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8456 messages, Last post on Nov 26, 2009 at 4:07 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: 62vetteefp (Dec 23, 2008 6:35 pm) If the guy can spend that much money on a new ride, the last thing he should worry about is the warranty and parts availability! |
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Ford Fusion Hybrid to get 41 mpg city DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co.'s much ballyhooed 2010 Fusion Hybrid will get 41 city miles per gallon and 36 mpg on highways, based on final certification figures from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the company said Monday. The move is one of the final steps in getting the vehicle to dealerships next spring. Certification of the vehicle was recently completed at the company's testing laboratories in Allen Park. Ford said that the Fusion Hybrid tops Toyota's Camry hybrid -- its main competitor -- mileage by 8 mpg in the city and 2 mpg on the highway. The Fusion can travel up to 47 miles per hour using only battery power. After 47 miles, the car's four-cylinder engine turns on to power the car and recharge the battery. The Fusion's nickel-metal hydride battery is lighter and produces 20 percent more power than the Ford Escape hybrid. It also devised a way to get 28 percent more power out of the battery cells, said Praveen Cherian, program leader for the Fusion Hybrid. "It's not just one thing, but thousands," he said of the improved mileage numbers. "We've optimized the heck out of that vehicle, it's individual components." The battery can also tolerate higher temperatures, and Ford has eliminated its battery cooling system in the Fusion, allowing the battery to cool using regular cabin air. The company has also improved its regenerative braking system, which captures energy lost through brake friction and stores it for battery usage. Ford said 94 percent of brake friction energy is recovered in the new model. The Fusion also includes SmartGauge technology, which helps drivers adjust their driving to get more mileage out of the car.
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Is this the plant where the Trailblazer/Envoy/9-7X are built? If so, then no tears are going to be shed, except for those workers. GM workers reach final day at Ohio SUV plant Associated Press MORAINE, Ohio -- Workers at General Motors Corp.'s sport-utility vehicle plant in the Dayton suburb of Moraine are working their last day at the factory. Tuesday is the final day of production at the plant, which has been pumping out GM vehicles for the past 27 years. About 1,080 hourly workers are employed at the plant. In June, GM announced it would close the plant because high gasoline prices were driving consumers away from the SUVs made there. Advertisement GM employed 19,000 workers in the Dayton area in 1999, before spinning off its Delphi supplier division. Tuesday's closing of the SUV plant will leave 572 workers at a GM engine plant in Moraine the automaker owns jointly with Isuzu. |
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America cares little about fate of Detroit's Big Three Forget the politicians and their calculated "rescue" of Detroit's automakers. They won't be the ones who save, or kill, the Big Three where it matters most -- in the marketplace. It'll be the real people, would-be customers who decide to give General Motors Corp. metal another look or who credit Ford's Blue Oval for trying to make it without federal help. Or it'll be the people who long ago gave up on Detroit, who conflate bad experiences of a generation ago into sweeping condemnations of the companies today. I bring this up now because the bailout debate, punctuated by President George W. Bush's decision to throw the automakers a $17.4 billion lifeline, is delivering Detroit more attention than it wants or needs. And government largesse for GM and Chrysler LLC will keep this complex, politicized restructuring in front of taxpayers for months to come. Which means those inside the Detroit Bubble eager to remind folks on the outside that the automakers were FDR's "Arsenal of Democracy," that Detroit "created the middle class, and that an independent, U.S.-owned auto industry is an economic cornerstone may find most of the Bigger America doesn't agree and doesn't much care. Yes, federal officials are lending GM and Chrysler help, but they are clearly doing so while holding their collective noses with one hand and wagging their fingers with the other. Could it be that the politicians know their constituents are as fatigued by Detroit's troubles as the rest of us mired in this morass? Readers periodically e-mail objections to suggestions (from me and others) of an anti-Detroit Auto bias around the country. After the inquisitions called congressional hearings, the misinformed sanctimony from members of the California, New York and Massachusetts delegations and the snide slaps of Senate Republicans from the South, I'm not at all sure the e-mailers have much (if any?) evidence to buttress their point. Then, in today's e-mail, arrives more data to bolster mine: A CNN-Opinion Research poll reports that 70 percent of 1,013 Americans polled over the weekend said they opposed extending any additional aid to Detroit's automakers beyond March 31. Even as two-thirds said a bankruptcy of one or more automakers would be "a crisis" or would cause "major problems," more than 80 percent said an automaker bankruptcy would cause "minor problems" or "no problems at all" for their personal financial situation. And 65 percent said they would not be likely to consider buying a car from a bankrupt automaker. Translation: Detroit, you're on your own, though I'm not at all sure the message is resonating where it matters most. 