Category: Diesels
Posted by Neil Winton on Fri, Jul 4, 2008 at 2:21 PMGasoline engines with diesel frugality get closer
Here's some good news for Americans feeling victimized by high gas prices, and who were hoping that high-technology European diesel engines might offer some relief.
Soon you will be able to buy gasoline engines which are as economical as diesels, with no loss of power.
European luxury carmakers like BMW, Mercedes and VW/Audi have seen their expensive plans to sell fuel-sipping but smoothly powerful diesel engines to Americans hungry to eke out more miles per gallon for their big SUVs and pickup trucks, crash and burn. This is because the price of diesel has suddenly spurted so far ahead of gas as to decimate the economics of diesel.
This plan might no longer be viable, but German engineers reckon they will be able to produce gasoline engines as economical as diesels with no noticeable loss of performance, within 3 years. European high tech diesels often produce 30 per cent better fuel economy than gas engines, while matching, or beating their smoothness of operation.
According to European newsletter Automotive Industry Data (AID), "a leading German prestige carmaker" (a thinly disguised reference to Mercedes) believes it will be able to offer these gas engines before 2012.
In a front page article headed "Petrol Engines With A Diesel Thirst", AID editor Peter Schmidt said the company doesn't have any radical new technology to achieve these goals. It has simply asked its engineers to go back to the drawing board and hone and improve everything they know about the internal combustion engine by redesigning and improving everything from the ground up.
The redesign includes resuscitating some old ideas that have been tried in the past, like so-called lean burn technology, where an engine uses more air and less fuel for every explosion generated in the engine's cycle. Modern computer power now makes this system more viable. The new engines would also use turbochargers.
Engineers, in the laboratory at least, have produced a two-litre petrol engine which mimics the fuel miserliness of a diesel engine - 41 miles per U.S. gallon - with similar power - 198 bhp. The system borrows some techniques from modern diesels, which use high pressure to squeeze fuel into the engine, and also uses "stop-start" and regenerative braking to help reduce fuel consumption. Stop-start technology shuts off the engine while the car is halted in traffic, and starts it up again when needed. Regenerative breaking harnesses power as the car is free-wheeling and puts it back into the battery.
Related column: Skyrocketing diesel prices may slow U.S. enthusiasm for German oil-burners
Gallows humor from Ford
Things may be grim at Ford world headquarters these days, but that doesn't mean people aren't laughing. A white-collar worker sent me a joke that it is currently making the rounds in Dearborn (I've taken the liberty of cleaning it up because, as I am constantly reminded, this is a family publication):
Bill Ford and Alan Mulally fly to Las Vegas to meet with billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian. Upon entering the room, they both stop, look at each other and shake their heads in disappointment.
"You again," Alan sighs. "We thought we were going to be meeting with Kevorkian ...!"
Category: Volvo
Posted by Neil Winton on Sun, Jun 29, 2008 at 2:15 PMVolvo Rumors Refuse To Die; Will It Go To China, Or Russia?
Volvo is being crucified by the weakness of the dollar, but despite this, rumors that Ford is close to finding a buyer for its ailing Swedish company refuse to go away.
Despite the difficulty of extricating heavily integrated Volvo from Ford, the lure of up to $6 billion may be too tempting for Ford to turn down.
Ford has consistently said it plans to hold on to Volvo, although the fact that it has sold off U.K. luxury pretenders Jaguar and Land Rover, not to mention the upmarket sports car maker Aston Martin, has suggested that the U.S. number two company is serious about returning to its core business of just making value-for-money cars.
At the end of June Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri reported that Ford was negotiating with a Chinese company to sell Volvo. The Chinese company was thought to be Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. The newspaper also said an unknown Russian investor was also interested in buying Volvo. Ford again denied the report. The last time these rumors were active, Germany's BMW and Ford's Japanese affiliate Mazda were in the frame.
Volvo is in trouble. It posted a pre-tax loss of $151 million in the first quarter compared with a profit of $94 million in the same period last year.
Last month it moved to slash costs by axing 2,000 workers, aimed at saving $662 million a year. Volvo employs about 25,000 worldwide. Volvo once hoped to sell 200,000 cars a year in the U.S., but this has been lowered to around 90,000.
