flyerbry

Toyota set to Unveil new Electic Vehicle Concept in Detroit The Volt is an electric vehicle with an engine that rides along and functions solely as a generator to recharge the battery. Stopping to recharge isn't necessary. The electric-only range of 40 miles is based on the average American driver. I will assume you know what the definition of average is. The closest big city to me is Chicago and if you work downtown only a massochist commutes by car to work each day. Much easier and cheaper to park and take the train in to work. Not to mention the cost to simply park a car in a big city! Given this scenario, the Volt would still work in pure electric mode. Where I see the Volt will struggle is folks won't want to spend $40,000+ for a four-passenger car that is GM's first try at this segment. I hate to think of the possible maintenance problems if they haven't ironed out all the bugs before going to production. If there are any brains leading GM at all, there had better be other applications for the Volt technolgy already in the works - something at a lower price point as well as something that will haul a family that is much cheaper than the Tahoe hybrid. Something along the lines of a Volt powered Acadia/Outlook/Enclave. Unfortunately, GM may already be too far gone and the current gas prices are too low for any new hybrid/electric beyond the Prius to be a real success.

$15 Billion Dollar Bailout Agreement Reached To all of you posting from outside the US, welcome to a view of American politics! The politicians are giving out 15 Billion in order to cover their own asses! Rather than provide a long-term solution they have handed out a short-term solution so the next administration will get blamed when the bailout doesn't work! Before the economy dumped, Ford was well on their way to being profitable again and GM was starting to show real promise - especally with their newer vehicles. Everyone seems to forget this is an economic problem and not a product design problem. Even the car companies with the best products are losing money right now. The Democraic party was pushing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (both products of the Democratic party by the way) to loosten up on their minimum loan requirements back went Clinton (a Democrat) was running for President. One of the goals of his platform was to make it so anyone can own their own home! When the Bush administration wanted to crack down on the crappy loans being handed out a couple years back the Democrats voted it down. In my opinion, the blame goes to the politicians for giving us a failed housing market first then to the unions for burdening the US auto companies to the point that they can't compete then third the CEOs of the big three for failing to stand up to the unions and agreeing to pattern bargaining while letting accountants tell them what they can build. There are other union companies in the US that have dealt properly with union demands which are in much better shape today because of it. Unfortunately, a bailout won't eliminate the unions so I'm not so sure bankruptcy wouldn't be more beneficial in the long run. Bankrupcy or not, a bailout may be required either way if folks still aren't buying cars because they fear losing their job!

Solar Powered Car Completes 32,000 Mile Trip Around the World Great job boys! Now get back in the workshop and add a proper roll cage, crumple zones, airbags and eliminate the trailer because most normal folks won't want a vehicle they can't back up!

Automakers increase bailout request to $34 billion The 25 Billion was a number thrown out by the politicians, not the car companies. World Car Fans needs to check their facts!

Wagoner Heading to Bailout Hearing in Chevy Volt Prototype Lets see... They drove the most efficient prototype that they already had sitting in the garage. The dollars to build it were already spent. The rail system in the US is a joke and the only way you are going to find a bus from Detroit to DC is by chartering one yourself - no way that's cheaper than driving the a Volt! If you are going to make a comment that doesn't make sense at least do us all the favor of making it entertaining! The EV1 was certainly ahead of its time but it failed due to the fact that miniscule consumer demand wouldn't begin to cover the development costs. Thank the politicians for requiring the car companies to build electric vehicles then rewarding the ones who didn't by dropping the requirement after GM had already invested millions. Meanwhile, the majority of the other vehicles GM produced during this time were left to rot instead of being improved.

Congress puts forth bailout plan with strict demands The sad part is voting all these idiots out of office won't even begin to make up for the world of hurt our economy will be in if the US auto manufacturers go under. Non-US governments have boosted the earnings of their companies for many years while the US government has sat back and allowed jobs to slip away. This happens not only in the auto industry but the steel industry and others as well. The UAW shares a lot of the blame for our non-competitive US auto manufacturers while the bigwigs running the companies are also to blame for giving in to the UAW repeatedly up until last year when the UAW finally figured out it is better to have some jobs than no jobs. Too bad the damage is already done. It's time for the politicians to step up and figure out a workable solution and quit pointing fingers. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were essentially created by the Democratic party and the push to allow anyone to purchase their own home that started when Clinton was running for office (the liberal press always seems to forget about that) gave us a banking system that made it so easy for everyone to get a home loan that some began using adjustable rate mortgages to buy homes that are well beyond their means. All these problems have been perpetuated by a larger evil... Greed. As usual, Bush has his head in the sand. As I said, it's time for the politicians to stop pointing fingers and become part of the solution.

BMW 335d & X5 xDrive35d U.S. Pricing Announced I have often wondered about the diesel/hybrid combination. The Chevrolet Volt is technically an electric vehicle with a generator that rides along for when it is needed. It seems a smaller diesel (as opposed to gas) engine would be superior in this configuration because the engine isn't propelling the weight of the vehicle or running the accessories and the extra torque makes the diesel ideal as a generator. This setup is the fist choice for large ships and railroad locomotives due to the efficiency but I wonder how well it would scale down. The cost of the diesel engine combined with the hybrid system is no doubt the main stumbling block.

Nissan GT-R Wins CoTY Japan Most Advanced Technology Award They had one of these at our local auto show last year. It sat in the corner and no-one other than me even gave it a second glance. All the technology is great but in the end they are visually very boring in the flesh. I happened to see one on the road just the other day and had the same thought. Persnally, I like the looks of the original 240Z over this one.

Congress Considers Auto Rescue Plan - With Strings In the early 80's Caterpillar stood up to the UAW and basically stood their ground. In the 90's the Cat UAW decided to strike. The company answered by sending the office workers into the factories to run the lines while the company hired replacement workers in the interim. Guess what happened... Those engineers running the lines looked around and started noticing how inefficient their processes were. The UAW workers standing on the picket lines didn't realize it but they were at that very moment shooting themselves in the foot. When the strike ended workers began finding out that their old job was gone or about to be eliminated due to better processes devised by the engineers. Today Cat is a worldwide company and is stronger than it has ever been. It's an obvious example of what can happen when the union is kept in check. The union workers still working today make a good living but the ones that were part of the bloat are no longer there. I can only imagine how much of the UAW workforce in the big 3's auto factories is bloat. It's no wonder the foreign auto makers are so careful to keep unions out of their factories! A lot of folks like to blame mis-management with the big 3 but the problem to me seems to be lack of management. The tail is wagging the dog!

Chevy Cruze Based Daewoo Lacetti Launches in Korea For a vehicle built to a price point I think it's very impressive. The interior looks way nicer than anything I've ever come across in a low-price family sedan. I have to agree about some of the negative responses. They see the badge and don't give it near as much credit as it deserves as if it is being compared to something that costs twice as much. Remeber this is slotted to compete with the Honda Civic, not a BMW!