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Motor Authority - blog Category: Hybrid

  • Report: Cadillac Converj Approved For Production

    Report: Cadillac Converj Approved For Production November 9th, 2009 By Nelson Ireson's avatar Nelson Ireson, Author, November 9th, 2009 Nelson Ireson 0 Comments

    Report: Cadillac Converj Approved For Production

    The off-again, on-again nature of the Cadillac Converj's production plans cast a pall of uncertainty over any production announcement, but the latest reports out of Detroit say the lights are green for the luxury Caddy hybrid.

    Revealed at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, the Cadillac Converj concept was a highly refined, dramatically styled extended range electric vehicle, with a powertrain much like that found in the Chevrolet Volt. It is now reported to be headed to production in essentially the same form.

    There's no production date yet, but the car was reportedly among the models presented to the GM board of directors on November 2 as part of...

    The off-again, on-again nature of the Cadillac Converj's production plans cast a pall of uncertainty over any production announcement, but the latest reports out of Detroit say the lights are green for the luxury Caddy hybrid. Revealed at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, the Cadillac Converj concept was a highly refined, dramatically styled extended range electric vehicle, with a powertrain much like that found in the Chevrolet Volt. It is now reported to be headed to production in essentially the same form. There's no production date yet, but the car was reportedly among the models presented to the GM board of directors on November 2 as part of the upcoming production plan. Shortly after the concept's debut in January, reports emerged that financial strife within GM had killed the Converj's production hopes, but then after the "new" GM came out of bankruptcy, talk of growing support for the car's construction surfaced. The Converj would certainly inject even more style and excitement into the Cadillac lineup, plus a touch of green flair that's currently absent. Powered by the Voltec electric propulsion system that pairs a 16 kilowatt-hour battery pack with a four-cylinder engine that functions as a generator to send electricity to the car's electric motors, the Converj is rated at 160 horsepower and a potent 273 pound-feet of torque. A top speed of 100 mph was given for the concept car. Styling was the Converj's strong suit at the Detroit Show, with bold exterior lines and massive 21-inch front and 22-inch rear wheels, plus an all-glass roof with built-in solar panels to help power the accessory systems. Two-plus-two seating, a high-end leather and wood interior and futuristic interior styling also helped put the concept car over the top. [Detroit News] Read More

  • Santa Monica Fisker Dealer Opening A Hit

    Santa Monica Fisker Dealer Opening A Hit November 6th, 2009 By Nelson Ireson's avatar Nelson Ireson, Author, November 6th, 2009 Nelson Ireson 3 Comments

    Santa Monica Fisker Dealer Opening A Hit

    Fisker's Karma plug-in hybrid has already won flocks of followers thanks to its stunning looks and powerful stat sheet, so it should be no surprise that the opening of the brand's Santa Monica dealership was met with a full house of guests and fans.

    The car itself has yet to come to production reality, and so far its only real-world test was on the track at Laguna Seca during the Pebble Beach Concours, where no independent journalists were allowed to drive the car. So the car's warm welcome must have been based purely on its potential, rather than its actuality.

    Santa Monica itself may have contributed to the hype, as Automotive News points...

    Fisker's Karma plug-in hybrid has already won flocks of followers thanks to its stunning looks and powerful stat sheet, so it should be no surprise that the opening of the brand's Santa Monica dealership was met with a full house of guests and fans. The car itself has yet to come to production reality, and so far its only real-world test was on the track at Laguna Seca during the Pebble Beach Concours, where no independent journalists were allowed to drive the car. So the car's warm welcome must have been based purely on its potential, rather than its actuality. Santa Monica itself may have contributed to the hype, as Automotive News points out. Long known amongst Californians for its forward-looking--if often oddball--take on life, the city has embraced hybrid and green technology like few others. Many of the 200 or so guests in attendance were among the more than 1,300 people that have place pre-orders for the car effectively sight unseen. The dealership is among the first crop of 32 "Eco-facility" dealers in the U.S., so it's appropriate that it should be located in granola-crunching Santa Monica. The building itself was once a Lexus dealership that has now been retasked to Fisker's uses. Opening the dealership now is mainly a mode of marketing, as no actual sales will be happening for the next several months, though pre-orders will certainly continue to be taken. Fisker's Karma is planned for production by Valmet in Finland to start later this year, followed shortly by retail sales. The company has recently started work on a plant in Delaware as well, to build the brand's next car, which remains unannounced in any detail. The Karma will cost $87,900 when it does hit the street, powered by 408-horsepower and 959 pound-feet of electric-motor torque. [Auto News -- sub. req.] Read More

  • NHTSA: Toyota Floor Mat Statement 'Inaccurate And Misleading'

    NHTSA: Toyota Floor Mat Statement 'Inaccurate And Misleading' November 5th, 2009 By Nelson Ireson's avatar Nelson Ireson, Author, November 5th, 2009 Nelson Ireson 7 Comments

    NHTSA: Toyota Floor Mat Statement 'Inaccurate And Misleading'


    This past Monday Toyota released a statement denying any finding of fault on Toyota's part or any defect in its cars in relation to the deadly floor mat safety advisory issued in late September. Today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is saying that Toyota's information is "inaccurate and misleading" and that there is in fact a defect in the 3.8 million cars affected.

