Chevy and Clean Diesels Hit Greenest Car List
The Honda Civic GX, a vehicle that runs on compressed natural gas , was named last week as the greenest car of the year by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE). The Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid claimed spots two and three in ACEEE’s annual environmental rankings—the Green Book Online —followed by the Smart ForTwo, Toyota Yaris and Nissan Altima Hybrid. Top: Honda Civic GX Bottom: Drivers of the Civic GX fuel up with compressed natural gas rather than gasoline. This is the twelfth year that ACEEE produced the Green Book Online, which assigns vehicles a single “green” score based on tailpipe emissions, fuel consumption, greenhouse-gas emissions, and a cradle-to-grave lifecycle analysis. The most dramatic trend this year was the emergence of two Chevy cars on the top ten list—and the introduction of clean diesel vehicles. We spoke with Shruti Vaidynanathan, primary analyst for Green Book Online, about these trends. HybridCars.com: The Honda Civic GX was once again named greenest car of the year. Yet, the vehicle sells in very low quantities and most consumers don’t have access to CNG. Do sales numbers matter in the overall green car equation? read more
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Leave a commentComing: Cheap Chinese Cars at Costco?
Chinese cars have been displayed at the Detroit Auto Show for the past several years. Many industry critics ridiculed them for design or quality flaws. But others see these first Chinese vehicles and remember how Japanese and Korean cars were once laughed off—only to become mainstream products in America. Kathleen Ligocki, CEO of GS Motors and formerly president of Ford of Mexico, expects Chinese-designed cars to begin production in Mexico in 2010—and make their way to the US about five years after first testing the waters in Latin America and Canada. GS Motors, a Mexican company, already imports three models from China’s First Auto Works (FAW) and sold 4,000 of them in Mexico last year. Here’s the zinger: Ligocki believes Chinese cars will be sold in the US through big-box stores like Costco or Wal-Mart, which is how GS Motors is retailing them in Mexico. GS is building an assembly plant in Michoacan, Mexico with FAW. The plan is for vehicles to roll off the line beginning in 2010. GS Motors will launch the FAW brand in Mexico this year with the F1 Hatchback, an entry-level car sold for under $5,500. FAW, one of the largest Chinese automakers, is allied in China with Volkswagen. FAW also produces the Miles ZX40, a small van-style neighborhood electric vehicle, developed by Miles Electric Vehicles , based on Santa Monica, Calif. GS Motors is racing to bring the first Chinese cars to America via Mexico—but they are not alone. BYD (Build Your Dreams) showed plug-in hybrid and electric model in Detroit last month and promised to bring them to the US as early as next year. In fact, many of China’s 80 or so auto companies have made similar gestures, with varying degrees of seriousness. read more
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Coming: Cheap Chinese Cars at Costco?
Posted in Hybrids | bring-the-first, china, environment, green, japanese, latin-america, mexico, most-consumers, online, primary-analyst, smart, year | Leave a commentGet Approved!
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