Car Listings & Reviews

Filed under: AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Legislation and Policy

We're from the government and we're here to help. Those words strike fear into the hearts of conservatives anywhere. Right now those words probably should be terrorizing those hoping for a loan deal for the Detroit automakers as well. Before and after Congress declined to provide quick passage to loan package until the carmakers put a forward a plan, many people wanted to attach strings to the deal requiring the three companies to transform their fleets with a green lineup.

To a large extent this was already in process before the situation turned into a full blown crisis this fall. Product plans at Ford and General Motors (nobody really knows what's happening at Chrysler) had already been completely revamped over the last 18 months as the price of fuel skyrocketed. Most of the future "gas guzzlers" had been canceled or put on hold while more efficient cars were fast tracked. The programs that were moving forward were meant to be both greener and profitable. All of this was being driven by the market, specifically high gas prices, not CAFE. So, what's a good proposal for Congress to implement? My thoughts are after the jump.

[Source: Detroit News]

Continue reading Congressional plan for green Detroit could be financially fatal

Congressional plan for green Detroit could be financially fatal originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Etc., NEV (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle)

The U.S. military, like so many other giant organizations, is making the case for going green. From hybrid tanks to bio-fuel jet fuel, reducing fuel is becoming more and more important. The latest move is towards more electric cars, thousands of little NEVs to use on bases around the world. According to the Army Times, the Army, Navy and Air Force are looking into the battery-powered vehicles, with the first deployment coming to Fort Belvoir in Virginia in the middle of December. Some of the NEVs will come from E-Z-Go, the golf cart maker, which is a subsidiary of defense giant Textron. The military said that the $400 in annual electricity costs was a big improvement over $2,400 in gas costs that the average gas-powered vehicle uses. All told, the 4,000 EVs the military plans to use will save 11.5 million gallons of fuel a year. The new military slogan for the endeavor? "Army Green, Army Strong."

[Source: Army Times]

U.S. mililtary looking for a few good EVs originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is Intel working on industrial-, automotive-grade Atom? Eetasia.com (subscription) - 13 hours ago The world's largest chipmaker Intel Corp. is developing a variant of its Atom processor for use in harsh environments such as automotive applications, ...

Filed under: Green Culture, Hybrid, GM, GMC, Green Daily, USA

General Motors is the Official Vehicle Supplier for the Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade. There, now you've learned your requisite something new for the day. This year, The General decided to trot out hybrid versions of the full-size GMC Yukon to pull various parade floats and giant balloon-things. Oddly, GM did absolutely nothing to advertise the fact that it would be having the hybrid 'utes take place in the event, leaving various other media outlets to find out about it themselves. No matter. Find out they have, and now that the event is over, the news has hit the wires.

We are also left wondering if Macys did any promotion of the event, considering that the large clothing retailer has recently begun touting its own green efforts. If it did, we must have missed it. Whatever the case, slow city running is the perfect place to use a hybrid vehicle such as this. GM's full-size hybrids are fully capable of towing large loads, and something had to pull the huge number of parade floats for the 82nd installation of the classic Manhattan parade, right? May as well be a hybrid.

[Source: Star-Telegram]

GMC Yukon hybrid featured in Macy Parade originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Israel's Delek Group moves to net loss in Q3 Reuters - 19 hours ago Delek Group, which has interests in the real estate, energy, automotive and financial sectors, is 62 percent-controlled by billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva. ... Delek Group Announces Consolidated Results for the Third Quarter ... istockAnalyst.com (press release) all 18 news articles

US auto industry's health affecting Silicon Valley chip makers San Jose Mercury News,  USA - Nov 30, 2008 "As soon as the automotive industry coughs, a lot of other companies get a cold," said Thilo Koslowski, who tracks that business for research firm Gartner. ...

India's automakers rev up for run at US car market Toledo Blade, OH - 6 hours ago India’s entry into the US auto market will have deep ramifications for the entire manufacturing sector of the United States, but especially in automotive ...

CharlotteObserver.com

Slovakia, EU's Detroit, maneuvers around meltdown The Associated Press - 23 hours ago Ex-communist Slovakia is fast becoming Europe's Detroit: a humming automotive haven where — for now, at least — there's no sign of the crisis gripping ... Crisis seems to have avoided Slovakia, the new Detroit of Europe International Herald Tribune all 131 news articles

Winn Parish gasifier offers energy solutions Leesville Daily Leader, LA - 1 hour ago The gasifier applies that heat under pressure in the presence of steam and a controlled amount of oxygen, which produces a gaseous mixture of hydrogen, ...

Filed under: Manufacturing/Plants, Chrysler, Nissan, South/Latin America

As we told you last January, Nissan is going to build a small Versa-based car for Chrysler. We now find news that production is set to start in early 2009 at Nissan's Aguascalientes assembly plant in central Mexico, the same plant where all the North American Versas are built. However, this Nissan/Chrsler model will only be sold in Brazil, where it'll be called the Dodge Trazo. Another Nissan plant in Mexico, in Cuernavaca, produces the Versas that are exported to other countries, including Europe (where they get a great 1.5-liter 105 hp diesel engine by Renault). Both companies announced back in April that Nissan would manufacture a new fuel-efficient small car, designed by Chrysler, at Nissan's Oppama plant in Japan. This model is targeted for both North America and Europe.

[Source: Automotive News (subs. req'd)]

Nissan selects plant for building subcompact Chryslers originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 08:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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