Automakers Balk At New Fuel Bill; Compromise Expected

Author: Anthony Fontanelle

Source: articledashboard.com



Automakers described as 'unattainable' the revised fuel economy proposal unveiled last Friday by a Senate committee chairman. The new bill, when approved, would force the automakers, gas regulator, to significantly increase the fuel economy standards to a fleetwide, gas regulator, average of 28.5 miles per gallon by 2015 and 35 mpg by the year 2020, with four percent increases every year after that.

The bill, as proposed by U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, the chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and Alaska's Ted Stevens, the committee's ranking Republican, is expected to entertain amendments to respond to the automakers' clamor. The bill will now be facing a vote in committee on whether to deliver the same to the full, gas regulator, Senate.

Sen. Inouye said that many senate staffs had worked for 10 days to reach a compromise bill, gas regulator, that automakers could accept. "None of us here want to put our domestic automakers out of business," Inouye said. "You will find most of your concerns have been addressed."

Automakers said last Friday that the proposal was about as bad as they could have imagined. Since the proposal of the bill, criticism has never come to a halt. The EBC brake, gas regulator, pads also may not be successful in stopping the ridicule from spilling over.

"Basically, it is unattainable up until 2020 and unattainable afterward," said Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the trade group that represents the General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler, gas regulator, AG, the Toyota Motor Corp. and other automakers. "We think this is still going to be a big burden on Americans who need work vehicles."

U, gas regulator, .S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, who has been actively lobbying colleagues, gas regulator, in recent days, criticized the draft for being too complicated and including some issues that had not been proposed earlier. "For instance, it includes a requirement to increase CAFE standards by four percent per year after 2020," Levin said in a statement. "More progress can be made in reducing oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions if we focus our resources on leap-ahead technologies instead of forcing companies to make incremental improvements to meet an arbitrary standard."

The Congress mandated automakers to increase passenger car fuel economy from an average of 13 mpg to 27.5 mpg in 1975. That standard has remained untouched because vehicle manufacturers have dynamically lobbied against increases.

The bill comes amid increasing concerns in Congress about the effect of auto tailpipe emissions on climate change. To stress, vehicles in the United States account for about 20 percent of greenhouse gas, gas regulator, emissions in the US and about five percent worldwide. The bill would also regulate the fuel economy of medium and heavy-duty trucks thus imposing a four percent yearly improvement commencing in 2011.

The proposed bill would empower the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to set fuel economy standards and do it based on size, as NHTSA has already implemented for light trucks. Additionally, the bill has "off ramps" that give the government agency discretion to cut fuel economy mandates if it determines they are not cost effective or not feasible in a given model year. The agency also has to issue new safety rules to enhance the compatibility of vehicle bumper heights to ensure, gas regulator, car occupants' protection when different, gas regulator, sized vehicles collide.

One controversial issue behind the proposed bill is the whether the agency would be under pressure not to use the off-ramps for domestic automakers if the Toyota Motor Corp. and the Honda Motor Co. are able to meet the requirements.

Automakers also are dismayed that after the 2009 model year they would lose the fuel economy credit for building flexible-fuel vehicles that run on E85 - a fuel made of 85 percent ethanol. But they would be able to use CAFE credits earned for five years and also would be able to purchase and sell credits among, gas regulator, manufacturers.

Automakers can use "credits" to meet fuel economy mandates, even though their vehicles are less efficient than required and, gas regulator, there is no requirement that consumers actually use alternative fuels. The credit trading system would amount to a "wealth transfer" between automakers and have no impact on improving the environment,, gas regulator, Bergquist said.

Experts in the industry said that it might require GM, Ford and Chrysler to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to Toyota and Honda in order to comply with the law. The bill also would require a new labeling program to promote the, gas regulator, vehicles that have superb fuel economy, gas regulator,, gas regulator, and the lowest greenhouse gas emissions.

Joan Claybrook, an environmental advocate who heads Public Citizen, said that the bill "does not go far enough. "Automakers could easily hit 40 miles per gallon. With the polar bears and penguins in deep, gas regulator, trouble, this is the year Congress will finally do something."

The Bush administration proposed raising fuel economy standards by an average of four percent annually starting in September 2009 for passenger cars and September 2011 for light trucks in order to limit gasoline usage by five percent annually in 2017, or 8.5 billion gallons every year.

Gm Has Big Plans For Chevrolet

Author: Anthony Fontanelle

Source: articledashboard.com



Car manufacturers are taking a global approach in the creation of concept vehicles. At the much-concluded auto show in New York's, different jaw-dropping auto concepts were unveiled. General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet brand, for one, has, gas regulator, envisioned introducing just one minicar concept but the executives could not decide which of the three designs to forego. So the automaker introduced their three new concepts in the Big Apple.

"Everyone, gas regulator, has a favorite," said Ed Welburn, GM's vice president of global design, gas regulator, . "I was the one who said, 'Let's bring all three to New York.'" The concepts, which, gas regulator,, gas regulator, are designed in Inchon, South Korea and assembled in the United States and India, show how the largest automaker is taking a more global approach to vehicle manufacture.

"We went to the part of our global product development organization that knows how do to vehicles like these better than anyone else - Korea - and leveraged their skills and expertise to get these cars done," said Vice Chairman Bob Lutz. "This is a team game, and to get the team functioning at its most, gas regulator, efficient level, you have to have all the players playing to their strengths."

The global approach employed by, gas regulator, GM for its minicar architecture is more than just coming up with concepts and reliable auto parts like EBC brake pads and offering them around the world. Designers include various regions' technical specifications, gas regulator, in their plans and then devise ways to build the same exterior while changing some pieces under a vehicle's skin to meet different regulations, said David Lyon, GM's executive director of design for Asia Pacific.

Lyon added, "It's easier, for example, to design three bumpers to meet three countries' regulations at the beginning of the process than to re-engineer a vehicle for the United States after it's built for Europe. You get better designs when you're involved from the, gas regulator, beginning."

The three minicars include the Beat, the Trax and the Groove. Each minicar maintains the renowned Chevrolet design cues like those round taillights and the, gas regulator, dual port grille.

The Trax, a flat-faced 1-liter three-cylinder gas engine-powered micro SUV, offers an electric limited slip differential connected to an electric motor to drive the rear wheels thus paving way to an urban all-wheel drive system. The Beat, a three-door hatchback powered by turbo-charged three-cylinder gasoline engine offers front-wheel drive high performance. The Groove, which is also called the "Funkastalgia," is a five-door model with a 1-liter, 3-cylinder diesel engine to blend with its tougher appearance.

GM builds minicars, gas regulator, in other markets but has not determined if there is a strong enough business to bring the little racers to the United States, Lutz said. "We have a very strong focus on small cars in the current and future portfolio for the U.S. The real question is will we build these types of vehicles in the U.S.? Historically, these types of cars haven't done well here. But clearly, things are changing," Lutz noted.

The small car market will continue to grow and it would bode well for GM to, gas regulator, make the minicar concepts a reality, said Jesse Toprak, an Edmunds.com analyst, gas regulator, . "That's kind of the vehicle that would be a success," Toprak said. "It would really appeal to the younger market, which is where GM really needs that recognition and brand appeal."