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Posted on September 5, 2008
Filed Under General News, PHEV, Prototypes | Leave a Comment
Chrysler LLC has been demonstrating plug-in hybrid prototypes to some dealers that are further developed than those previously shown by the automaker, the company’s president said.
In comments Tuesday at the Motor Press Guild in Los Angeles, Chrysler Vice Chairman and President Jim Press said the vehicles are being developed by Chrysler’s Envi unit, which the automaker created last year to create electric vehicles and other advanced propulsion technologies.
Chrysler spokesman Rick Deneau confirmed the comments and said the prototypes are further along than the concepts the company unveiled in January.
“We are excited about the Envi organization, and we continue to work toward electric vehicles,” Deneau said in an interview Wednesday.
Press said the vehicles can reach 60 mph in less than four seconds and have a range of at least 300 miles, The Los Angeles Times reported. He said the technology would be useful in off-road vehicles and might be used in the Jeep brand, the Times reported.
Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Chrysler, along with General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., have been working frantically to develop new hybrid electric powertrains as consumers shun the automakers’ traditionally popular large vehicles.
In January, Chrysler showed three concept cars at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit featuring pure electric and hybrid electric powertrains. The company has not provided a timeframe for development of the Chrysler ecoVoyager, the Dodge Zeo and the Jeep Renegade, but spokesman Nick Capa said Wednesday the company would have Envi products on the road within three to five years.
Chrysler also is working to develop hybrid and diesel versions of its top-selling Dodge Ram truck. It has also invested more than $3 billion in investing in new powertrains, including a fuel-saving engine called the Phoenix that it expects to arrive in the 2010 model year.
Source: Search Chicago
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Posted on September 5, 2008
Filed Under Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Tahoe, Ford Escape, GMC Sierra, GMC Yukon, Honda Civic, Lexus GS 450h, Lexus LS 600h, Lexus RX 400h, Mercury Mariner, Nissan Altima, Saturn Aura, Saturn Vue, Toyota Camry, Toyota Highlander, Toyota Prius | Leave a Comment
Reported U.S. sales of hybrid vehicles from the major automakers rose 3.6 per cent in August 2008, compared to sales in August 2007, with 26,045 vehicles sold. This represents a 2.08 per cent new vehicle market share for the month. Overall, sales of light-duty vehicles in the U.S. fell 15.5 per cent in August 2008, with sales of passenger cars dropping by 7.7 per cent and light trucks by 22.1 per cent.
The August 2008 hybrid sales results fell just short of the current August sales record of 26,249 units, reached in 2006.
At Toyota, sales of the Prius were down 4.2 per cent to 13,463; the company said the decline is due to limited availability. Camry Hybrid sold 3,456 units, a 19.3 per cent drop from August 2007, and representing 7.8 per cent of all Camry sales, which increased overall by 3.3 per cent from the year before. Sales of the Highlander Hybrid were 1,277 units, up 224.6 per cent from August 2007, and representing 15.2 per cent of all Highlander sales, which dropped 15.29 per cent to 8,070 units.
The Lexus RX 400h sold 1,277 units in August, up 9.0 per cent, and representing 14.2 per cent of all RX model sales, which dropped 10.6 per cent to 8,969 units. The GS 450h sold 35 units, down 73.1 per cent, and representing 2.1 per cent of all GS models. The LS 600h sold 71 units, a 73.4 per cent drop, and representing 4.0 per cent of all LS model sales.
Sales of the Honda Civic Hybrid were up 47.7 per cent to 3,105 units, representing 10.3 per cent of all Civics sold; total Civic sales rose 5.3 per cent to 30,052. The company also sold two units of the discontinued Honda Accord Hybrid.
Combined sales of the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrids dropped 27 per cent to 1,338 units, representing 8.0 per cent of all Escape and Mariner Sales, which rose 11.7 per cent in August to 16,634 units.
