General Motors might debut with 60,000 electric cars

General Motors might have plans to build 60,000 Volt electric cars in the very first year of their production which is way ahead of Toyota Prius sales for the first year in US. GM declining sales could get some revival with the $30,000 plug-in Volt electric car due to the growing environment awareness and affordable prices.
If the price tag is true then a surge of demand is most likely. There might be lot of barriers which could surface once the car is launched but the launch of GM Volt electric car will be a huge leap in technology.
According to GM product Chief Bob Lutz, the first car Volt electric car will arrive with dealers by 2010. The prototypes might be ready by 2008.
It took Toyota 5 years to sell 60,000 units of Prius. If GM is able to reach the sales target, it would be more then GM’s best selling high mileage car Chevrolet Aveo. GM lost $1.98 in 2006 whereas Toyota earned $14 billion by selling 800,000 units of Prius.
The Volt electric car could be charged in the household outlet. It uses engine to generate electricity which doesn’t drive the wheel but only recharges the battery. Volt’s engine is powered by gasoline, diesel or hydrogen fuel cells. It could go up to 640 miles on a tank of gasoline which is nearly double then conventional gasoline only cars. Existing hybrid cars uses electric motor at start up and lower speeds, and recharges the battery from engine power and friction from braking.

Future Hybrid Cars:

If you are expecting to buy a vehicle in the next few months you might want to think twice before you sign above the dotted line. The next few years are expected to be exciting for new hybrid automobiles. Climbing oil prices, consumer demands and economic conditions have forced the automobile industry to mainstream hybrid technologies. That’s good news for us. These new vehicles will provide significant fuel savings and they will be available at affordable prices. Being a hybrid vehicle will no longer be a emblem with the word ‘hybrid’ slapped on the back of a vehicle just to get a few more sales. It will be the real thing.
We will only cover the most talked about vehicles from major manufacturers that have a real release date. These vehicles are not concepts or rumors but they are coming to a highway and garage near you in 2009 or 2010.
The Audi A1 is to be released in 2010. It is a subcompact car which looks like an oversized mini cooper. It will sport either a two or four door hatch and is built on the Golf IV PQ34 platform. This car will have a 1.4 liter engine most likely Volkswagen’s ‘twin charger’ engine already in use. It will come with all the standard features and will cost around $18′000.
The 2010 BMW X6 is a four door coup. It is advertised as a coupe due to its sloped roofline. Don’t let that fool you this car needs no advertising tricks to gain respect or sales. It retains the look of a BMW and offers a 20% fuel reduction versus non-hybrid vehicles. BMW calls it the world’s first hybrid ‘Sports Activity Coupe’. It features two revolutionary electric motors with a combustion engine. It can be driven using electric only, gasoline only or a combination of the two.
The 2009 Chevy Silverado full size truck boasts an amazing 50% fuel reduction versus the non-hybrid version. It is the truck industries’ first full size hybrid pickup. It can go up to 30 mile per hour on electricity alone. Most important, it will still pull all the loads that the non-hybrid Silverado can.
The 2010 Chevy Volt will probably be the most practical hybrid vehicle available. The Volt is predicted to be the vehicle that will help middle class America make the transition from combustion to hybrid. It uses a lithium-ion battery. Its power source will be either gasoline or where available E85 ethanol. It is designed to be plugged in and recharged overnight using a common 110 volt household plug. Those who travel less than 40 miles a day will use zero gasoline. For long term trips over 40 miles the battery will be charged ‘on the road’ using the gasoline or E85 fuel source.
The Ford Fusion and Mercury Milant Hybrids internally will be virtually identical. They will use a variant of Ford’s 2.3 Liter 4 cylinder engine. They can be switched to electric only, gasoline only or a combination of both. The combustion engine will produce 133hp .with the electric motor providing an additional 94hp. These will be available in 2009.
The Honda CR-Z will hit the European market along with the Civic Hybrid in late 2009 or early 2010 at around $28′000. The CR-Z replaces the Insight and will be a remake of the legendary1987-92 CR-X. It will boast 214/45 R19 tires, leather and mesh seats, cool colors and a sleek, high-tech cabin. The CR-Z will sit on the new Jazz platform and is designed to be ‘futuristic and dynamic in a compact form’. Honda says that CR-Z stands for Compact Renaissance Zero which is an ‘expression to capture the idea of a renaissance in the design of compact cars that begins anew from fundamentals. This head turning car will put the ‘cool’ into hybrid.
The 2009 Hyundai Accent Hybrid despite the flurry of press releases and buzz will be a carry over from the 2008 model. It offers 33 MPG in the city and 34 MPG on the highway. This line was introduced in 2006 and has seen strong sales each year. It boasts a standard 2.4 liter l4 192 hp hybrid engine. Automatic transmission with overdrive is standard. Its unique features are LED tail lights and an air conditioning system that can be run when the combustion engine is off.
These are quality vehicles that give you real gasoline savings. You can buy these in confidence knowing they are not built just to keep a portion of America happy. They are well built, reliable and priced well. They are truly all around good vehicles especially at a time when global events force the world to transition away from the gasoline engine. The beginning of the Hybrid era has started and it is looking pretty good so far