    The Toyota statement included reference to a letter being sent out to customers which Toyota stated, "confirms that no defect exists in vehicles in which the driver’s floor mat is compatible with the vehicle and properly secured."

    The NHTSA minces no...

    This past Monday Toyota released a statement denying any finding of fault on Toyota's part or any defect in its cars in relation to the deadly floor mat safety advisory issued in late September. Today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is saying that Toyota's information is "inaccurate and misleading" and that there is in fact a defect in the 3.8 million cars affected. The Toyota statement included reference to a letter being sent out to customers which Toyota stated, "confirms that no defect exists in vehicles in which the driver’s floor mat is compatible with the vehicle and properly secured." The NHTSA minces no words in contradicting Toyota's claims, calling the removal of the offending floor mats an interim measure only, and saying that "This remedy does not correct the underlying defect in the vehicles involving the potential for entrapment of the accelerator by floor mats, which is related to accelerator and floor pan design." That leaves no doubt that the NHTSA considers the design of the vehicles and the accelerator pedal both to be defective in this regard. Between the tragedy of a California Highway Patrol officer and his family losing their lives in a borrowed dealership Lexus ES 350 and the farcical zip tie solution issued shortly thereafter, the Toyota/Lexus floor mat recall is quickly becoming one of the most unique events in recent automotive safety history. The problem, according to Toyota, lies with installation and mat selection. The dealer loaner car that was driven to a fiery end in Southern California earlier this year was just such a case, says the company: the wrong mat was installed improperly. So the fix? To install the proper floor mats and do it properly. The letter mailed earlier this week explains that the notice is of a future voluntary safety recall campaign which will see the mats replaced with the right model and installed according to procedure for no charge. Owners had previously been warned to pull driver's side floor mats from affected vehicles and not replace them with any other mats. Affected models include: • 2007 – 2010 Camry • 2005 – 2010 Avalon • 2004 – 2009 Prius • 2005 – 2010 Tacoma • 2007 – 2010 Tundra • 2007 – 2010 ES350 • 2006 – 2010 IS250 and IS350 If you own one of these models, look for the letter in your mailbox over the next couple of days. But be forewarned that the NHTSA isn't buying Toyota's story. [NHTSA, Toyota] Read More

  • BMW Joins Forces With Carbon Fiber Manufacturer For Megacity Vehicle

    BMW Joins Forces With Carbon Fiber Manufacturer For Megacity Vehicle October 29th, 2009 By Nelson Ireson's avatar Nelson Ireson, Author, October 29th, 2009 Nelson Ireson 0 Comments

    BMW Joins Forces With Carbon Fiber Manufacturer For Megacity Vehicle

    BMW's Megacity Vehicle, which will be launched under a sub-brand during the first half of the next decade, will employ a vast array of lightweight composite materials to enable its super-low emissions goals. To that end, BMW today announced a joint venture with carbon fiber and composites experts the SGL Group.

    Both the technology and the materials developed by the SGL Group will feed into the Megacity Vehicle. Ultra light yet still structurally very strong materials will be key to meeting both environmental and safety goals for the car.

    The Megacity Vehicle is expected to come under a BMW sub-brand, possibly the Isetta brand, with the...

    BMW's Megacity Vehicle, which will be launched under a sub-brand during the first half of the next decade, will employ a vast array of lightweight composite materials to enable its super-low emissions goals. To that end, BMW today announced a joint venture with carbon fiber and composites experts the SGL Group. Both the technology and the materials developed by the SGL Group will feed into the Megacity Vehicle. Ultra light yet still structurally very strong materials will be key to meeting both environmental and safety goals for the car. The Megacity Vehicle is expected to come under a BMW sub-brand, possibly the Isetta brand, with the first car under the sub-brand arriving as early as 2012. Talk of collaboration with Toyota on the project, leveraging the iQ city car platform, has also emerged, which would help BMW meet the tight timeline. Project i is the over-arching project that will spawn the Megacity Vehicle, however, meaning that not all cars built under the BMW sub-brand will necessarily share the Megacity's super-high-tech goals. Some may be simpler, cheaper, and more readily available. The Megacity Vehicle is also likely to take several years more development, with the outside window of 2014 or 2015 being more likely for retail release. The Mini E electric vehicle prototype, for example, was the first vehicle to come out of the Project i works. Still, the joint venture with the SGL Group will help BMW reach the economies of scale necessary to produce carbon fiber and carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) at volumes and prices realistic for mass production. BMW is, of course, no stranger to carbon fiber, having employed its use extensively in motorsports as well as the CSL versions of its M Division vehicles over the years. [BMW] Read More

  • Mercedes-Benz Planning New R&D Center: U.S.-Built Diesel Hybrids On The Way?

    Mercedes-Benz Planning New R&D Center: U.S.-Built Diesel Hybrids On The Way? October 28th, 2009 By Nelson Ireson's avatar Nelson Ireson, Author, October 28th, 2009 Nelson Ireson 0 Comments

    Mercedes-Benz Planning New R&D Center: U.S.-Built Diesel Hybrids On The Way?

