Author: Christopher DeMorro

In 1984, General Motors and Toyota joined forces to produce cars together at a single plant in Fremont, California. Called the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., the joint venture gave Toyota its first manufacturing base in the U.S., and GM a chance to learn from its rival Toyota on quality and lean manufacturing techniques. Over the years the plant gave us the Geo Prizm, the Toyota Hilux, and Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix, among many other items.

One could argue that one company benefited more than the other from the partnership. But when GM announced it was shuttering the Pontiac brand, it also pulled out of the NUMMI plant, leaving Toyota holding the reigns. Toyota announced it too would pull out of the plant, and it looked like another manufacturing center and hundreds of jobs would be lost. Enter Aurica Motors, maker of electric cars. They have a plan to save the plant, and many of the jobs, by retooling the plant to build electric cars.

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Hummer is another one of General Motor’s zombie brands that will likely soon cease to exist (if no last minute buyer steps up). The builder of gas-guzzling SUV’s was thought to have been saved when Chinese construction company Sichuan Tengzhong, but the Chinese government squashed the deal. GM was preparing to wind down the brand, even as it entertained two other potential buyers.

But Hummer still has a little bit of life left in it, apparently. A large fleet order was placed for 849 Hummer H3 and H3T pickups. That is enough to put the Shreveport, Louisiana plant back to work for an extra month.

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I’m a big fan of science fiction. The genre has instilled some high expectations in me for the coming decades, as well as tempered my imagination against vaporware that works only on paper. But it is good to loosen the grip of reality sometimes.

This flying sailboat concept is just such vaporware, although it is neat to look at and speculate on. Designer Damien Grossemy concocted the ship for a supposed around-the-world race by car maker Renault.

While I can’t find any information on this would-be race (said to be slated for 2015), there is supposed to be a World Sky Race happening later this year that will cross over four continents. Damien’s design, called the Zep’Lin, was concocted while he interned at Renault, and it features an unusual vertical design. There are solar panels and fuel cells aplenty, though where exactly people are supposed to sit, isn’t made clear. (more…)

Imagine for a second you are the President of Honda’s North American division. The closest thing you have to a performance car right now is the Honda Civic Si, and your main competitor to the Prius, the Insight, is getting killed in the market. The CR-Z two-door hybrid should be a godsend then, right?

Apparently not. The CR-Z almost didn’t make the cut, and US bosses didn’t even want they car. They didn’t think it was unique enough. Maybe they also weren’t wowed by the underwhelming stats like 122 horsepower.

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In the coming decades, India will emerge as a huge car market due to its population and rapid economic growth. Already China surpassed America in the number of cars sold last year, and both markets represent opportunities for American car companies. GM has a firm foothold in China, and Ford seems to be turning their eye towards India for expansion.

In a bid to boost their Indian market share, Ford introduced a car tailor-made for India back in September; the Figo, Italian for “cool”. That car is now officially on sale, aimed at the average Indian who wants something more upscale than a Tata Nano.

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Container ships straddle a fine line between ultra-efficient and ultra-polluters. They can carry thousands of 20-ft containers across thousands of miles of ocean in relatively short time, but they also burn sulfur-laden heavy oil fuels. Each ship can emit over 150,000 tons of CO2 every year, 5,000 tons of sulfur, and other harmful particulates attributed to death and disease along heavily populated coastlines.

A.P. Moller Maersk AS operates the world’s largest container ship fleet. For the first time in 106 years, they lost money due to the economic downturn. How much money? $1.3 billion. Ouch. But they’ve also pledged to reduce their CO2 output by 20% by 2017. How nice would that be?

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So far as we know, oil is a finite resource. But it is still the most widely used fuel for transportation right now, and likely will be for the near future. It could be twenty-five years or more before alternative fuel vehicles make up a majority of the new car market. So until then, we are stuck with petrol engines. But that doesn’t mean they won’t get better.

A California-based company called Transonic claims that its fuel injection system increases fuel efficiency by 75% while cutting emissions in half. No electric motors, no gimmicks… just a supercritical injection process. Which is what, exactly?

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Fuel efficiency has increasingly become an important factor over the past few years when it comes to buying a new car. But it isn’t the only factor that matters as evidenced by a 7.5% decline in hybrid car sales in 2009 compared to 2008 when summer gas prices soared to $4/gallon. According to a new report by Accenture, American consumers are demanding more from their green cars than just good gas mileage; they want their green cars to wow them with electronics while delivering a superior driving experience.

Are you listening Detroit?

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I love me a fast Ford.

The 2011 Mustang GT gets a new 5.0 liter, 412 horsepower V8 engine, 25 mpg, and a plethora of other improvements. It is a real Camaro killer.

But if I’m going to be honest, it is the 305 horsepower V6 Mustang that has caught my eye. Not only does it share the GT’s sharper, improved looks, but Ford had estimated the V6 engine would return 30 mpg on the highway. Well the official certification results are in, and the Mustang gets 31 mpg highway, making it the first car with over 300 horsepower to get over 30 mpg.

