Big Auto

McCain talks up plans for the auto industry in Michigan

Today, GOP presidential contender John McCain visited the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Mich., where GM is developing the Chevy Volt, and used the visit to talk up his plan for the automotive sector. In the same speech, he argued that states should be able to determine their own fuel efficiency standards. California and […]

Mattel worth more than GM on strong outlook for Matchbox, Hot Wheels cars

At the present moment Mattel, the maker of Hot Wheels and Matchbox toy cars, is worth $6.2 billion, putting it at a premium to GM, worth a mere $5.7 billion.

Created in 1952, Matchbox cars were instantly popular because they were hard for children to swallow and required no batteries.

With the price of a fill-up now topping $100, drivers are likewise finding GM's line up of trucks and SUVs very hard to swallow.

VW to join Toyota, GM with 2010 plug-in hybrid

The following post is by Earl Killian, guest blogger at Climate Progress.

-----

The German government announced it will be helping to fund VW's plug-in hybrid development program with 15 million euros. VM aims for a 2010 vehicle with 31 miles of all-electric range. VW head Martin Winterkorn said that while petrol or diesel powered cars would be around for some time to come, "the future belongs to all-electric cars." According to autoblog, the Twin Drive uses a 82-hp electric motor and a 2.0L turbodiesel producing 122 hp.

VW recently signed a deal with Sanyo, which is aggressively ramping up automotive lithium-ion battery production. It expects the hybrid and plug-in hybrid markets to be 4 to 4.5 million vehicles by 2015, and aims to capture 40 percent of this market. Sanyo uses a mixture of Ni, Mn, and Co for the positive electrode, thereby producing a safer battery that exhibits power retention ratio of 80 percent or higher after 10,000 cycles (10-15 years in a hybrid vehicle).

Last week, Daimler announced it would bring an electric car to market in 2010.

For more on plug ins, see "Turn on, plug in, drop out."

This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

S&P cites automakers’ cashflow concerns

Originally posted at the NDN Blog.

While news about high fuel prices this past week centered on disingenuous calls by President Bush and others to drill our way out of the crisis, perhaps the most significant -- and ominous event -- was the barely publicized action by S&P Friday to place the Big Three U.S. automakers on a credit watch. In taking the action, S&P cited "renewed concerns about the three car makers' future cash flows."

Given Ford's preexisting troubles -- accentuated by its announcement last week as well that it is postponing relaunch of its star vehicle, the F150 truck -- Chrysler's uncertain future under private equity management, and GM's plummeting market share, the announcement raises real questions about the survival of the U.S. auto industry.

Domestic car sales were already down about two million vehicles this year from their high in 2006 before the current fuel crisis. Plummeting sales and oceans of red ink -- as customers struggling under the weight of sky-high consumer debt payments and declining wages eschew the gas guzzling stars of only two years ago -- threaten the U.S. auto industry's very existence. The potential collapse of the Big Three -- still the second largest employer in the country after the government -- calls into question the very essence of the American way of life.

Carmaker knows most efficient freight system: trains

Interesting presser from Honda this week:

Honda fuel-cell vehicle: Not marketable, practical, or environmental

Technology Review asked me to comment about the hype over the new Honda fuel-cell car, which the company optimistically calls "the world's first hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicle intended for mass production." The key word here is "intended." Here it is:

-----

Would you buy a car that costs 10 times as much as a hybrid gasoline-electric, like the Prius? What if I told you it had half the range of the hybrid? What if I told you most cities didn't have a single hydrogen fueling station? Not interested yet? This should be the deal closer: what if I told you it wouldn't have lower greenhouse-gas emissions than the hybrid?

Other than the traditional media, which is as distracted by shiny new objects as my 16-month-old daughter, nobody should get terribly excited when a car company rolls out its wildly impractical next-generation hydrogen car. Too many miracles are required for it to be a marketplace winner.

Iconic Ford SUV plant to be idled for summer

Ford will close its Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne for nine weeks -- four weeks longer than previously announced -- starting on June 23. Birthplace to Lincoln Navigators and Ford Expeditions, the MTP has come in for hard times due to the plummeting market for SUVs. Since January, Expedition sales are down 31 percent; Navigators, 22 percent. Once bread and butter for American automakers, SUVs have fallen victim to $4-a-gallon gasoline.

To the lay observer, the temporary MTP closure is just another symptom of the shift away from SUVs, but it actually signifies a whole lot more for American automakers: At the height of the SUV boom in the late '90s, the MTP was the most profitable factory, in any industry, anywhere in the world.

Keith Bradsher, Detroit bureau chief of The New York Times from 1996 to 2001, wrote in his book High and Mighty: The Dangerous Rise of the SUV:

Buying a high-mileage car easier said than done

My brother-in-law recently sent me a spreadsheet he'd built that compares a Prius and two similar-sized cars. He just wanted to know if "doing the right thing was going to cost me." The numbers said to buy a Prius. Ideally, going green should always be a win-win situation. Then, however, he found that the waiting list is "baaaack!" So he'll have to put down a deposit just to get in line. He was quite disappointed and may now buy a different car.

My car is also on the ropes. A few months ago, I asked for car advice and got some valuable feedback. I've been procrastinating, but a week ago, my door handle broke off, so in addition to having a jury-rigged ignition switch, I now have to roll the window down and open the door using the outside handle. It's getting embarrassing. At least I don't have to crawl out the window ... yet. I'll eventually get a part from a junkyard, but that was the final straw. Our 17-year relationship is over.

GM acknowledges that it lost the bet on big vehicles

“At this point, we are considering all options for the Hummer brand. Everything from a complete revamp of the product lineup to partial or complete sale of the brand.” — General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner, responding to the dismal numbers released by GM yesterday