Investment banker Merrill Lynch has said Ford could raise at least $6 billion if it sold Volvo.
Automotive consultancy Global Insight said it is confused about Ford's attitude to Volvo because, despite on the record denials, rumors still persist that Ford CEO Alan Mulally wants to sell. Kirk Kerkorian, now Ford's major shareholder, thinks Volvo should go.
Volvo's products are much more deeply integrated into Ford's global portfolio than the three U.K. brands ever were. Extracting Volvo would be extremely intricate and costly, said Global Insight's Rebecca Wright.
"A less confusing issue is the mounting crisis at Ford, whose premium brand ambitions are in tatters as are its plans to return to profitability any time soon. It is looking increasingly likely that Volvo too will find itself on the auction block," Wright said.
GM hit lowest level since 1955
General Motors Corp. saw it shares fall to their lowest level since 1955 today -- according to Reuters -- plunging more than 10 percent in very heavy trading after Goldman Sachs downgraded the company's shares to sell. The big fall in GM shares sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 2 percent.
The stock touched a low of $11.21 a share, but was at $11.49, down $1.34 a share, or 10.4 percent, as 41 million shares had traded hands -- nearly double the average 21.7 million daily volume. Goldman Sachs said GM may have to take steps to boost liquidity and cut its six-month price target to $11. Some analysts have said GM may burn through $1 billion a month. Goldman also cut its rating on Southfield-based Lear Corp., which tumbled 18 percent, or $3.27 a share in very active trading to $14.85. It hit a low of $14.25 early today.
Other auto stocks fell on the news. Ford Motor Co. saw its stock fall 4.8 percent to below $5 a share, hitting $4.94 before recovering to $4.99 at 1 p.m.
Obama's fuel efficiency plan
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has proposed the government double fuel efficiency standards within 18 years, which would result in a fleet-wide average of about 50 miles per gallon by 2027, assuming it was approved next year. Put another way, that would be 55 mpg for passenger cars and more than 44 mpg for light trucks under current requirements. It would represent a substantial increase over the 40 percent increase Congress required last December when it passed an energy bill.
Earlier this week, Obama's campaign put out a fact sheet that said the Illinois senator would double requirements within 20 years. A campaign staffer told The Detroit News that they were merely "rounding up" and that there was no change in his policy.
Today, Sen. Obama'a campaign created a new website, www.newenergyforamerica.com that included a description of his fuel economy plan as requiring automakers to double fuel efficiency by 2018 -- just 9 years away. The campaign just told us that it was a misprint and they will be fixing the website.
Let's be honest that the blizzard of fuel economy numbers and details are difficult to keep straight -- for even the hardy few reporters in Washington, policy experts, environmentalists and auto lobbyists that track the subject closely. The proposed yearly hikes in requirements through 2015 issued in April by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and a supporting document run nearly 800 pages.
Category: Dream Cruise
Posted by Manny Lopez on Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 5:06 PMIt's on
Vintage Detroit metal has been rolling up and down Woodward since the snow melted, but this weekend, it was a bit more intense.
Although the Dream Cruise officially isn't until Aug. 16, it's happening already.Drop tops, street racers, muscle cars and other classics were out this weekend enjoying the summer and the attention of adoring fans -- who also have started parking themselves along the Avenue.
If you appreciate the automobile and particularly that which is true Detroit, it's along Woodward on the weekends and it's a beautiful sight.
Upping the ante on fuel economy requirements
Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the House Select Committee on Global Warming and Energy Independence, and Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday in the wake of the leak of a 252-page draft EPA regulation that suggests automakers could meet a industry fleetwide standard of at least 38.3 mpg by 2020. The News obtained the draft and wrote about it today, noting it could cost automakers more than $30 billion annually.
"This is good news for drivers who are suffering at the pump and want more fuel efficient vehicles, and it is good news for the environment. Now, we urge you to join us and lead our nation toward energy independence," Markey and Emanuel wrote "With gas prices over $4 per gallon, we need to do everything we can to reduce demand and ease the burden on American families. Increasing fuel efficiency is an integral part of reducing demand and the price of gas."
