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GM CEO thinks so.
We have been talking about the price of gas a lot lately. It seems that everywhere you turn you are reminded of $3.00 a gallon gas and the threat that it might go higher. There are a lot of people afraid of just that happening. However, Rick Wagoner is not among them.
Wagoner, chief executive of General Motors, is optimistic that gas prices will come back down in the future. But how near is that future? I’m not sure but hopefully soon.
"They are too high right now and they will come back down," Wagoner said of oil prices during a conference at the company’s headquarters in Detroit that was broadcast over the Internet. He said consumer behavior isn’t expected to be negatively impacted by current gasoline prices, which are averaging about $2.92 a gallon according to the American Automobile Association.
This kind of thinking does seem to go against the latest trends. Some consumers do seem to be moving toward smaller more efficient cars and automakers like Ford and Toyota are rushing to accommodate them with lots of hybrids. GM is also working on its own share of hybrid vehicles but are not as focused on it as the other two I just mentioned. They are still committed to bigger vehicles as well as the small.
Wagoner said GM aims to keep developing engines for its vehicles with improved fuel economy in mind. He said buyers tend to gravitate to bigger, more-powerful vehicles that typically consume relatively high levels of fuel. GM has touted its new full-size SUVs as being capable of achieving 20 miles per gallon, and the auto maker has a number of vehicles capable of achieving better than 30 miles per gallon.
The truth is that no one can predict exactly what will happen. Each manufacturer will have to make its own adjustments as they go. However, for the sake of our wallets I hope Mr. Wagoner is right.
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Toyota out sells Chrysler in the month of April.
Everyone knows that the North American automobile market has been dominated by the big three (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) for a long time now. Pretty much since people have been driving the things. However, Toyota, Japan’s top auto maker, has been steadily gaining ground over the past few years. Recently, they have benefitted from increased sales among smaller more fuel efficient cars.
This trend has helped them to out sell Chrysler (number 3 of the Big 3) in the month of April as Chrysler’s sales dipped and Toyota’s rose. During this same month, GM and Ford both saw a drop in sales as well.
Does this mean that Toyota will be able to out sell Chrysler for the year and cut the Big 3 down to 2?
To that end, both Toyota and Chrysler spokesmen were noncommittal. "We don’t really care" that Toyota’s sales are increasing, said Jason Vines, Chrysler Group spokesman. Vines noted that strong sales of the new Caliber compact and a slew of upcoming new models would keep Chrysler’s sales momentum strong for the rest of 2006.
Toyota has been equally aloof about this possibility but you know it has to be in the back of their minds. The North American companies have had many struggles of late but Toyota seems to keep expanding its American market.
No matter what happens, hopefully this competition will bring about good result for the industry and for the drivers.
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Top cars for safety.
Everyone knows that sex sells; sex sells tv shows, books, and even vehicles. Forbes.com has an article about how safety does not sell. Safety, to most westerners, is not preeminent when purchasing things. Although we talk a lot about safety, our purchasing habits don’t always reflect our concerns, which translates into companies building things that sell well. Thus, we have sexy cars outselling safe cars by a large margin
There are plenty of fast sexy cars on the road, but how many earn the highest safety marks?
Sex appeal can translate into big sales volume, but safety technology almost never does. With the exception of Honda Motor, the brands that are most famous for building safe cars– Volvo and German car companies such as DaimlerChrysler’s Mercedes-Benz subsidiary–are not volume players.
So how many cars had the highest possible safety rating this year? Not many. In fact, just four cars can boast this achievement. These are the Acura RL, Honda Civic, Saab 9-3, Volvo S-80.
If you are not concerned about safety, check out this very interesting fact about the safety ratings.
The difference between a good crash-test rating and a poor one is significant: A five-star NHTSA frontal-crash rating means a chance of serious injury of 10% or less in a head-on collision in which each vehicle is going 35 mph. A one-star rating means a chance of 46% or higher. NHTSA defines a "serious injury" as one that requires immediate hospitalization and may be life-threatening.