'A way of life' under siege Over the weekend, I ran into a prominent, thoughtful and recently retired Detroit auto executive out with his family for a holiday dinner. Amid the handshakes he looked at me and matter-of-factly said, "We're dismantling a way of life." He's right. But how many people in your workplace or neighborhood or school district realize it? Do they understand that the culture defined by Big Three salaries, benefits, expectations, vacation schedules -- where else in the country do people get a four-day weekend around Easter? -- will be torn apart over the next three months because it has to be? And if it isn't -- if United Auto Workers brass can call in enough political chits with congressional Democrats and Team Obama to keep from having to ask their members to vote on wage cuts and work rule changes next year -- what guarantee is there that it won't happen in bankruptcy anyway? None. On Sunday, an e-mail landed from Robert F. in Marin County, Calif. "Hello from the Left Coast," he began. "Here in California we don't much care about Ford, GM, Chrysler. We gave up on them years ago, (and) the rest of the country is following California's lead." A view from the 'Left Coast' I read on, marveling (but not surprised) that decades-old experiences with a '67 Olds Cutlass, an '81 Dodge Omni, a '91 Jeep and a '99 Ford Contour shaped a mind-set that Detroit probably could not break, no matter what it does. Add, too, his self-described "gold standard" -- "the '98 Camry LE I sold with 226,000 miles, with only a starter motor replacement at 180,000." "Quite honestly, it does not matter to the Left Coast if they all go bankrupt and take that greedy UAW with their incessant petty work-rule nonsense with them," he wrote. "Those idiots shut down GM in the summer over some ridiculous issues totally oblivious to the disaster upcoming." Yes, Robert, they did. "Good luck," he added. "You will need it." Yes, that too. A more contemporary understanding of Detroit's new metal also would help, but that's probably too much to expect when generalizations rooted in personal experience can suffice -- and show Detroit, yet again, just how problematic its revival truly will be among fellow Americans.
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Replying to: 62vetteefp (Dec 23, 2008 6:35 pm) Was there anything in the article that indicated GM sales, *overall* were up after the Bush announcement? Your title is not supported by the contents of the story unless I've missed it. I wonder if the GM market share will go up or down in December and January? |
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Replying to: 62vetteefp (Dec 23, 2008 6:38 pm) Sounds like a general US trade association that is probably 50% D3. I didn't see any quotes from the J3 in the article. The imports may very well be worried about suppliers, but an an all-US trade association's statement is not the same as "imports reiterating...". The article had no quotes from Honda, Toyota, or Nissan saying anything to that effect. Only vague attribution from third parties.
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Replying to: torque_r (Dec 23, 2008 9:01 pm) While GM was trumpeting the Volt, Ford was quietly designing a competitive hybrid. |
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Replying to: tlong (Dec 23, 2008 10:52 pm) Malibu hybrid is definitely spanked. Fusion Hybrid may end up being the next Car of the Year, not just for being the best hybrid midsize around, but for bailing out Ford from within. If they can get the message out, get people to come in to the dealers and consider it (let's face it, some people are too sour on the D3 to even consider it)...word is it's a great midsize in general too, though we'll have to see how it holds up against Accord and Altima. AWD availability is a nice thing that Camry, Accord, and Altima just don't offer, which helps too. I think we may have ourselves a seriously competitive midsize here. And I DO love Fusion's styling...never liked Camry's looks, Accord's are OK, Altima's are OK, but in both cases I liked the previous generation better. |
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Replying to: tlong (Dec 23, 2008 10:50 pm) Again, so that we don't think you're just spinning, your title says "imports reiterate supplier issue". The quotes were from an association representing Toyota, Honda, Nissan and 11 other automakers. Sounds like a general US trade association that is probably 50% D3. I didn't see any quotes from the J3 in the article. It is a trade association made up of all auto makers in the US EXCEPT the big 3. I have posted Toyota qoutes that agree with the subject matter here before. |
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Replying to: tlong (Dec 23, 2008 10:52 pm) It will be interesting to see if those who have clamored for more fuel-efficient vehicles from American automakers and less reliance on foreign oil will support these Ford hybrids by actually buying one when the cars go on sale in early 2009. Ford also emphasized that the Fusion Hybrid’s E.P.A. rating bests its main competitor, the Toyota Camry Hybrid, by “8 m.p.g. in the city and 2 m.p.g. on the highway.” The Fusion’s city rating also is one mile a gallon better than the Honda Civic Hybrid. The Fusion also crushes anything General Motors and Chrysler have to offer. http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/ford-fusion-hybrid-is-rated-at-41-mpg- /?hp If it has a bigger trunk than the cramped Camry Hybrid it should outsell the Toyota offering. It is better looking than any of the competitors. It is fitting that Ford should end up the standard bearer for AMERICAN AUTO MAKING. So long GM 
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