Cadillac Provoq Fuel Cell Concept Car

The Cadillac Provoq luxury crossover first showed up at the Consumer Electronics show in early January, 2008. It was billed as Cadillac’s vision of the future for luxury transportation, and a contention of GM’s commitment to ending vehicle dependence on petroleum.
The Provoq is a hydrogen/electric hybrid, which combines a fifth-generation fuel cell (which is half the size of prior models) and a lithium-ion battery to drive the vehicle with no gasoline, and no emissions other then water.
This concept car has a range of 300 miles per fill of hydrogen, and can drive up to 20 miles on pure battery power. A pair of composite storage tanks sits beneath the trunk, and holds about 13 pounds of hydrogen, to feed the fuel cells under the hood. The battery pack can store a total of 9kWh of electricity, and provides up to 60 kW of power.
There are three electric motors, one for the front axel and one each for the rear wheels, providing all-wheel-drive, and amazing dynamics. According to Cadillac it has a 0-60 mph of 8.5 seconds, and has a top speed of 100 mph.
The Provoq was designed with classic Cadillac bodywork, and large passenger and cargo spaces. In what seems to a popular innovation in concept cars over the past few years, it includes solar panels to power accessories, though unlike most of the recent concept cars to include them, these power interior lights and audio rather than A/C and ventilation fans. Cadillac has also designed a unique motorized element to the front grill, allowing it to close at high speeds for better aerodynamics, and to open at low speeds, to improve cooling of the fuel cell.
Oh, and the Provoq is a plug-in; capable of overnight charging. Charging extends the driving range, though Cadillac isn’t telling us by how much. The plug-in ports come with a light indicator that let’s you know when charging is complete. Unlike most plug-in vehicles, Cadillac doesn’t conceal the ports, but makes them a part of the design elements. According to Hoon Kim, the exterior lead designer, “Sweeping body lines that culminate at the top and bottom edges of the ports suggest forward thrust, even when the vehicle is stationary.”
The interior of the Provoq is just as much a Cadillac as the exterior. The contracting dark gray and light gray of the color scheme are matched by chrome and satin chrome accents. The instrument cluster is unique, including large LCD displays, and offers multiple readouts including information on vehicle performance and fuel cell information. The dashboard design is reminiscent of the CTS, released earlier this year.
There is no word from Cadillac of when, or even if, the Provoq will go to production.

