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Coming a little slow to the conclusion that you can’t ignore robust
sales of hybrids in the US, GM, Ford and Daimler Chrysler plan to roll out
their own competitive versions of Toyota and Honda R&D innovations and
marketing strategy. But notice the
3rd paragraph I’ve excerpted here as a clue why the Big Three have
finally jumped on the fuel efficiency bandwagon. KWC Hybrid
Cars Are Catching On
@ http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/28/business/28HYBR.html “…carmakers now appear ready for a much
broader rollout. Earlier this month, at the North American International Auto
Show here, G.M. — previously the industry's most vocal skeptic — publicly
embraced the technology. The company said it would sell a hybrid version of its
Saturn Vue sport utility vehicle in 2005 that
would approach 40
miles a gallon
in fuel economy, compared with mileage in the low 20's for current models. G.M.
said it would offer vehicles with more limited forms of hybrid power, too,
promising 10 to 15 percent improvements in fuel economy on four other models by
2007. Also at the auto show, the annual beauty pageant where the
industry trots out its latest designs and biggest pronouncements, Toyota said
it would sell the first luxury hybrid, a Lexus sport utility vehicle, starting
next year — part of a plan to sell 300,000 hybrids annually by mid-decade. Ford plans to sell what will probably
be the first hybrid sport utility vehicle, a version of the Escape, at the end
of this year, and showed off a new hybrid prototype called the Model U. Even the Army, which pays as much as $400 a gallon in battlefield fuel costs, had a hybrid on display — a hulking
diesel combat vehicle, built by G.M., that is one of several prototypes being
considered for service within a few years, including hybrid Humvees.
"You run those things on battery power; there's no noise,"
said Maj. Gen. Ross Thompson III, the head of the army's Tank, Automotive and
Armaments Command, explaining the appeal of hybrids for the military. "For
a reconnaissance mission, or if you want to not be noticed, you can use the
batteries." … Then there is the fuel cell, for environmentalists and even
many auto executives the nonpolluting ideal of alternative fuel
technologies. Not only did fuel cells power the inside
of lunar landers, they emitted water for astronauts to drink. But will they soon supplant the internal combustion engine? "Today a fuel cell car probably costs about — I'm going
to be optimistic — $700,000," Mr. Ghosn said. "We're far from sticker
price, eh? We're going to have to get it down to $20,000, $30,000." Outgoing mail scanned by NAV 2002 |
