Archive for the ‘Green’ Category
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
Nothing's guaranteed yet, but if there's enough interest in the machine GM and Segway hope they can put a two-seat transportation device on the market one day. It's not the answer to all of our transportation issues, but it could help a lot of people.
Posted in Design, Driving Matters, Gadgets, Green, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Saturday, April 4th, 2009
In an effort to become a world power in transportation and perhaps reduce the potential pollution problems their growing market might cause, the Chinese have ambitious plans for their car companies.
Posted in Green, Program For Change, Technology, Warnings | No Comments »
Friday, March 20th, 2009
GM's struggles to survive have put its most female-friendly division at risk, but the operators of the Saturn brand and dealerships are doing their best to keep customers interested. The lineup of products and no-haggle, no-hassle sales atmosphere should still be attractive to a lot of women.
Posted in Advertising, Advice, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Financing, Green, Incentives, Is There A Lesson Here?, Marketing | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
The cars that so many experts were telling the car companies to make more of are now sitting around on new car lots everywhere, mostly because they make less fiscal sense than ever with gasoline prices so low. Even with various discounts currently on offer, it's very hard to recover ...
Posted in Advertising, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Gas Issues, Green, Incentives, Is There A Lesson Here?, Pricing, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009
It sounds like a good idea to get rid of the vehicles that pollute the most, but the mechanics of it might not be so straightforward.
Posted in Financing, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Program For Change, Save Money | No Comments »
Saturday, February 7th, 2009
After getting all those enthusiastic press reports for promising a hybrid to America for less than $20,000, Honda now looks to be planning a much higher price for the compact four-door when it arrives on this continent. What a surprise.
Posted in Green, Pricing, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
Higher fuel economy and lower emissions sounds like a great idea, but there are things at play that will make them harder to achieve than Obama understands, or so says this Boston writer.
Posted in Driving Matters, Gas Issues, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Program For Change | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
An electric vehicle with a range of only 30 miles may not seem like much, but it's probably enough to get most people going for a day. That means these upcoming Fords can be recharged at night or while you're at work and keep you off gasoline most of the ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Driving Matters, Gas Issues, Green, Product News | No Comments »
Monday, February 2nd, 2009
As this column from a venerated international auto journalist shows, sometimes the best thing to do isn't the one that people want. When it comes to saving the environment, that could mean skipping mass transit. You'll have to forgive him the Heath Ledger crack.
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Technology | No Comments »
Sunday, February 1st, 2009
Given the tendency of the New York Times to get its automotive coverage wrong, this article from the grey lady of US journalism about a possible future for the auto industry is surprisingly well thought out and balanced. It describes a new world for carmakers and car buyers.
Posted in Advice, Driving Matters, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Program For Change | No Comments »
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
The key point here is that unless you really want to drive a sedan that's smaller than a Chevrolet Malibu or a Toyota Camry, you won't like what the new vehicle situation will be like when the national fleet fuel economy average meets those new standards.
Posted in Driving Matters, Gas Issues, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Technology, Warnings | No Comments »
Saturday, January 24th, 2009
In principle, the idea of switching from gas to electricity to power cars has a lot of appeal, but there are a lot of challenges on the road to this utopia, including the infrastructure required to supply the electricity. This NY Times story gives a reasonably accurate perspective of the ...
Posted in Driving Matters, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Product News, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Saturday, January 24th, 2009
In what may be a first for the auto industry, the handful of customers who already bought the high-profile, low-volume Tesla Roadster will have to pay more than they originally expected. Just more evidence that the economics of such vehicles don't make a lot of sense.
Posted in Buying Tips, Financing, Green, Technology, Warnings | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
Right now they're not really making much of a difference in the struggle to reduce the use of oil, but every new technology has to start somewhere (ask the owners of Apple Newtons) and solar panels have made their debut on a couple of production cars.
Posted in Green, Product News, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
The woman in charge of leading the development of hybrid vehicles for Ford is enthusiastic about the opportunity, even in such parlous economic times.
Posted in Driving Matters, Green, Product News, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Monday, January 19th, 2009
Not only is it possible that a really old car can get better fuel economy than a new one (usually because it doesn't have airbags and other safety technology that adds weight), but not buying a new one can have other environmental benefits as well. At least that's what this ...
Posted in Gas Issues, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Safety, Save Money, Technology | No Comments »
Monday, January 19th, 2009
If anything comes of the discussions that Chrysler and Italy's Fiat are supposedly having right now, it might mean that Fiat would at long last find the production and distribution resources in North America that it needs to bring its cars back to Canada and the U.S. That is for ...
