GM Models That Achieve 30 mpg Plus

For 2009, General Motors offers 18 models in the U.S. that get 30 miles per gallon on the highway, more than is expected of any other automaker. They include cars, crossovers and SUVs from GM’s Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn brands.
Chevrolet, GM’s largest brand, leads with eight, along with five each from Pontiac and Saturn. Four-cylinder, six-speed models of the Chevrolet Malibu and Saturn Aura lead among midsize sedans with 33 mpg highway, along with the Pontiac G6. The Chevy Cobalt XFE and Pontiac G5 XFE win among, gasoline-fueled subcompacts at 37 mpg highway.

Here are the models, along with their EPA-estimated highway fuel economy:

Chevrolet: Aveo sedan, Aveo5 (34 mpg with automatic or manual); Cobalt coupe and sedan (30 mpg for SS Turbocharged; 33 mpg for 2.2L automatic); Cobalt XFE (37); Malibu 2.4L (30 mpg with four-speed automatic; 33 mpg with six-speed); Malibu Hybrid (34), HHR (30 mpg with 2.2L and automatic or manual) and HHR Panel (30 mpg with 2.2L and automatic or manual).

Pontiac: G5 (33 mpg automatic, 35 mpg manual); G5 GT (32 mpg automatic, 35 mpg manual), G5 XFE coupe (37); G6 2.4L sedan (30 mpg with four-speed automatic, 33 mpg with six-speed); Vibe (1.8L model, 31 with automatic, 32 mpg with manual).

Saturn: Astra 5-Door; Astra 3-Door (all 30 mpg with automatic, 32 with manual); Aura four-cylinder (33); Aura Hybrid (34); and Vue Hybrid (32).

Australian Toyota Supplier for Hybrid Cars on the Brink of Collapse

A CAR component manufacturer with a contract to supply parts for the new hybrid Toyota Camry is on the brink of collapse with more than 100 jobs at risk.

Teson Trims, the largest employer in the Victorian town of Euroa, is struggling, and threatens to become another victim of the car industry slowdown.

Strathbogie Shire Council Mayor Gregory Carlson said yesterday he expected the future of the company, a car interior manufacturer, to be resolved by early next week.

“We’ll find out what the facts are when we meet with the company on Monday,” he said. “But you have got to be upfront. The prospects look rather dim. We all know about the car components industry. It has not been a font of good news for some time.”

Mr Carlson said closure of Teson Trims would have a potentially devastating impact on the town, which has a population of 3300. He said the number of workers employed by the company ranged between 70 and 150 at peak periods. “The cost (to Euroa) would be equivalent to a regional centre losing thousands of jobs,” he said.

It is believed negotiations have been held about appointing an administrator to the company in a bid to have it trade its way out of the predicament.

The company declined to comment, but the National Union of Workers called on Teson’s major customers to work to save Teson, which has operated in Euroa since the early 1970s.

Antony Thow, the union’s Victorian secretary, said: “We are hopeful that the business can trade out of its current situation. We’re asking major customers to support a great Australian company that’s been in Euroa for decades.”

Victorian Industry Minister Theo Theophanous said he understood Teson was in difficulty and the Government was in discussions with the company.

Meanwhile, hostilities have broken out between Mr Theophanous and unions over the direction of the Government’s manufacturing policy.

Mr Theophanous has criticised Steve Dargavel, the state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, after the union official said his attempts to provide input into Labor’s overdue manufacturing statement had been rebuffed.

In a letter obtained by the ABC’s Stateline program, Mr Theophanous said Mr Dargavel’s comments, reported in The Australian, were ill-informed.

But union leaders last night appeared on the program attacking Mr Theophanous. Trades Hall Council secretary Brian Boyd said he believed the Government had “missed the boat in terms of protecting the manufacturing industry in general in Victoria and also protecting very important Victorian jobs”.

Michele O’Neil, assistant national secretary of the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union, said former Liberal premier Jeff Kennett had been more outspoken in defending the textile industry than John Brumby or Mr Theophanous. She said it was not good enough that the Government’s Manufacturing Industry Consultative Council had not met for 16 months.

Honda Civic Hybrid Reported Excellent Sales in India

Honda Civic Hybrid, the first hybrid car of India has witnessed unexpected sales. Till now the company has sold around 50 hybrid cars, mainly to the Honda car dealers and a small percentage to high networth individuals.

Ford engineer believes in electrification

Ford Motor Co.'s global product development chief, Derrick Kuzak, believes the future is not hydrogen. It's not biofuels, nor gasoline either. It's electricity. Ironically, however, he doesn't seem to know when Ford would be rolling out this future. Instead, Kuzak told the DetroitNews that Ford would still work on ALL these technologies. And, he also took a shot at hybrid cars, calling them too expensive.

Chrysler’s new line of electric cars are “closer to production than you think,” said Chrysler president Jim Press earlier today. He explained that Chrysler is currently demonstrating electric cars and plug-in hybrids to dealers to get their feedback.

When challenged as to whether a Chrysler plug-in hybrid could beat GM’s much-publicized Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid to market, Press deferred with a joke, saying, “GM’s been selling the Volt for about five years.” He added that Chrysler “didn’t have the money for PR stunts,” but was focused on getting its new products to market.

Chrysler is under pressure to deliver exciting and innovative new cars. On Wednesday, Chrysler said its sales in the United States fell by a third in August—nearly twice the industry average. Honda bypassed Chrysler to become the nation’s No. 4 seller of cars.