In fact, the EPA and the White House are debating whether to water down or remove the auto section from the draft greenhouse gas emissions regulation. That's sure to lead to another round of congressional hearings after EPA releases its proposal on Monday. In any event, the proposal isn't likely to become final before the Bush Administration leaves office in January, but likely to give the next administration fuel if they seek to revisit and boost the congressional requirement to hike fuel efficiency by 40 percent by 2020 to at least 35 mpg.
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and the White House's top regulatory official, Susan Dudley, are set to be held in contempt by the House Oversight Committee on Friday for failing to turn over documents related to two EPA decisions -- including the Dec. 19 decision to deny California and 13 states the right to impose a 30 percent reduction in taipipe emissions by 2016.
Is Kerkorian finished buying Ford stock?
Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian disclosed Thursday that Tracinda Corp. -- his holding company -- now owns a 6.49 percent stake in Ford Motor Co., adding another 20.8 million shares since he started buying on the open market Monday, up 1 percent since Tracinda announced it had completed a tender offer for 20 million Ford shares.
The question is is Kerkorian still scooping up Ford stock? Will he eventually adopt a more activist posture? Tracinda disclosed today the transactions and price paid per stock in acquiring its new shares. On June 16 -- the day before Kerkorian and his top aides met with Ford's executive chairman Bill Ford Jr. and its president and CEO Alan Mulally in Las Vegas, Tracinda had acquired 6.4 million additional shares of Ford stock.
On Tuesday, Tracinda purchased 7.8 million shares and yesterday the company purchased 6.6 million shares. He paid anywhere from $6.10 to $6.75 a share, according to trading records filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Tracinda now owns 140.8 million shares in Ford, since it began buying in April.
Kerkorian remains in the red on most of those purchases, as Ford's stock is at $6.18 a share today, down $0.04 a share in average trading.
Category: Electric cars
Posted by Neil Winton on Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 5:27 PMBattery market may reach $40 billion as rush to electrify cars intensifies
The soaring cost of gasoline may be threatening to force us out of our cars, but electric power may soon provide an attractive alternative, and sales of lithium ion batteries could be worth up to $40 billion a year by 2020.
According to Frankfurt, Germany-based Deutsche Bank, world wide sales of lithium ion automotive batteries will be worth between $10 and $15 billion by 2015, compared with the entire market for lithium ion batteries of $7 billion now.
"The automotive market for lithium ion batteries could reach $30 to $40 billion by 2020," Deutsche Bank said in a report.
"Rising oil prices, regulations and advances in battery technology are converging to set the stage for what is likely to be the most dramatic change in vehicle technology of the past 50 years if not longer," Deutsche Bank said.
General Motors has been building up expectations for its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, saying it would offer up to 50 miles on battery operation alone including a solid amount of motorway driving and heavy acceleration when it appears on the market, probably by the end of 2010. Toyota has said its plug-in hybrid will be ready for fleets in the same year.
"Among the changes we expect is a significant increase in the electrification of vehicles. Hybrid Electric, Plug-in Hybrid Electric, and even Fully Electric vehicles appear to be destined for more significant growth than is widely perceived - reaching 20 per cent of U.S. and 50 per cent of European markets by 2015, compared with 2 per cent for each in 2007," the bank said.
"Based on discussions with automakers and consultants we see almost no doubt that lithium ion battery chemistries will ultimately dominate this market," it said.
If GM, and other auto companies can keep their plug-in hybrid projects on course, by early 2011, many car commuters will soon be able to refuel their cars by simply plugging them into to an electric socket at home overnight, and avoid that pricey visit to the local gas station.
Category: GM
Posted by Manny Lopez on Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 10:18 AMWhen 11 mpg doesn't matter...
Every once in a while having a big vehicle makes sense and the people in Indiana have got to be happy to see Hummer's barreling through flood waters to help them.
Say what you want for the excess of owning a gas guzzler, but when it's coming to the rescue, that criticism dissipates quickly. Hummer says it is going to provide 72 disaster relief vehicles to the Red Cross by 2010.
