wall!
General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz met with David Friedman, research director of the clean vehicles program for the Union of Concerned Scientists, this week to discuss fuel economy improvements.
The environmental group has been pressuring automakers for improved fuel economy and lower emissions, having recently given awards to the best performers in those categories. Honda won; not GM.
Lutz, meantime, has been arguing that an affordable technical solution for improved fuel economy doesn’t exist.
Both sides agreed to keep details of their meeting private, but it doesn’t appear either side budged an inch from their position.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:54 AM under Commentary , GM , Personalities , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Food, Oil Companies To Co-Produce Biodiesel
Tyson Foods and ConocoPhillips announced Monday they had formed an alliance to produce and market diesel fuel made from pork, poultry and beef fat.
Tyson will provide the feedstock from its rendering plants. ConocoPhillips will refine it and distribute it through its existing pipelines. The fuel, said to burn cleaner than conventional diesel, will be available by year-end. The venture will produce 175 million gallons a year by 2009.
The deal points to two emerging trends: the shift of agribusiness to transportation fuel and the surge in biodiesel, expected to grow to 1.2 billion gallons in a decade from todayâs 250 million gallons.
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"Geek Weekâ Opens in Detroit
This week, more than 35,000 automotive engineers and auto company executives are gathering in Detroit for the annual Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress.
The conference's official theme is "Engineering for Global Sustainable Mobility -- It's Up to Us.â The buzz surely will focus on engines and transmissions, specifically reducing emissions and boosting fuel economy, as well as advancing alternative propulsion systems and alternative fuels.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:33 AM under GM , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Green Scores
The Union of Concerned Scientists released its latest report on the environmental performance of the worldâs eight largest automakers this week based in 2005 model-year vehicles.
The group assigned each automaker a global warming and a smog score for its performance in limiting emissions of greenhouse gases -- blamed for global warming -- and smog-producing pollutants.
Honda took 1st place for the fourth consecutive report, followed closely by Toyota. Volkswagen was 3rd in its global warming score but near the bottom for smog production. Hyundai-Kia ranked 4th in both categories. Nissan was 3rd in the smog score.
Detroitâs Big Three ranked last. Fordâs smog rating was better than Volkswagenâs. DaimlerChrysler was the worst in both categories.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:43 AM under Analysis , Business , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Automakers Add Non-Cash Spiffs to Spur Sales
Automakers are adding spiffs other than low-interest financing and cash rebates to spur sales.
Ford announced today it will make Sirius Satellite Radio standard in some Lincoln models. Chrysler started promoting a free DVD system with the purchase of a Chrysler Town & Country or Dodge Caravan minivan. Last month, Chrysler pitched free Hemi engines on some models.
These spiffs come as March sales are being reported today and Wednesday. Edmunds.com predicts March sales will be down from year-ago levels. Edmunds.com further reported today that incentive spending edged higher last month.
Automakers are resorting to feature spiffs because financing and cash rebates may be losing their allure. In addition, automakers, especially domestic ones, are trying to boost their resale values and images. Adding content boosts resale value whereas rebates decrease it. Edmunds.com analysts estimate 80 percent of the cash rebate comes off the resale value of a one-year-old car.
Features allow automakers to focus on the vehicle and its content without screaming "distress sale." While, psychologically, the consumer loves getting something seemingly for free.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:20 AM under Analysis , Business , Chrysler , Commentary , Ford , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
âSpongeBobâ Rides in Chryslers
Chrysler Group and Sirius Satellite Radio announced today that Chrysler will be the first and only auto manufacturer to offer Sirius Backseat TV in its vehicle lineup in the 2008 model year.
The feature debuts on 2008 Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans. It will also be available on the 2008 Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, Dodge Magnum, Jeep Commander and Jeep Grand Cherokee. Chrysler sees innovative technology as a way to stand out from the crowd, generally, and in minivans, specifically.
Three channels of family TV programming -- from Cartoon Network, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon -- will be delivered directly to the vehicle. Rear-seat passengers will be able to watch shows such as Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants, Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana and Cartoon Network’s Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.
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Votes for Volt
So far, the vote is overwhelming: 440,000 to 2,200.
As of this week, General Motors’ “Vote for Volt†Web site has 440,000 visitors voting in favor of GM building the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid concept versus 2,200 voting nay.
At the same time, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz in his Fastlane blog this week blasts naysayers, who claim the Volt is nothing more than a publicity stunt. Lutz’s comments came in response to a Detroit News article that said GM was “unplugging†the Volt, trying to tone down the publicity and expectations around the concept.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:54 AM under GM , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Fast-Tracks Diesel Engine
Ford has puts its pedal to the metal in developing the next-generation diesel engine for its F-Series Super Duty pickup truck after an ugly contract dispute and quality issues with its current diesel engine supplier, Navistar International Corp.
Sources say Ford is hustling to quickly develop its own diesel engine, which accounts for 40 percent of its F-Series pickup sales, so it doesn’t have to rely on Navistar.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:35 AM under Business , Ford , News , Technology | Comments (28) | digg this | del.icio.us
And We Were Worried About the Chinese
While it isnât specifically auto related, a lawsuit between U.S.-based Oracle Corp. and German-based SAP AG is worth some attention.