Chrysler's hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electic vehicles are coming out of the year-old ENVI program, which was organized to jump-start Chrysler’s move to develop its own ground-up hybrids. The company’s first hybrid products, the Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen two-mode hybrids, use technology developed jointly by their former parent company Daimler with General Motors and BMW. Chrysler is the last of the six largest car companies to put a hybrid on the market.

2010 Honda Insight

After concept cars and spy shots and teases of information, the new Honda Insight has broken cover.

Honda promises a Paris auto show debut for the new hybrid vehicle, which revives the Insight nameplate formerly applied to the two-seat hybrid vehicle that inaugurated the gas-electric class in the U.S. in the late 1990s.

Honda says the Insight's shape bears the hallmarks of its larger, fuel-cell-powered FCX Clarity, but it's hard not to see some echoes of the Toyota Prius in its greenhouse--though the front end is quite Civic-like in its appearance. The new Insight seats five, Honda says, and the rear seats fold for improved cargo access.

The important innovation in the new Insight is a much less complex, much more affordable hybrid drivetrain, the company says. It will allow the Insight to be sold for a price significantly lower than today's hybrids, Honda says. The automaker expects to sell 200,000 of the vehicles each year worldwide, with 100,000 heading to the U.S. from its Suzuka, Japan, factory. Combined with a production version of the CR-Z coupe hybrid concept, the new family of hybrids could swell to 500,000 sales annually.

The new 2010 Honda Insight bows at the Paris show on October 2, and goes on sale in the U.S. in the spring of 2009.

Toyota and Lexus secret hybrid cars revealed

CAR Online has compiled a secret dossier of all the hybrid petrol-electric cars under development at Toyota and Lexus. Today we can reveal a new wave of eco-friendly plug-in hybrids – with confidential details of the next Prius and all the new models that will build on the success of Toyota and Lexus battery cars.

There will be a new family of Prius hybrid models, as previously reported in CAR, as well as a new Lexus RX hybrid, sportier batter-powered cars and a top-secret petrol-electric Lexus hatchback. Read on for the full story...

Never change a winning formula, is the message. The Prius remains the world´s best-selling hybrid passenger car by a huge margin. The Lexus RX400h practically owns the hybrid crossover market. So why mess with the recipe?

Encouraged by this strong demand, Toyota will launch the Prius III at the Detroit auto show in January 2009. A new Lexus RX450h will be unwrapped at the Sema show in November 2008 this autumn. And a new baby Lexus hybrid is tipped to put in a surprise appearance at the autumn 2008 Los Angeles show or at Geneva 2009.

Challenged by Honda, which is determined to crack 100,000 annual sales with its next, cheaper hybrid model (scooped by CAR this week), the Prius III offers more of the same: an oddball design, a space-age cockpit and a nickel metal hydride battery pack which costs only €850 plus VAT (£700) should it ever need to be replaced.

Why does the new Toyota Prius retain the old kink-in-the-roof look? Because it shouts 'I am an environment-conscious driver'. Because it´s the number one customer feelgood factor. And because the Japanese believe the Prius has icon potential just like the Porsche 911. Seriously.

But this time round, there will be a whole family of Prius models. So in 2010 we'll see an MPV Prius and in 2011 a seven-seater XXL wagon. The Prius people carrier looks like a cross between a VW Touran, Golf Plus and Caddy Maxi; the Prius estate like a Toyota Avensis wagon.
While the current Prius manages 104g CO2/km, the follow-up model is good for 95g/km in Normal mode and just 89g/km in extra-cost Eco guise. It will – at a stroke – move the green car goalposts again, then.

And if that's not clean enough, about one year after the base model arrives in Europe in June 2009, Toyota will roll out the even more efficient – and more expensive – lithium-ion version. Then in 2011, all Prius III models will be available in plug-in configuration, allowing a longer range on zero-emissions battery power.

Honda to debut Prius-fighter concept this Thursday

If there’s one vehicle that’s leading the pack for “Car of the Future, Today,” it’s the Toyota Prius. The world’s most popular hybrid will have it’s own plug-in version sooner than expected, but the competition isn’t waiting to try and take its hybrid crown. Honda’s “Prius fighter” has been talked about for what seems like ages (spy shots here) and we’re getting awfully close to seeing the real deal. We already know it’ll look something like the fuel cell-driven FCX Clarity, but details beyond that are scarce. We had been told the reveal would happen at the Paris Motor Show next month, but word from Honda is that we’ll now see it in just 48 hours when the concept version is revealed on Thursday, Sept. 4th. After that we can view the concept in person at the Paris show, and then the production version is expect to bow at the Detroit Auto Show in January.

Honda will begin selling the car early next year and word is that it will be affordable. While the official MSRP is still a long way off, Honda’s UK environmental manager John Kingston told Just-Auto (sub. req’d) that it should not cost more than “traditional cars from rival manufacturers.” Hybrid premium, what hybrid premium? On the technical front, the size of the car’s revised Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid system has been reduced and the lighter powerplant will help push up its MPG numbers. What those are remains a mystery, but Honda is expecting to sell around 200,000 of these puppies a year, with half of those being bought in the U.S. Sounds good, now can we just see the thing already?

Honda wants small hybrid models

It seems that a big hybrid car is not in Honda’s plans anytime soon. The company plans to put hybrid systems into compacts and subcompacts because that’s where the green technology achieves its greatest efficiencies, according to Masaaki Kato, president of Honda R&D Co.

The strategy differs from that of Honda’s rivals, which largely have been installing hybrid drivetrains in luxury sedans and SUVs in hopes of keeping customers in the big cars. In contrast Honda’s next hybrid will likely be smaller than the Civic. After that, an even smaller sports hybrid, the CR-Z, arrives. Around 2012, a hybrid Fit may be added.