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New fuel-efficient models debut at auto show; gas prices, environmental concerns spur trend
By Rick Popely
Chicago Tribune
Published on Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008
DETROIT: The Detroit Auto Show has been the place where automakers tried to outmuscle one another with mind-boggling horsepower numbers and performance claims.
But this year, manufacturers showcasing new cars and new technology are focusing more than ever on ''zero,'' as in zero emissions or zero gasoline consumed rather than the much vaunted zero-to-60 mph times.
Pushed by consumers worried about rising gasoline prices and global warming and prodded by the federal government, which has mandated a leap in fuel efficiency, car companies at this year's show have turned the corner on their commitment to alternative fuels.
One thing is clear just walking the aisles at this year's
show: Consumer sentiment is changing and automakers are scrambling to address it.
''There will always be room for high-performance, exhilarating cars, but they'll probably sell in lower volume in the future,'' said Mark LaNeve, General Motor Co.'s head of sales and marketing. ''The consumer focus now is on higher fuel prices and environmental concerns.
''We're entering a new phase of the industry and there will be big change in powertrains, size of vehicles and what people buy. We're just beginning to see that change.''
Competition between GM and Toyota Motor Corp. — already locked in a battle over No. 1 in global sales — intensified at the show as Toyota announced plans to race GM to market with plug-in hybrids that use lithium-ion batteries by as early as 2010.
Car companies that seemingly had ceded interest in hybrids and other ''clean'' technologies to Toyota and Honda are now singing their virtues. And that includes such unlikely players as Land Rover, whose LRX concept packs a 2-liter 4-cylinder turbodiesel engine teamed with lithium-ion batteries.
One company even managed to make ethanol almost sexy: Ferrari announced that it was experimenting with the biofuel in its exotic sports cars to lower emissions and improve mileage. It showed a prototype F430 Spyder that burns E85, the ethanol/gasoline blend, and wears green ''Biofuel'' labels.
And the green story doesn't stop there. David Champion, automotive testing director of Consumer Reports magazine, proclaimed this ''the diesel show.'' Those engines get 25-30 percent better fuel economy than gas engines and were ubiquitous at BMW, Dodge, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Toyota and Audi among others.
Cashing in on green
David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, says automakers recognized that being green is good business. Toyota cemented its reputation for being a technology and environmental leader as the biggest proponent of hybrids. Toyota sold 277,000 of the gas/electrics in the U.S. last year, about three-fourths of the industry total.
Now GM is ramping up production of hybrids and vehicles that run on E85, an area in which Toyota is lacking.
''That competition is very natural,'' Cole said. ''You have the two largest companies in the industry, and these guys are going to go after each other.''
Toyota plans to offer hybrid technology in all of its model lines by 2020 and is also developing pure electric and fuel-cell vehicles.
Toyota's plug-in, in test now, is a plug-in version of the Prius hybrid using rechargeable nickel-metal-hydride batteries. Toyota wants to see how many miles it can get out of the batteries before the need for a recharge.
DETROIT: The Detroit Auto Show has been the place where automakers tried to outmuscle one another with mind-boggling horsepower numbers and performance claims.
Get the full article here.
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