If Honda is the first manufacture to release hydrogen fuel cell cars, that will boost them into the new realm of autos. In theory, the hydrogen car would use hydrogen to generate electricity that powers a motor.  In fact, Britain already has a hydrogen filling station because some of their public transportation system has hydrogen engines.

Right now, Honda claims, their in the process of refining and working on more efficient ways for the fuel cells to operate. They’re hoping in three to four years they will have met the desired output and efficiency needed to be worth buying.

The first hydrogen based car will be based on the FCC concept, which was unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show last year.  It is interesting that Honda is so positive about the outlook because GM and Toyota, not to long ago, stopped working together because it was too difficult to produce and they (GM and Toyota) were unsure of the hydrogen fuel cell’s future.  

Now, they’re at it again. Nissan unveiled the new Sentra earlier this year and it will be in the hands of dealers in the fall. Nissan is almost in the same position as it was in the 90’s. They’re banking on the remake of the Sentra to boost them into car heaven. Nissan sold 119,000 Sentras in 2005, and they’re looking to increase that number substantially for 06-07. Since the car does not launch until the fall, Nissan will not see the benefits until late 07.

And, with any redesign, there are always people who see otherwise. Not everyone is convinced the new Sentra is enough to help Nissan. When the car was debuted earlier this year, there were mixed reviews about it on their website.  A company is never in a good situation when they’re banking on a redesign to get themselves out of murky water. 

Hopefully this redesign will renew hopes throughout the entire auto industry.

GM sales fell nearly 16 percent due to cut back in rental company sales.  Rental companies are now switching to Honda and Toyota. Trucks and SUV sales were also down a whole 10 percent.  This was a record setting year for foreign auto manufactures and most analysts suggest that things will continue this way until Ford and GM refocus and revamp their strategy.

However, it seems, at least through commercials, that GM and Ford are both busy advertising about their fuel flex vehicles that are hitting the market. But, I’ve actually yet to see a fuel flex vehicle on the road. So, I wonder if GM and Ford’s strategy will work.  

The ESC has had wide adaptation, especially in more expensive cars. And now, that system is finally making it down to regular cars and SUVs. Just last year 43 percent of SUVs that were purchased ESC, however, in 2006 70 percent of SUVs will have this feature, and it seems that the ESC is making an impact to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The NHTSA SUVs are getting “smarter” about flipping.  Most of the SUVs that have 4 star ratings have ESC, which include Chevrolet’s HHR, Hyundai Tuscon, Honda Pilot, and Suzuki’s Grand Vitara.  It makes me wonder, where’s the most popular SUV ever made, the Ford Explorer? That’s odd.

The reason for the recall is to replace bad intermediate shafts and sliding yokes.  Some of the models affected are the wish, Isis, and the Prius.  A few others will be recalled as well but the focus is on cars manufactured in the last three years.  

So far, there has not been any reported accidents where the cause was due to the defects in question.  That is good news, and it is good to see Toyota fixing this problem.  It will probably cost them a pretty penny, but we won’t know how much for sure; because, Toyota does not release those numbers to the public. 

GM still thinks it has some life left in it.  Just like Saturn, Pontiac will get an image make over.  They looked to modern European design to infuse Saturn with for new life, but they will take a different approach with Pontiac.  They will look back into Pontiac’s past.  Pontiac’s new focus will be providing high performance rear-wheel-drive cars.

This plan, which is not final yet, will phase out the front-wheel-drive Pontiacs over the next two years.  These will be replaces with rwd models.  Some of these models will be brand new, while others will be rwd versions of current ones.  

This move may reduce the volume sales Pontiac will incur,  but GM is focusing on more streamlined line-ups from its brands.  

Some of these new standards will soon be taking effect and will most likely hurt Volkswagen, who is a leader in the area of diesel passenger cars.  They will not be able to offer diesel versions of several popular models in 2007.  However, they hope to be up to the standards by 2008.

In last weeks blog, I mentioned a few options for automakers to use when lowering nitrogen oxide emissions.  Honda has just announced a patent for new technology to do just that.

Most of Ford and GM’s revenues come from large SUV sales, and with high gas prices, less and less people are buying used SUVs. This, in the long run will be detrimental to ford and GM, since they have such a high volume of large SUVs. The price for large SUVs has been declining extremely fast over the past few months because of high volume and high gas prices.

Ford Sales analyst said that he expects to see a double-digit percentage decline in 2006 for large SUV sales. So, what does this mean for the consumer? Well, it means if you’ve ever wanted a large SUV now is probably the time to buy one, or you can wait a few more months to see what will happens with the prices. However, I think by consumers not buying large SUVs we’re showing auto makers we want more fuel efficient cars.

After the analyst announced the “buy” status, GM’s stocks rose $1.86 or 7.6% to $26.34 per share. Merrill Lynch’s John Murphy announced that the capacity reduction plan will boost shares by about $4 in the future.