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106 comments on Bush to GM and Ford: Build a Better Car
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Gore and Lovins presented all the world's automakers with the hybrid concept back in the 1990s. Detroit ignored it; Japan embraced it.
Are we supposed to cry for these people now?
What is most interesting to me is that the importers were clearly making US inroads before the first oil crisis hit. Even once it did occur, real fuel price driven growth among import sales didn't take hold until the second shock in 79/80.
I don't have data for the current situation but I'd venture a guess that it looks similar to the 1970-1984 period. Toyota alone has about 20% of the US market. You're right Don, the Big 3 deserve no sympathy. They learned nothing from their past mistakes and made few efforts to learn from their rivals. They have repeatedly shown very little aptitude for relevant innovation (bigger engines, heavier trucks??) and business foresight. This is why no matter how much it may hurt the North American economy they must be allowed to die so that something better may take their place.
Good post...
Ford, GM and Toyota.
Good day!
The VW TDIs are an outstanding example of a clean diesel that does what the manufacture says in a car that is reasonable. The downside for greenies is the "diesel" fuel.
The Prius and Insight also face a recycling challenge given the lead acid batteries at the core of the cars' electrical systems. When there are enough of these "nice trys" in circulation, then that nasty issue will surface to blemish the hype. Right now, they are merely the rich man's feel good and the greenies' example of "doing it right".
The problem is resolving the major use of hydrocarbon resources by replacing power generation with . . . NUKES. Yeah, nuclear power plants to replace all of those NG power plants.
The fact is that in all the statistical measures of real-world performance, in the US market, hybrids claim top mileage.
So the EPA overshot in their euphoria. Big deal.
Diesels are also very good, and if the California EPA had let me buy one, I probably would have had one before my Prius arrived, but they didn't. FWIW,
real-world Prius mpg: 47.6
real-world Jetta TDI mpg: 40.3
I compared 2005s to 2005s, and chose a pretty much random VW. Feel free to pick another:
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg/MPG.do?action=browseList
Most people are unaware that the Prius' #1 design goal was to create less pollution from cradle to grave. High fuel economy was a secondary result of that design premise. See Hideshi Itazaki's "The Prius that Shook the World," about the original 1998 Prius. (Available somewhere online as a PDF - I'll look for the link if anyone's interested.)
As for the Prius and EPA numbers - they're highly variable, but yes, some owners achieve or even comfortably exceed them. My 2005 Prius gets about 95% of the EPA estimate - 52.5 mpg versus the EPA's 55 - which is closer than most drivers of conventional cars get. One's particular driving conditions have a huge impact on mpg.