- Posted on Thursday, November 30th, 2006 at 5:31 pm
Green Day at the Los Angeles Auto Show
By Roddy Young
GM Consultant
Yesterday was the first Press Day at the Los Angeles Auto Show
GM believes in biofuels. Already, GM has more than 2 million FlexFuel E-85 ethanol vehicles on the road. America’s three car companies will double the production of vehicles running on renewable fuels by 2010. Right now, there are more than 170,000 gas stations, but only a thousand with E-85 ethanol pumps. So more needs to be done to build the infrastructure to help our country offset the petroleum-based energy demand.
GM’s HUMMER brand, over the next three years, will offer biofuel powertrains across its lineup. HUMMER is the world’s first brand to make that commitment.
Wagoner announced GM is expanding and accelerating the development of electrically driven vehicles. He noted, “Given what we know today, it’s pretty clear that it will take several years to bring to market a plug-in that will meet the expectations and real-world performance standards that our customers expect.” But, he said, GM is working to make the Saturn Vue the first plug-in hybrid production vehicle in the U.S. And yesterday, Saturn unveiled the redesigned 2008 Vue, which will also be offered as a Green Line hybrid. The Vue Green Line will become an advanced two-mode hybrid in 2008.
In 2007, GM will launch the hybrid GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Tahoe - a two-mode system that generates 300 –horsepower, but gains 25 percent in fuel economy. And the next step in Project Driveway will include the release of 50 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in California.
So, if the dictum holds true that all trends start in California, this is a great start.
2 Comments
Edward Hayes
I love GM’s commitment to technology. It was already stated by one OPEC head member and this is a fact. He said that OPEC would try to keep oil prices down so that ethanol production and development would be kept in check. So as far as I am concerned GM’s efforts on ethanol is already paying off.
You know one ethanol company recently announced in a single day, that they would develop three ethanol facilities of 100 million gallons a year each. OPEC would be wise to know that ethanol production will continue to develop and be profitable unless oil hits the $30 a barrel range.
Oh, as far as the color on that Saturn Vue. Read what I said on a previous post on FYI. Look, Honda has the best color pallet, if you need to- copy.
Paul
So the Saturn VUE is now a crossover. Is this because the term “SUV” has many as bad connotations as good these days?
Also, if GM is into biofuels, why not bring over the fabulous diesel engines you have in Europe? They’re capable of getting phenomenal gas mileage and running on biodiesel at any blend level without modifications.
Finally, when will GM take the lead in developing smaller cars. A 25% fuel economy boost is great, but I can do that simply by downsizing my vehicle. I think a good strategy would be to bring over the Astra and Corsa from Europe. They’re already very popular and have won many awards.
Drop the Daewoo Aveo and bring over a 100% GM car to fill that segment.
And make it a diesel!
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