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Automotive News & Views Does America Even Need Its Own Automakers?
1788 messages, Last post on Mar 03, 2009 at 2:18 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: tlong (Nov 15, 2008 6:02 pm) My opinion is that almost all cars* (including those from US manufacturers) are pretty good today in terms of reliability. Price is not too much of an issue for us, either, we could spend just about whatever we wanted to, but prefer to spend less and really only looked at cars priced up to about $30K (we don't really like leather and this tends to be forced on one in the luxury category). So we would consider buying just about anything. It pretty much came down to: does it look okay, is the seat comfortable, how does it drive. For us GM (and Toyota) cars generally do not pass the seat comfort test and I suspect they would generally not have the kind of ride and handling that we like. When my wife was buying in 2005, there really was not much to consider from the US companies in the compact to mid-size category. The only cars she liked well enough to drive, based on the auto show look and sit test, were the Jetta and Volvo S40. Prior to this she had driven the Passat and the X-type. In my case, I ended up deciding between the Fusion, Milan, and Mazda6 and had also considered several others, but less seriously (but nothing from GM or Toyota). It really just came down liking the looks of the Mazda better. Had the Accord in the US been the TSX as it is elsewhere, that probably would have been a more serious contender than the hideous (to me) 2007 Accord. *the only exception is that my wife initially liked the Jaguar X-type, but that seemed to have had too many problems and the cost of an extended warranty was far higher than anything else she liked. |
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here is some more Pininfarina-Bollore B0 all-electric car news for ya. This car will not be a prototype. It will be a mass production model, with the first units coming off the production line at the end of 2009, after which production will be ramped up gradually based on the availability of the batteries. Built in Turin by Pininfarina-Bolloré, a joint venture formed by the two family-owned groups, the B0 electric car will be powered by Bolloré’s proprietary LMP technology, using a combination of batteries and supercapacitors manufactured in Bolloré’s plants in Quimper, France and Montreal, Canada. The B0 will be a fully-electric vehicle without any carbon dioxide production, having been designed from the ground up with that aim in mind. Its batteries will be housed in a compartment specially designed for that purpose and located under the car, between its axles, lowering its centre of gravity and providing it with outstanding road-holding properties. The above is taken right from the Pininfarina-Bollore website.  Note the solar panels on the roof and hood (albeit a very small hood). They will be used to re-charge the battery system. Crisp.  Pininfarina B0 is a 4-person 4-door compact electric car, with a maximum speed (electronically limited) of 130 km / h. Batteries last for up to 250 km and located at the bottom of the platform between the two axles, lowering the center of gravity machine. Roof and hood have solar cells that will supply energy to electrical equipment. Next week, car will be presented to the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is a personal friend of Bolore. Sales of new models will begin in mid-2009. Planned output is 10 thousand units per year. gagrice, this B0 and the i-MIEV from Mitsubishi seem to have strikingly-similar body sizes and sorta-similar shapes overall. These are now my two top runners for my next car. Chevy and their Volt seem to be going up in price when the Volt should be going down in price. Way down, like to about $26,995 MSRP. Over-charging Americans for your product when you're in the process of going belly-up does not fly with this padre.  One of the websites I have visited calls the Pininfarina-Bollore B0 a "small cheap car." What might that mean for the American market? $19,995 with a $7,500 Obama energy rebate? Certainly gets the mind a wonderin'. More on this important subject later.
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Replying to: iluvmysephia1 (Nov 16, 2008 6:32 am) The big plus would be if they would build a factory in the USA and take up the slack when we lose domestic car makers. Chrysler is the only company that is dabbling in the EV realm. If we are ever going to go all electric. I would think the Domestics would be spending most of their R&D in that area. |
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news on this little Pininfarina-Bollore B0. It is definitely coming to the U.S. and will directly compete with Mitsubishi's i-MIEV. This is exciting news! Whoo-hoooo! Pininfarina and Bollore have partnered up to build an electric car that will go into production and be available in the U.S. in late 2010. The vehicle is called the B0 and it made its debut at the Paris Motor Show this week. The car is an automatic hatchback four-seater with four doors. Its powered by an electric motor and a lithium polymer battery that’s made by Bollore. This car can travel 153 miles on a full charge and it has a top speed of 80-mph. The car can go from 0-37-mph in 6.3 seconds. But a really cool feature the vehicle has are the solar panels on its roof and hood that help recharge and keep the car’s power. Pininfarina states that the battery has a lifespan of 125,000 miles and doesnlt need any maintenance. Pricing info hasn’t been released yet but as soon as we know we’ll pass the info on to you. http://www.dubdaily.com/?p=4914 This one actually sounds more like what I want in an all-electric car. The solar panels are very smart, and we both live in such sunny areas. Especially me! 
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Replying to: iluvmysephia1 (Nov 16, 2008 7:11 am) Yes but it's not going to go 153 miles  80 mph is the problem. it's probably not going to go half that. Electric vehicles, unlike hybrids, are only going to fill little niches--they aren't going to "save" any company IMO. |
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Replying to: iluvmysephia1 (Nov 16, 2008 6:32 am) Regards, OW |
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the 2010 Pininfarina-Bollore has jumped to the top of my list for next-car. Mitsu's i-MIEV doesn't have the range of the B0 but is going to be just as well-built, if not better built than the 2010 Pininfarina-Bollore B0. I'm going to continue to research both cars. |
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Replying to: tlong (Nov 15, 2008 9:37 pm) |
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with the all-electric. They're needing $40,000 for the 2010 Chevy Volt? I mean, really. What a joke. That's not going to help you guys get out of trouble, overcharging for that car. I would limit it's price to $30,000 and lobby the Obama Administration for the $7,500 alternative energy rebate surety on that one. If you don't want to offer the talked-about $2,000 Chevrolet manufacturer's rebate on the car, don't. But don't ask $40,000 for this car to help finance your raspberry jelly donut and Starbuck's board meetings. When are you guys gonna get hip to the fact that America doesn't like you much anymore?  And you are an American carmaker, right?
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Replying to: nippononly (Nov 15, 2008 8:30 pm) This may be true, but a few years ago, Toyota was bragging about how they employed SEVERAL HUDRED THOUSAND people in the US. There was a small disclaimer about including jobs created as a result of them being there. Nobody disputed their claims, even though they were counting the new restauraunt that opened a few blocks from the assembly plant, that has absolutely no association w/ Toyota. So, maybe C.A.R. includes the restauraunt that will CLOSE as a result of an assembly plant that closes due to bankruptcy. Either way you look at it, the facts that the automakers are spewing include the same factors and consequences of them being there, or not.
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