y.m.m.v

CAFE or Taxes ?

Jerry Flint, former Washington bureau chief of Forbes magazine, writes an interesting article on how Ford’s chairman, GM executives and the Presidential candidate John Kerry wish to raise the taxes on car fuel by 50 cents to spur the purchase of small cars.

Worth a read.

Mitsubishi's Future Troubled

Smaller car companies have often faced bleak moments when a raft of financial and technical difficulties begin to threaten their future. Mitsubishi has been under the umbrella of Chrysler for over 20 years, yet the management of Daimler-Chrysler has decided to stop further financial assistance of the embattled firm.

Kinda sad, given how many running gear and baseline equipment in DC [“ticker acronym”] cars comes from M. The acronym is often DCM for a good reason.

So now Mitsubishi is looking for a new partner. Who could benefit ? I’m unsure.

There is plenty in the news right now on this subject.
Allpar’s discussion on this subject is illuminating.

Subaru NZ

Subaru took home the top spot in New Zealand, thanking Pirelli for their tyres and dedicating the victory to Possum Bourne.

5.9 seconds separated winner Petter Solberg and Peugeot’s Marcus Gronholm. Scary.

Subaru Motorsports

'ring-ing Endorsement

Among many petrol-heads’ deep seated desire is to drive the ‘ring, Nurburgring. If you wanted a small description of the locale, while discussing the finer points of an amazing road car, the Porsche GT3, head over to Reuters .

Videos of this track abound the ‘Net, like on this site

Saab 9-4X

“It will be based on a new Subaru - which is currently under development in Japan - and will be designed to perform exceptionally well on-road. Thanks to the Far Eastern manufacturer’s highly regarded four-wheel-drive system, the Saab will also have first-rate mud-plugging ability.”

Read more of the next Saab 9-4X based on the upcoming Subaru 7 seater.

Liberty CRD

About time a 2nd generation diesel gets into an American market vehicle directed at average folks, not just heavy duty delivery and construction firms.

If Jeep manages to keep a good price and quality, removing the tarnish of the first Liberty models, then I suspect this is going to sell very well.

Italian made 2.8 litre engine seems like a compromise considering the firms 2.7 Mercedes one is more renowned, but additional capacity is scarce according to rumours.

See more at Jeep

Hybrid Subaru Forester or Outback ?

Taken from NASIOC.com, the “North-American Subaru Impreza Owners Club” website.

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Thank you for visiting the Subaru Web site and for your inquiry regarding our hybrid vehicles.

Hybrid vehicle development involves many new technologies and designs. Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.(FHI), our manufacturer, is currently developing alternative fuel engines for future environmental measures, focusing on a compact-sized vehicle and aiming to commercialize it within the next few years.
Fuji Heavy Industries, Ltd. was among the car manufacturers showing a new hybrid system at the Tokyo Auto Show in October 2003. This hybrid model mates a 100-kilowatt electric motor to a 2.0 liter engine. In January 2004 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Subaru displayed two advanced concept cars: the B9SC hybrid-drive sports roadster and the R1e Urban Electric commuter vehicle. The Subaru R1e is the first experimental pure electric vehicle featuring Lamilion Energy battery that is jointly developed with NEC Corporation. At this time, Subaru does not have any specific plans to bring the R1e to the U.S. Market.

The joint venture company (NEC Lamilion Energy, Ltd.) will advance the development of a manganese lithium-ion type rechargeable batter for automobiles. By integrating NEC’s laminate-type manganese lithium-ion cell technology with FHI’s battery pack technology, the new company will be prepared to develop the global de facto standard rechargeable battery. NEC Lamilion Energy, Ltd. plans to supply the test battery to all domestic and international automobile manufacturers for industry evaluation. The company expects to prove actual performance ability and to determine the scheme of production within the next three years.

There is a more environmentally significant development over the battery/internal combustion engine hybrid in the long term. GM is making progress toward having fuel cell powered vehicles available in large numbers by the year 2010. In continuation of its history of adopting practical innovations, Subaru and its linkage with GM will be an eager partner in fuel cell vehicle developments.

Subaru has joined a part of the project by NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) and worked on hybridization of the fuel cell and secondary battery, as well as pointing out concrete problems in loading the fuel cell system. Subaru continues research and development to solve these problems, aiming for the practical application in the future.

While there are no specific dates or schedules available to us now, please be assured that you will be hearing more about Subaru’s advanced technology vehicles in the future. If you would like further general information on FHI’s efforts to preserve the environment, please go to this link.

We appreciate that you took the time to inquire about our vehicles and give us your comments. We hope to continually improve our products and we appreciate your recommendations. If you need any future assistance, you can always contact us through our Web site at www.subaru.com.

Best Wishes,
Natalie Cox
Subaru of America, Inc.
Customer Dealer Services
E-Contact Group

Escape 2005

Ford Escape 2005, revised, re-spun, re….

The nose has the Subaru Forester’s angles and even fog light. Base inline 4 engine is smaller, though a well known quantity. The new 4WD kit seems like a great upgrade, though no idea of weight increase/decrease.

2005 Escape preview at CanadianDriver

Subaru SG/X

I’m not sure I like the new design direction the nose of this Subaru shows off.

Read more at The Car Connection

I hope it’s just a rumour. EVO magazine rumours indicate that the next generation Imperza will be drawn in Europe as this same “style” has garnered some awful reactions.

Fugly.

Disco 3.0

The pictures at Car Design News reveal the recognizable Land Rover Discovery in it’s 3rd generation skin.

If they only were willing to sell the 2.7 V6 Turbo Diesel model in North America.

Gas prices are what now ? 2.25 US / gallon ? 0.90 Cdn / litre ?

Fuel economy. Seemingly a hard concept to sell here.

Acura RL 2005

Many car sites are reporting (Temple of VTEC or Autoweek ) the imminent arrival of the next generation Acura RL, slated as a 2005 model.

This new car will feature a 300 HP V6 and AWD based on a hybrid power-train. Though until introductions are done, the rear driven by 100HP electric engine is still just a rumour.

Japan likes AWD and in this case, Acura is playing catchup.

China's Export

Even GM’s vice-chairman for product development, Robert A. Lutz, reckons that China is only six or seven years away from joining automaking countries the world over as a vehicle exporter.

Read more at The Car Connection