2010 Honda Fit Hybrid

In 2006, an unnamed source at Honda said plans were in place to make a hybrid version of the Fit (the Jazz, if you live anywhere other then America). The president and CEO of Honda, Takeo Fukui, rather emphatically stated that no such plans were in the works. The theory apparently was that the Fit was already so fuel efficient (27 mpg city, 34 mpg highway) that the added expense of a hybrid would not be worth the improvement in an already impressive gas-mileage. Then, crude oil prices went through the roof. In a, perhaps not surprising, turn around, Fukui announced earlier this year that a hybrid version of the Fit would be available in late 2009, as a 2010 model.
The hybrid will apparently be offered on the 2009 Fit platform. The 2009 Fit has already been available to reviewers for test drives, and even with a slightly higher weight (about 44 lbs heavier then previous models) Honda has managed to squeeze out even more fuel efficiency. Stats on the gas mileage of the hybrid version of the Fit are not yet available, but presumably they’ll be correspondingly impressive.
Honda is adapting the existing hybrid technology currently used in the Civic to the Fit, and like the Civic, the Fit will not be using the next generation Li-Ion batteries. Unfortunately, Honda’s hybrid technology is not plug-in compatible, which as plug-in technology becomes more and more important, means the Fit may well be in trouble in a few years.
Since the Fit Hybrid will be based on the 2009 Fit platform, anyone who wants to can check out the 2009 Fit for a small glimpse of the future. The 2009 Fit maintains the roominess and comfort the Fit is known for, including the incredible seats. And, according to reports, the Fit can still comfortably hold four adults, plus luggage. The combination of the Fit’s roominess and comfort, combined with the increased mileage of a hybrid, is expected to give the Toyota Prius a run for its money.
Speculation on the 2010 Fit Hybrid’s price tag has been going on for sometime now, and some of the suggestions border on ludicrous (when the conventional Fit tops $14,000, the hybrid is not selling for under $12,000; will those who are suggesting this please check their reality indicators?). Luckily, we do have a bit more then speculation to go on, and the estimates offered by Honda suggest the 2010 Honda Fit Hybrid will top the price tag of the conventional Fit by a little less then $2000.

2009 Audi A4

A New FaceUpon its introduction, the Audi A4 sounded a clear challenge to it’s competitors, namely the BMW 3 Series and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. At the time, it was a breath of fresh air, providing incredible quality of design with some innovative features. However, since its introduction, the A4 has not undergone any serious overhauls, while the 3 Series and the C-Class have continued to evolve and offer the newer technologies and gadgets that buyers have come to expect. The 2009 Audi A4 has been redesigned in an effort to regain the vehicle’s competitive edge, and it has succeeded admirably.
A New BodyWhen looking at many of the pictures of the new A4, you may think that the aesthetics of the previous generations have simply been recycled. However, while the basic body lines are similar, the 2009 A4 features more aggressive and edgy detailing, as well as some revamped surfacing. While the looks of the previous iterations of the A4 have always conveyed elegance, the new A4 conveys beauty. Added to this new body style is the fact that the vehicle itself has been made bigger, both in length and in width. However, despite this increased length, the A4 still manages to maintain the drive quality and responsiveness that has characterized the model since it’s inception. Much of this is due to the Audi Drive Select (ADS) system. Many other vehicles feature similar systems that allow the driver, at the touch of a button, to change the ride quality, whether for a more comfortable ride or for a sportier ride. The Audi system, however, sets itself apart by noticeably adjusting the steering and throttle response.
New InsidesOne thing that Audi has always been know for is creating an interior that screams quality and high price, and then putting that interior into a vehicle that costs less than most of it’s competitors. The 2009 A4 is no exception to this trend. The interior design is characterized by not only an innovative layout that features an optional Multi Media Interface, but also by an exquisite attention to detail. Compare the A4’s interior to that of another model in the same class and odds are you’ll find that the A4 stands head and shoulders above the others.
The redesign of the A4 has cost Audi 3 years and $1 billion. However, considering the quality of the vehicle that has resulted from that redesign, it was time and money well spent.