So that’s what those stars mean. I think I will check those ratings a little more closely from now on. How about you? It’s great to buy a sexy car, but hopefully it will be a safe one too.
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GM�s hot new concept car.
GM has had its share of bad luck recently. So I guess the company is glad to have some good news, even if it comes in the form of a minor controversy.
In January the auto maker unveiled its new Camaro concept car. The buzz about it has been growing since then. It’s grown so much that people are willing to put down cash deposits on the car. Keep in mind, that it is still a concept car, and GM has not confirmed that it will produce the car.
There has been unsolicited deposits offered, but the controversy surrounds a dealership in Dearborn Michigan which has advertised the coming of the new Camaro and offered to take deposits.
Les Stanford Chevrolet in Dearborn has solicited deposits from enthusiasts who want to order the Camaro. In the May edition of the national car-enthusiast magazine duPont Registry, Stanford published an ad that says “the new Camaro is coming,” advising readers to “reserve yours today.”
The dealership took five deposits of about $1,000 each after placing the ad, owner Paul Stanford said.
However, there seems to be no real intent to scam anyone here. It’s just a case of people getting excited over the car. The Dearborn ads will be modified and any mention of the Camaro will be removed.
There has been similar excitement about concept cars in the past as well. In 1989, Chrysler received unsolicited deposits for the Dodge Viper.
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A look at several alternative fuel sources
I read a great article about alternative fuel sources. I caution you that it is a bit long. The article details six alternatives to petroleum. And, as we all know, there are many reasons for us to curb our appetites for petroleum.
These alternatives vary widely from each other and each presents different strengths and weaknesses. Each fuel source was briefly explained with pros and cons being pointed out. After that each was given a graded outlook.
Biodiesel and Hydrogen were both given “good” outlooks, but hydrogen carried the disclaimer that it would be a while until it was actually useful. Hydrogen has a lot of promise and many car companies are spending lots of money to research it. Biodiesel, however, is already starting to make an impact on the ground shipping industry with companies such as, Fedex, UPS, and DHL.
The next two we have heard about a lot more. Ethanol and its E85 blend were given a “hopeful” outlook and electricity (including hybrids) were given a “mixed” outlook. The availability of ethanol and the need for better and cheaper batteries are some of the problems these two face.
Methanol and its M85 blend where deemed “cloudy” and natural gas was labeled “limited.” Methanol has been overpowered by its cousin ethanol and natural gas is still an unrenewable resource.
Petroleum might be a hard habit to kick but we’ve got many options on the way. As time progresses, these outlooks may change greatly; it only takes a breakthrough in one area for the entire paradigm of alternative fuels to change. Who knows, maybe a new source will one day make all these alternatives obsolete.
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A new engine design to compete with all those hybrids.
Yesterday, I talked about a very fuel efficient vehicle that was not a hybrid. Today its not a car. It’s an engine; well, an engine design. The whole process doesn’t sound too complicated, but I’ll let the experts explain it to you.
Whether or not you wanted the full explanation, it boils down to this; the new design will produce a smaller more efficient engine through the use of adding ethanol to the gas at certain points (Ethanol Boosting System or EBS). The smaller engine will also make the car lighter.
The designers claim that this engine will be able to match today’s hybrid systems and will be cheaper. Now that’s a word we all love to hear. However, this technology is still 5 years or so away from mainstream and could face a few hurdles. For example, the driver would have to keep a smaller separate tank filled with ethanol, however, there are problems that come along with this design:
The challenges EBS is likely to encounter he says, have more to do with logistics — two fuel tanks in a vehicle can be hard to implement, and there’s the challenge of making sure ethanol is available at the corner gas station. Also, the engine will need a system that ensures it isn’t damaged if the driver forgets to fill the ethanol tank.
The new engine should be 30 percent more efficient than conventional engines, based on a computer model the researchers say accurately reproduces the behavior of internal-combustion gasoline engines.
I’m just glad to see all these new innovations. I don’t mind diverse answers as long as everyone is working on the problem.
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A look at an impressive new entry in the battle for better fuel economy.
