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Automotive News & Views How The 35 mpg Law By 2020 Will Affect The Cars We Will Drive
513 messages, Last post on Jul 03, 2008 at 4:01 PM
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Replying to: michaell (May 01, 2008 9:48 am) 
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I think if Porsche were to merge with VW, in which it already owns a major stake, that would go a long way towards resolving its 2011-2015 mileage delemna. I also read that Porsche is developing a hybrid powertrain. This may be more appropriate for their SUV and their upcoming super sedan than for their sports cars. As for Subaru, reintroducing an updated version of the Justy might be part of the answer. The Justy was a neat car, by the way. I'd like to see it in the Subie lineup again, with a new 3 cylinder engine. Another solution for Subaru, now that Toyota owns a stake in the company, is for hybrid versions of some models. So, between making AWD optional, the diesel. a new mini car, and hybrid technology, it looks as though Subaru has options. |
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Replying to: hpmctorque (May 01, 2008 6:08 am) Guess who might be the constituency that would have the most expertise in writing rules about automobiles? How about the US auto industry? Look closely and you will see the subtle hand of GM / F / C / T actually writing these regs. Oh they hurt Porsche, Merc and Subaru.... Oh Darn.
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Replying to: kdhspyder (May 12, 2008 2:26 am) Such examples of politics is why there's no GM / F / C / T products parked in my driveway: I vote with my wallet. In the meantime, I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop (or perhaps it already has), where an E85 - capable vehicle gets some sort of "bonus" in the CAFE numbers game. -hh |
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The quoted title, above, refers to an article that appears in today's Wall Street Journal, page D4. The article discusses how the fuel efficiency targets recently proposed by the federal government, which would regulate the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks according to "footprint," would force manufacturers to make some very tough choices, including paying large fines, radically redesigning their high performance vehicles, implementing significant price increases to cover lighter, more exotic materials and new powerplants, increasing the size of vehicles in order to qualify for more lenient requirements for larger vehicles, or discontinuing certain models. Footprint refers to the number of square feet a vehicle covers. For example, the Toyota Camry and the 540 horsepower Ferrari Scaglietti are both categorized as "mid-size cars", according to the EPA, and by 2015 will be required to average more than 30 mpg. The Porsche 911, by contrast, is classified as a "mini-compact car", and should be able to deliver ~40 mpg by 2015. Per the WSJ article, under the proposed rules, by 2015 BMW is supposed to sell a fleet of cars that average 37.7 mpg, while GM's and Toyota's fleet-wide passenger car targets will be 34.7 and 34.6, respectively. The way the government's footprint/mileage curves work, a BMW 3-Series, with its 45 sq. ft. footprint, will need to average 37 mpg, and the 49 sq. ft. 5-Series' target is 31 mpg. One way to move toward compliance would be to increase the size of the 3-Series, but BMW has said it won't take this approach.
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Replying to: hpmctorque (May 13, 2008 10:09 am) Geez, how freakin' big are the light trucks of 2020 going to be?! They're ALREADY a nuisance on the roads at their current size!
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Replying to: nippononly (May 13, 2008 1:57 pm) Yes they could make a huge truck but who'd buy it? It looks like a loophold that the Big 3-1/2 had written in to the regs in the hope that at sometime next decade fuel drops back to $.90/gallon. Not likely I think. |
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the California rules, much stricter than the new CAFE regs, will go ahead after all. At least, according to this article: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080513/AUTO01/805130358 not only are the automakers meeting with the CA governor to hammer out the details, but also all three presidential candidates support California on this, and the Congress is expected to put together legislation to allow it to happen as well... So forget 35 mpg, look forward to 43 mpg by 2015, and after that who knows! With gas at $8/gallon by then, I am sure folks will appreciate much more efficient choices than the pathetic ones they have today... |
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Replying to: hpmctorque (Dec 15, 2007 10:05 pm) Oh contraire. Many small and midsize diesels acheive that in mixed driving. And on the highway is even better. The BMW 1 series offers two different small diesels and get great mileage city and highway. The BMW 118d get around 60 miles per gallon while the 120d gets around 55 miles per gallon from most reviews and real world driving I've read. We rented on in Germany and even at 100+mph for several hours, it sipped gas (over 40mpg). We need cars like this in the US! The only engines offered in the 1 Series here are the 3.0 liter inline-6 gas engines. One naturally aspirated and one with twin turbos. From some literature on the diesels: "Diesel Engines BMW 120d: Third generation common-rail diesel engine with aluminum crankcase achieves zero to 62mph in 7.5 seconds (7.6 seconds for five-door) before going on to a top speed of 142mph. Output is 177hp (up 14hp) while peak torque is 350Nm (up 10Nm). Combined fuel consumption is 57.6mpg (improves by 16 per cent) and CO2 emissions are 129g/km (down 15.1 per cent). BMW 118d: Third generation common-rail diesel engine with aluminum crankcase achieves zero to 62mph in 8.9 seconds (9.0 seconds for five door) before going on to a top speed of 130mph. Output is 143hp (up 21 hp) while peak torque is 300Nm (up 20Nm). Combined fuel consumption is 60.1mpg (improves by 19 per cent) and CO2 emissions are 123g/km (down 18 per cent). "
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