2010 Ford Fiesta: Gas Saver Gets Overhaul

Car manufacturers have a habit of overhauling their vehicles styles every so many years and it looks like 2010 is going to be that next year. Ford has decided to redesign another of the popular ‘world’ models, this time the Fiesta, giving it a new, sleeker look that will hit the showrooms and car lots sometime in early 2009 with the 2010 releases. Ford was originally going to release the Verve in the United States as a competitor to the Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit, but instead they have decided to retool the Fiesta.
Ford has been assigning small car developments to their Mazda affiliates and the 2010 Fiesta is look at being derived from the ’second-generation’ release of the Mazda 2 in Europe. So far the Mazda 2 has done well overseas, and this bodes well for Ford for North American sales. Considering the state of the automobile market with the rising fuel prices, Ford may do well with a small, fuel efficient release like the Fiesta.
While the new Fiesta will have the basic underbody design as the Mazda2, the outer body will make the car look more like the concept car Verve with possibly a different power train. The style is sleek and rounded and will not look anything like the Fiesta’s that were sold in the United States between 1977 and 1980. It will be considered a ‘B-class’ mini car but it will have a roomier wheelbase. This will make the four seater car roomier on the inside. It will be front wheel drive and so far the four-door sedan is the first planned version to be released. A two-door and hatchback model may follow along at a later date.
Since the power trains for the new Ford Fiesta will be based off the Mazda 2, the American model will more than likely get the 1.5 and 1.8 liter versions that include extra low-end torque more common in American vehicles. Five speed automatic and manual transmissions will be offered in the 2010 Fiesta, and it will come standard in either liter size with antilock brakes, front torso side airbags, and curtain side airbags. Traction and stability control may be offered as additional features, similar to the way it is designed on the Mazda.
Ford may offer a sportier suspension and additional upscale extras such as power windows, keyless entry, navigation system, and 16″ or 17″ tires depending on how the 2010 Ford Fiesta is received by the consumer markets. Additional ideas for the car include voice-activated control for cell phones and a sync system for portable music players. Whether or not Ford decides to add these features remains to be seen.
Like the Mazda 2 second-generation release, the 2010 Ford Fiesta will weigh about 220 pounds less than their predecessors, making it more fuel efficient and more performance reliable. While Ford has not released an exact release date, the 2010 Ford Fiesta is expected around the first half of 2009 with the 2010 model. Prices are expected to weigh in around $12,000 to $16,000.

2010 Buick LaCrosse: Invicta Gives It Base Design

2010 seems to be the year of all car manufacturers to redesign their current models or re-release classic favorites. Buick is no different than Ford, Chevy, and BMW and their popular LaCrosse model is getting a makeover that might be just enough to spark American interest in this car brand. With more Buicks being sold overseas than in the United States, GM is bustling to make American consumers interested once again in their Buick car line.
The LaCrosse traditionally has been considered a midsized sedan and the new redesign will take its cue from the recently unveiled concept car Invicta. Buick is actually pondering the name change on a permanent basis, and if that happens, American consumers will be purchasing an Invicta in place of the LaCrosse. Already the car is known as the Allure in Canada due to name issues a few years ago. The Invicta is the second concept car developed between GMs Michigan designers and their counterparts at the GM Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center.
The 2010 LaCrosse will remain a front-wheel drive vehicle but it will now be based on the ‘Epsilon II’ platform that can also accommodate an all-wheel drive design, making it cheaper for Buick and other manufacturers to produce and use. So far the prototypes of the new LaCrosse feature a large vertical bar grille, arched roofline, high-rise body sides, scalloped lower sections, and larger wheel arches. The usual Buick ‘portholes’ can be found in the LaCrosse as well as the full length check mark design shaped into the body sides. The interior will feature a U-shaped dashboard with ice blue LED lighting for the gauges and the ambient lights on the console and doors.
While the initial concept car had a sporty 4-cylinder engine, the American version of the 2010 LaCrosse is expected to have a 3.6 liter V6 with a direct-fuel-injection system that is efficiency enhancing. Whether or not there will be a V8 model offered remains to be seen and more than likely the new Buick LaCrosse will move to a six-speed transition similar to the Invicta concept car. An all-wheel drive model could also be offered with the standard front-wheel drive version.
Consumers interested in the 2010 Buick LaCrosse can start looking for it to hit car lots around the spring of 2009. It may formally debut at the North American Auto Show in Detroit in January. Currently the estimated prices for the 2010 Buick LaCrosse - or whatever name Buick and GM finally decide on - sitting around $26,000 to $31,000 before option packages. We should note here that the 2010 lineup of LaCrosse’s is going to be smaller than the model line up for 2008.