    With the U.S. sales debut of the 2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid just behind it, Mercedes is now looking to the future of its American alternative powertrain vehicles, and one of the key steps may be already in the works: today's announcement that it will open a new R&D center on the Detroit Diesel campus in Redford Township, Michigan.

    The decision works for Mercedes-Benz by allowing its Mercedes-Benz Hybrid LLC subsidiary to buy $2.3 million in equipment and invest millions more with advantageous tax rates and incentives. But the financial side of the deal is only half of the equation: the cars being developed there will use alternative...

    With the U.S. sales debut of the 2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid just behind it, Mercedes is now looking to the future of its American alternative powertrain vehicles, and one of the key steps may be already in the works: today's announcement that it will open a new R&D center on the Detroit Diesel campus in Redford Township, Michigan. The decision works for Mercedes-Benz by allowing its Mercedes-Benz Hybrid LLC subsidiary to buy $2.3 million in equipment and invest millions more with advantageous tax rates and incentives. But the financial side of the deal is only half of the equation: the cars being developed there will use alternative engines, transmissions and electronics. Exactly what sort of cars might come out of the R&D center are unknown, but Mercedes has been working on hybrids, diesels and diesel hybrids for some time now. With the cessation of development on the Two Mode hybrid system in cooperation with BMW, GM and Chrysler, Mercedes may now be looking to chart its own path. That path is likely to include a diesel-electric M-Class SUV in the nearer term, following on the heels of the soon-to-be-released ML450 Hybrid unveiled earlier this year. Work for its development is already underway, but similar powertrains and the offspring of those designs are likely candidates for the testing center in Redford. Mercedes is also planning many more Hybrid and AMG models, with the all-electric SLS AMG coming in 2013 to lead the brand's alternative efforts in a flagship role. Below that halo car, a hydrogen fuel-cell B-Class vehicle is also being worked on, as are possible hybrid variants of the next-gen C-Class and current E-Class. When the CLS sees its redesign in 2011, it could also get a standard hybrid powertrain. The next major commercial step forward beyond the upcoming M-Class diesel hybrid powertrain, however, is likely to be a plug-in hybrid powertrain like that previewed in the S500 Plug-in Hybrid Concept. [Detroit Free Press] Read More

  • Subaru Talks About Hybrid Plans In Tokyo

    Subaru Talks About Hybrid Plans In Tokyo October 23rd, 2009 By Nelson Ireson's avatar Nelson Ireson, Author, October 23rd, 2009 Nelson Ireson 0 Comments

    Subaru Talks About Hybrid Plans In Tokyo

    We've covered Subaru's hybrid plans for well over a year now, and this week's details dropped at the Tokyo Motor Show confirm what we've heard before: Subaru has plans for a hybrid car, to be built with aid from corporate partner Toyota. Leveraging Toyota's already excellent hybrid platform is a no-brainer, but Subaru will have to do a lot of engineering work to develop a system suitable to its own cars.

    Speaking from the show floor, Fuji Heavy Industies president Ikuo Mori told Automotive News that Subaru won't be able to just lift Toyota hybrid systems directly--a simple transplant won't work. But that's nothing new from Subaru, with the...

    We've covered Subaru's hybrid plans for well over a year now, and this week's details dropped at the Tokyo Motor Show confirm what we've heard before: Subaru has plans for a hybrid car, to be built with aid from corporate partner Toyota. Leveraging Toyota's already excellent hybrid platform is a no-brainer, but Subaru will have to do a lot of engineering work to develop a system suitable to its own cars. Speaking from the show floor, Fuji Heavy Industies president Ikuo Mori told Automotive News that Subaru won't be able to just lift Toyota hybrid systems directly--a simple transplant won't work. But that's nothing new from Subaru, with the strong design and engineering background that's driven all of the company's automotive products. The impetus for the latest flash of discussion on the subject is Subaru's Hybrid Tourer concept, which demonstrates in a much more realistic fashion Subaru's design and platform directions for its hybrid passenger cars. Previous proof-of-concept designs like all-electric and plug-in hybrid R1 and Stella have shown off technology and future city car themes, but the Hybrid Tourer concept features a layout that's more likely to be seen here in the U.S., and in the near future. Powered by a direct-injected turbocharged 2.0-liter mill and twin electric motors, the all-wheel-drive hybrid combines the best of the fuel-saving technology with the best of Subaru's go-anywhere attitude in an attractive and spacious package. The modality of the hybrid's function is somewhat unique as well, with factors like hill ascent or descent determining the role of the gasoline and electric powerplants. Like almost all modern hybrids, the Tourer concept features stop-start technology and brake energy regeneration. Key elements of any production Subaru hybrid will be retaining the performance and utility associated with the Subaru nameplate as well as maximizing fuel efficiency and minimizing emissions. There will, of course, be compromises in the name of practicality, but we're keen to see what Subaru has in store for a final production vehicle. We don't expect to see a Subaru hybrid on the road before 2012, however, so we'll have to be patient. [Auto News - sub. req.] Read More

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