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Let’s just say I’m not exactly a fan of the California Air Resource Board, or CARB. For all their good intentions, they cause a lot of headaches with unintended consequences of sometimes poorly conceived ideas–especially for those of us who enjoy performance cars.

But every now and then they get something right. And while Roush is a name most often associated with supercharged Mustangs, the company is also well known for its propane conversions. CARB recently approved both the F-250 and F-350 Roush propane conversions for street use. Yay!

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I remember when Subaru first introduced the WRX version of their Impreza sedan. I vowed to one day own one.

Alas, to this day I’ve yet to get my hands on one, but that vow remains. There have been murmurs of an impending Subaru hybrid vehicle for about a year now, although the company is certainly tiptoeing into the electric/hybrid car race. The first guess was the larger Legacy sedan, but Road & Track seems to think the the Impreza might be chosen instead.

Dare I hope for a hybrid WRX?

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We all want more choices, right?

Zero Motorcycles, maker of electric motorcycles, has heard the call and for 2010 they are giving customers more options to play with. They have also made improvements to acceleration, power, and their battery technology. It’s a good thing too, because competition in the electric motorcycle market is already starting to heat up.

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Idling is bad for the environment and bad for your wallet. You’re sitting in place, burning fuel, without going anywhere. And it doesn’t take much effort to turn the key off, yet most people still refuse to do so. I’m as guilty of this as most people.

Sometimes, to get something done, you gotta hit ‘em in the wallet. Thats why the town of North Lincolnshire in the UK is considering levying a £20 fine against drivers who, for no reason, leave their cars idling. Is this a case of good intentions gone too far?

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This November the first production Chevy Volts will begin rolling off production lines. As I’ve already noted, a lot is riding on the Volt’s success or failure. In many ways, it is a measuring stick for GM’s commitment to hybrid and electric cars in the future. While GM has made a few missteps prior to launch, they’ve done a great job of getting the word out there about the Volt.

In a bid to give a few lucky winners a chance behind the wheel of the Volt, GM has teamed up with GM-Volt.com to offer ten lucky winners a chance to test drive a pre-production model next month, right before the New York Auto Show.

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It is finally starting to feel like spring around my parts. Warm weather means a lot of things; the beach, going topless in my Wrangler, and cringing every time I pull up to a gas pump. Gas has been fluctuating in recent weeks, but here in Connecticut it is only a few cents away from $3 a gallon. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it hit $3.50 in some places. Sounds expensive, but it wasn’t too long ago some of us were paying almost $4 a gallon or more. Remember that?

Now researchers at the Harvard Belfer Center for Science and International Studies report that, in order to meet the Obama Administration’s goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, gasoline would have to cost $7 a gallon. I’d have to sell my Jeep and buy a scooter at those prices. And I hate scooters.

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How many times must a man retire before he is truly and totally done?

For Bob Lutz—the man most recently known for his leadership on bringing the Chevy Volt to market—the magic number may be “two.” Today he announced he was retiring. Again. A year ago he announced his places to retire as GM’s Vice Chairman of Global Product Development on April 1st, 2009, and stay on as an advisor. Then in July Lutz came back to GM again. Is it for real this time?

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The Tata Nano is a revolutionary car for its simplicity and price. The three-cylinder, small wheeled car costs just over $2,000, and has opened the car market in India to millions of people. The next cheapest car for sale in India, the Maruti 800, costs almost $4,000. It is cheap, efficient transportation. Unfortunately, it still runs on gas, and the extra cost and limited range of electric vehicles aren’t likely to catch on anytime soon in India.

But Europe is already well along the path to electric cars and Tata has chosen to take advantage of that fact. At the Geneva Auto Show, Tata unveiled an electric E-Nano concept that they say will sell in Europe within three years.

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If you’re like me, then you still don’t know who to believe about Toyota’s “unintended acceleration” problem. Toyota says it isn’t an electrical issue. In the past they’ve also blamed, of all things, floor mats.

ABC news found a technology professor named David Gilbert who claims he can create a short that causes Toyotas to accelerate, although his results have been proven to be difficult to recreate. Unsurprisingly, Toyota says his results are suspect. Yet, some owners of “fixed” cars are still complaining about unintended acceleration. Toyota has said they’re looking into it.

Edmunds, determined to get to the bottom of all this, has decided to offer $1 million to whoever can figure out exactly what is behind all of this acceleration madness and fix it.

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We’ve been hearing rumors and speculation regarding a Ferrari hybrid for months now. But the Geneva Auto Show opens tomorrow, and the media has had access since Monday, meaning Ferrari finally had to lift the veil on its much-touted hybrid concept.

Called the HY-KERS concept, it is in most basic terms a Ferrari 599 with an electric motor powered by a Kinetic Energy Recovery System, or KERS. This concept will serve as a basis for a road-going Ferrari hybrid which should be on sale in the next three to five years.

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