Recently, I’ve posted several topics about auto news relating to the gas crunch and vehicles with good fuel economy. Today, however, I was very excited when I saw the Loremo. Not only does it get 157 miles per gallon but it just looks great.
The Loremo is produced by a six year old German car company name Loremo AG. Despite its gas mileage the Loremo is not a hybrid and still has good performance.
The base model Loremo LS is powered by a 2 cylinder 20 hp turbo diesel engine that will reach a speed of 100 mph and the GT model will reach up to 135 mph with a 0 to 60 mph acceleration of 9 seconds.
Wow! That sounds great but how did they do it? Well, the car is extremely light weight and aerodynamic. And even with its light weight, the Loremo still meets safety standards because of their patented “linear cell structure” method.
This sounds like a very ground breaking and interesting car but, sadly, at this time it looks like it will only be for sale in Europe
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Ford endured a first quarter loss and more may be coming.
Just yesterday gas was going for $2.85 a gallon in the city where I live. And I’m not talking about the premium stuff. We all know that it will continue to climb as summer approaches. Right now there is talk of $4.00 a gallon in the near future!
This is definitely not good for our wallets. It is also not good news for Ford. The automaker just posted a $1.19 billion first quarter loss. The company has a lot of problems right now, but the one that directly correlates with the high gas prices is the fact that they have been heavily dependent on their SUVs for years. Ford’s SUVs, along with its F-series trucks, have been bailing out the companies weak car sales for years now.
Ford’s CEO, Bill Ford Jr. seems to be ready to turn the company around inspite of gas prices:
"Three months in, we are in the very early stages of this strategy to transform the way we do business, down to its very core," said chairman and CEO Bill Ford Jr.
However, as gas goes higher they may see declining SUV sales as motorists turn to smaller vehicles with better fuel economies. Their F-series trucks will also have to face some new competition as GM and Toyota take aim at them with their new truck offerings.
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A look at Toyota’s impact in the U.S.
I recently saw a billboard which read, “Want to support Japan? Then buy Toyota and Honda.” I’m sure whoever is responsible for the ad (probably someone affiliated with one or all of the big three North American automakers) is very patriotic. However, in today’s world of increased globalization, this may not necessarily be the case anymore.
Toyota hopes to help make that clear with some new advertisements of its own. Their new ad campaign will promote how Toyota is good for America. These ads will detail how much money they have invested in their U.S. plants and how many Americans they employ. They are also planning to expand even more in the States while GM and Ford face cutbacks.
There will probably be some people who are upset at these ads and will never believe a foreign company could be good for America. However, if you take Toyota’s (and any other foreign companies) sales as any indication, most people buy whatever car they want.
And shouldn’t they? This is America. The land of freedom and capitalism. Let the people choose, and may the best product win.
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Thoughts about the new VW commercials.
Have you seen the new Volkswagen Jetta commercials? Wow! After I saw them, that was the first thing I said. And, I think, I repeated that phrase on each repeat viewing as well. Don’t worry if you haven’t seen them yet and are worried I will ruin some surprise. You probably won’t see it coming anyway.
Both commercials start out very unassuming, and wiht someone driving a Jetta and having a casual conversation with the passenger(s). At first, you might not realize it is a car commercial. And then, all of a sudden, through no fault of the Jetta driver, a very realistic car wreck happens. If it catches you off guard, which I believe is what the ad is designed to do, it is very much akin to a jump scene at a scary movie. These are not small fender benders either. The first thing you think about is how badly the people are hurt. Which leads to the next scene in which everyone who was in the car is shown visible shaken by the accident but otherwise very ok. The new VW slogan which is, “Safe Happens,” is then shown.
After I saw this I immediately thought two things. First was, “wow, that was a weird, almost scary commercial.” And the second was, “that car must be really safe.” I realize that it is just a commercial and none of it was real but they still made their point.
Now, my second thought was, what they were going for with these tv spots? However, I wonder, if a lot of people might just think it is a disturbing commercial. Usually, car companies want the thought of an accident to be far from anyone’s mind when their commercials are running. This is a bold strategy for Volkswagen and it will interesting to see how people react to it.
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