Posted in Dealerships, Green, Product News, Program For Change | No Comments »
Monday, January 19th, 2009
In a rational, sensible world, something good would come from this story about new air quality regulations in California that would make life difficult for some technology firms working on devices to reduce pollution from cars. That something good would be a wider public understanding of exactly how difficult it ...
Posted in Driving Matters, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
Some hyper-mileage geeks were surprised that Honda's latest version of its Insight hybrid doesn't register better fuel economy, and they probably won't be happy that it was done in the name of fun. Regular consumers, on the other hand, are likely to feel differently. That's Honda's hope, at any rate.
Posted in Buying Tips, Driving Matters, Green, Marketing, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
It's beginning to look like the possibility of Americans buying inexpensive little cars from China (including an EV model that runs on batteries and comes with an engine to recharge those batteries to extend the range) is going to turn into one of those things that's always two or three ...
Posted in Dealerships, Driving Matters, Green, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change, Save Money | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
With gas prices down and hybrids still costing more than a similar car with worse fuel economy, the numbers on buying hybrids still don't work out for most people. If, on the other hand, you want to do your bit right away to save the environment and reduce the use ...
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Driving Matters, Financing, Green, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
The Converj concept coupe from Cadillac is essentially the stylish follow-up to the Chevrolet Volt, since it will share the same power source -- a battery that will provide a majority of the world enough electricity-driven range to live a normal life, with a small gas-powered engine onboard to keep ...
Posted in Design, Driving Matters, Green, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
Details about the least expensive hybrid model on the market are now available, following the car's public release at the Detroit auto show. The car is very small and could fit the needs of someone looking for an urban runabout rather than an all-purpose family car.
Posted in Driving Matters, Green, Product News, Save Money | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
By far the most exciting development in gas-saving vehicles the last couple of years has been the cars that might be called extended-range electric vehicles, with the Chevrolet Volt being the most famous. Unlike hybrids, which have two drive systems (a regular engine and a battery) these vehicles are only ...
Posted in Driving Matters, Green, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
One of the auto industry's most regular critics takes a look around the Detroit auto show and finds that Detroit's car makers are doing a lot better job than many Americans and members of the government thought.
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Driving Matters, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Marketing, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
Before consumers got scared off by high gas prices, many of them found the Chevrolet Equinox a nice compromise between a car and the bigger SUVs on the market. Well now the Equinox is back and features a lot of the charms of the Malibu sedan that won the auto ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Design, Green, Marketing, Product News | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
The latest version of the car that gets by far the most publicity for the small number of vehicles that people actually has been revealed. That would be the Toyota Prius, which will be improved when it appears on North American roads this spring but is still a long, long ...
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Driving Matters, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Product News, Technology, Warnings | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
At the end of a few words from an auto journalism's widely appreciated for being a smartass, there is a wealth of information on the BEV available in the press releases from Ford and Magna.
Posted in Design, Green, Marketing, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
More than many people in government and the general public (especially its bloggers) seem to understand, switching away from the big, over-powered, gas-guzzling vehicles that the public was demanding less than a year ago to the hyper-green fuel-suckers it still doesn't seem interested in (hybrid sales are down) is going ...
Posted in Driving Matters, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Marketing, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
If electric vehicles and hybrids are ever to make a significant impact on the amount of oil used on this continent, they will require a steady and stable stream of batteries. Which is why a lot of companies, including General Motors, are determined to see that they come from North ...
Posted in Design, Green, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Thursday, January 8th, 2009
There's been considerable clatter lately from the hyper-hystericals who populate the remotest outposts of the alternative fuel world that we were about to see the first genuine solar-powered car, from Toyota. The Japanese company is sort of trying to end discussion on that claim, since they know even though it's ...
Posted in Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Thursday, January 8th, 2009
Detroit Free Press auto critic Mark Phelan says new sedans from Ford and Mercury have leapt to the top of the hybrid car sweepstakes.
Posted in Buying Tips, Design, Driving Matters, Gadgets, Gas Issues, Green, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009
If you can get past the media hysteria and the Hollywood glitz of stars in the Toyota Pious, it's pretty easy to see that a hybrid vehicle makes very little sense for most people. That's probably why sales are down and will probably keep going that way.
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Driving Matters, Gas Issues, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Pricing, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009
That's the thinking of a bunch of researchers, hoping to help poor farmers while making car interiors more environmentally friendly. Anything's better than preserved animal flesh.
Posted in Design, Green, Parts, Product News, Program For Change | No Comments »
Monday, January 5th, 2009
For one reason and another, the hybrid version of the Chevrolet Malibu family sedan (named North American Car of the Year last January) does a fine job of doing what hybrids are supposed to do, but it doesn't get too much attention. So here's an effort to change that.
Posted in Advice, Driving Matters, Gas Issues, Green, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
