This may save GM from collapse. When and if this car hits to streets, it will by far become the number 1 selling vehicle in America… Prius better watch out! I hope it does not get “squashed” by big oil and automakers like the prior electric cars! (http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com/). Great job GM!!! Don’t let this one fail..
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Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — General Motors Corp. said it reached a preliminary agreement that clears the way for U.S. regulators to certify the Chevrolet Volt, an electric vehicle that can be recharged at home or with a 1.4-liter gasoline engine, as the first 100 mile-per-gallon car.
The country’s biggest automaker, whose sales of pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles collapsed this year as gasoline topped $4 a gallon, is cutting the mileage deal while urging Congress to approve $25 billion in government loans to help the industry meet new federal fuel-economy standards.
Earning a 100 mpg certification would give Detroit-based GM the holy grail auto companies began seeking following the oil shocks of the 1970s. The Environmental Protection Agency agreed to a testing method that will produce a rating at least that high, said Tony Posawatz, 48, vehicle-line director for the Volt in Warren, Michigan. The four-passenger car, which goes on sale in November 2010, will be able to travel 40 miles (64 kilometers) before the internal-combustion engine needs to recharge the battery.
“It’s a huge milestone to beat 100 mpg. It’s bragging rights,” said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst at Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. “To many people, GM is just about gas-guzzling SUVs. They never get credit for fuel economy. If Toyota were doing the Volt, they would be having parades and waving flags.”
While the Volt is classified as an electric car, GM will still be able to claim it’s the most fuel-efficient vehicle on the road because the gasoline-powered generator will start after the sedan exceeds the battery’s 40-mile range.
`Final Policy’
The EPA won’t confirm how it gauges fuel economy of plug-in models until testing methodology is complete, spokeswoman Catherine C. Milbourn said in a statement. The agency “hopes to have a final policy soon,” she said…..read more here.
Will a small italian car with a noble past save the US car market future?
In my opinion, and I wish to be wrong, there won’t still be big jolts for many years. In the short term I can believe in the FIAT 500, in the Tata Nano and the hybrid autogas LPG engines. But I think I’ll have to stand the awful Milan traffic some more, and surely sitting on my Diesel or Gasoline car rather than on a cougar… ops, I beg your pardon, a puma.
http://italianopinionist.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/the-car-of-the-future-is-smaller/
I still think we are a million miles away from a practical solution. You might enjoy this:
http://caughtinthemiddleman.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/739/