The Nissan Altima Hybrid sold 442 units, a decrease of 31.3 per cent from August 2007, and representing 1.7 per cent of all Altima sales. Sales of all Altima models dropped 0.5 per cent for the month.
General Motors sold 798 units of its two-mode Tahoe, Yukon and Cadillac Escalade models, representing 5 per cent of combined sales of all models in those lines, which were down 24 per cent. The Tahoe and Yukon made up the majority, with only one two-mode Escalade sold. The Saturn Vue with GM Hybrid System sold 417 units, representing 4.3 per cent of Vue sales, which totalled 9,649 units for an increase of 46.1 per cent. Sales of the Malibu Hybrid were 388 units, for 2.5 per cent of all Malibu sales, while the Saturn Aura Hybrid sold 26 units, for 0.6 per cent of all Aura sales. Overall, 0.5 per cent of General Motors’ total sales were hybrid vehicles.
Source: Canadian Driver
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Posted on September 5, 2008
Filed Under General News, Toyota Camry | Leave a Comment
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.
Source: The Australian
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Posted on September 5, 2008
Filed Under General News | Leave a Comment
Don’t expect large hybrid vehicles from Honda Motor Co. anytime soon.
The company plans to put hybrid systems into compacts and subcompacts because that’s where the green technology achieves its greatest efficiencies, said Masaaki Kato, president of Honda R&D Co., the automaker’s product development arm.
The strategy differs from that of Honda’s rivals, which largely have been installing hybrid drivetrains in luxury sedans and SUVs. Toyota Motor Corp. is making its next-generation Prius, due for the 2010 model year, bigger than the current one. Toyota also will debut a new Lexus hybrid at the Detroit auto show in January.
Nissan Motor Co.’s first in-house hybrid will go into an Infiniti, and Ford Motor Co. and General Motors have focused on hybrid SUVs and pickups. Honda’s biggest hybrid is the Civic. And in the future, it’s all about getting smaller.
Next year, Honda will launch a hybrid that will be smaller than the Civic. After that, an even smaller sports hybrid, the CR-Z, arrives. Around 2012, a hybrid Fit will be added.
Any chance of revisiting the Accord Hybrid or rolling out something bigger?
“Not in the near future,” says Kato.
Honda is still stinging from the lackluster sales of its Accord Hybrid, which featured a V-6 gasoline engine and was pulled at the end of the 2007 model year.
Kato says hybrid systems are best used in small cars because small hybrids most often are used for city driving, where regenerative braking constantly recharges the batteries.
“Cars that drive stop-and-go are most suitable to hybrid technology,” Kato said.
The first test for its hybrid strategy comes in April, when Honda launches its highly anticipated dedicated hybrid to take on the Prius. The car will be priced below the Prius — and, not surprisingly, it will be smaller.
Source: Autoweek
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Posted on September 4, 2008
Filed Under General News, Government, Toyota Prius | Leave a Comment
The cab drivers of Boston are up in arms over new regulations that say that the city’s entire taxi fleet has to be converted to hybrid models by 2015. The city’s “green” initiative has them worried about where the money will come from.
Since a new Prius hybrid would be estimated to cost almost $23,000, while a used Crown Vic (the city’s current standard for their taxis) generally costs less than $7,500, cabbies think that they will be the ones who end up footing the bill.
Many drivers fear that they won’t be able to make ends meet when so much of their fares will have to go into paying off the price of the new hybrids.
Boston’s cab drivers aren’t alone, though. Major cities across the country are taking similar steps. New York’s massive fleet of taxis has to be converted to hybrid models by 2012; and San Francisco’s taxis have to cut their emissions by 50 percent in less time than that.
It may be true that the fate of the world depends on saving the environment, but in order to do so, plenty of cabbies may be left wondering whether their next paycheck will be enough.
Source: Wired
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Teson Trims, the largest employer in the Victorian town of Euroa, is struggling, and threatens to become another victim of the car industry slowdown.