Oracle yesterday sued SAP for "corporate theft on a grand scale." Oracle claims its business software rival used customers' online access codes to steal copyrighted software.
Oracle, which is battling with SAP in the market for software that helps companies automate business functions, accused the German company of gaining repeated and unauthorized access to its password-protected customer support Web site.
In its lawsuit, Oracle said a "storehouse of stolen Oracle intellectual property" allowed SAP to offer cut-rate support services to Oracle customers and lure them to their own products.
U.S. and other Western companies, including automakers, have listed intellectual property theft as one of their top concerns in doing business with Chinese companies, some of which are their own partners. Now it appears intellectual property worries need to be extended to friends in Western countries as well. The outcome should be interesting to watch.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:41 AM under Business , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GMâs OnStar Partners With Emergency Responders
Auto companies and medial emergency services have long envisioned a day when every motor vehicle would be equipped with devices that could immediately and automatically alert medical services of an accident so that injured victims could receive quick responses and appropriate care.
To that end, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the CDC Foundation with General Motors announced a partnership today whereby crash data from GM vehicles equipped with GM's OnStar communications system will be studied. From those studies, procedures to help emergency medical responders better and more quickly determine if a motorist needs care at a trauma center after a vehicle crash will be developed.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:34 AM under GM , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Who Knew? A Test for Car Interior Air
The Chevrolet Cobalt has the healthiest interior air space of any mainstream vehicle offered in the U.S., according to the Ecology Center
, an Ann Arbor, Mich., environmental group that tested the interiors of more than 200 new vehicles for toxic chemicals.
But, the center, which ranks the automobiles on a scale from 0 to 5, from lowest to highest, warns the industry’s commitment to reducing toxic chemicals inside cars is inconsistent.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:13 AM under GM , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Saturn Aura Green Line: Least Expensive Hybrid
General Motorsâ Saturn division announced today that, with the tax rebate, its midsize hybrid sedan is the lowest-priced hybrid on the market.
Saturn announced today that the Saturn Aura Green Line has a $1,300 tax rebate. Its Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price, including delivery fees, is $22,695, which makes it $195 less than the Toyota Prius. The Toyota Prius lists at $22,795. The current tax rebate is $1,575, which drops to a projected $788 in April.
The Honda Civic hybrid has a list price of $23,195; it has a $2,200 tax rebate, expected to remain the same after this month.
GM began shipping Saturn Aura Green Line models last week for arrival in dealerships in the coming days. The Saturn Aura won the 2007 North American Car of the Year award.
Edmunds.com's analysis shows there's never been a better time to buy a hybrid because of lower prices and incentives.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:31 AM under Business , GM , News , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fuel Economy, Emissions: New Approach Needed
âWe need a new approach.â
Thatâs what U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told reporters after yesterdayâs hearings on stricter fuel economy standards, which included top executives from the Big Three and Toyota as well as UAW leadership.
Amen.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:46 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Bad Timing for Intro of Nissanâs First Hybrid
Nissan has never been a big fan of hybrid vehicles. Nissan-Renaultâs chief, Carlos Ghosn, has criticized hybrids as too low profit and not delivering significant savings to buyers.
Now, Nissan is in launch mode for its first-ever hybrid powertrain –- one on the Altima -- and timing couldn’t be worse.
Edmunds.com reports this month is the best time ever to buy a hybrid as hybrid prices are at historical lows because of incentives and supply exceeding demand. Conversely, that suggests it is a bad time for sellers of hybrids.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:46 AM under Business , Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
10.5 Million Alternative Fuel Autos on Today's Roads
On the eve of Congressional testimony on higher fuel-economy standards tomorrow, automakers kicked off National Alternative Fuel Autos Week by announcing that 10.5 million alternative fuel autos are on the nationâs roads, according to 2006 sales data from R.L. Polk and Co.
The Polk sales figures show an unprecedented 1.5 million alternative fuel autos were sold in 2006, surpassing automakersâ sales expectations by 50 percent. Currently manufacturers offer 60 models of alternative fuel automobiles for sale. They include hybrid electric, ethanol-capable E-85, and clean diesel, up from just 12 models for sale in 2000.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:14 AM under News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Hybrids: Incentives, Voids and Recalls
Toyota announced this week incentives and an advertising campaign for its once-popular Prius hybrid. Sales flattened as Toyota geared up more production for the hybrid that had previously had potential buyers waiting in long lines. Toyota is offering no-interest financing and lease deals as low as $219 a month in some areas. Toyota also begins advertising Prius in local regions and going national with the campaign by April.
In contrast, Saturn Vue Green Line was just gaining momentum, and now General Motors is pulling the plug – temporarily. The 2007 version went on sale last fall as the least expensive hybrid on the market, costing only about $2,000 more than the gasoline model. Sales have been a steady 700 a month with little promotion and no incentives. The 2007 model goes out of production in March to make way for the redesigned 2008 model that starts assembly in September.
Meantime, Honda plans to recall 45,335 Civic Hybrid sedans worldwide to repair a voltage converter defect that could stop the car's engine, the company announced today. It plans to recall 7,219 of the vehicles sold in Japan and another 38,116 sold overseas, mostly in the U.S.
Despite the seeming turmoil in the hybrid segment at the moment, they are here to stay. When gas prices surely to rise again, interest in hybrids will be rekindled.
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