Archive for March 13th, 2010

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Manufacturing/Plants, Tesla Motors, Legislation and Policy

From the latest Tesla Motors newsletter:

Responding to customer demand, Tesla has negotiated agreements with key suppliers that will increase total Roadster production by 40% and extend sales into 2012. In the coming year, you’ll find Roadsters in more countries as we expand to Australia and Asia. Customers in 23 countries have now taken delivery of their Roadster – last month we delivered the first Roadsters to Spain and Ireland.

Remember, at the end of January, we discovered that Tesla “announced,” through its SEC filing for an IPO, that:

We do not plan to sell our current generation Tesla Roadster after 2011 due to planned tooling changes at a supplier for the Tesla Roadster.

Looks like some people didn’t like that news, and Tesla figured it made sense to listen to them.

[Source: Tesla]

Tesla: Roadster production will be increased, sales will continue into 2012 originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via Autoblog Green

General Motors North American President Mark Reuss is making a habit of conducting regular web chats at gmreinvention.com. Having recently returned from a gig running the Australian Holden operations, he’s been quickly moving up the corporate ladder since last summer’s bankruptcy, and has impressed chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre with his hands-on approach to calling disgruntled customers. With Bob Lutz about to retire, Reuss is now GM’s chief car guy.

When one has that much contact with consumers, the automotive press and bloggers, the amount of real news from any given chat makes up a small percentage of time spent online — in this case, 60 minutes. And it’s hard not to blow out of proportion some of Reuss’ comments.

For example, in response to a question about the dead Pontiac division, Reuss seemed to be on the side of Lutz, who wanted to retain it as a tiny “niche” brand based solely on the G8. Reuss said the decision to completely kill off Pontiac came during bankruptcy.

“I would never say we would NEVER talk about Pontiac again (his emphasis). But, we need to pay back U.S. taxpayers too…and go public. And make money. And make Americans proud of who we are again. Any other focus would be wrong.”

I agree, especially with the last part. While I grew up with Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles and Buicks in the ’60s, it’s pretty obvious that the U.S. market has been unable to accommodate so many middle brands with such minor distinctions since the ’80s, at the latest. When Bunkie Knudsen was promoted to Pontiac general manager in the ’50s, he was told to make it relevant, or kill it off. He made it relevant by making it sporty and youthful, while going upmarket with cars like the Bonneville and Catalina Grand Prix, encroaching on Oldsmobile’s territory in an era in which GM had such high market share that its divisions competed with each other instead of Ford, Chrysler and AMC.

There’s no room for that today, and there’s no room for a Pontiac in the future.

For saving Pontiac, Knudsen was promoted to general manager of Chevrolet. His Super Sport models, beginning in 1961, went after Pontiac’s now-sporty cars, just as Pontiac attacked Olds. Fact is, there is nothing a modern Pontiac could do that wouldn’t prompt loyal Chevrolet buyers and their dealerships to say, “we want that.” Anything Pontiac could have done in the next five years could be a Chevy SS. Consider how you’re all waiting for Chevy to build a civilian Caprice or Impala off the RWD Zeta Pontiac G8.

And that still may happen: when a web chatter named Pete asked whether a Zeta RWD sedan is “still moving forward,” Reuss responded, “quite possibly, Pete.”

I asked whether last week’s reorganization of GM and its divisions’ sales and marketing executives — punctuated by Cadillac General Manager Bryan Nesbitt returning to the design department — means that divisions now have less power in determining their model lineups, Reuss responded that the opposite is true.

“Previously, a small point but a large topic on the reorganization would indicate we had no North American planning in my organization — it was done centrally. So, to correct this I appointed Mary Sipes to do North American planning and fully integrate — next to the dealers and customers — planning by division.”

In other words, product planning was so centralized before the reorganization that North American product planning had no control of it. After the reorg, it starts with Reuss and Sipes with more involvement by the four individual brands, though it obviously will never again be like the pre-Roger Smith days of divisional independence, when Chevy, Pontiac, Olds, Buick and Cadillac each designed their own engines. But with just four North American divisions from eight earlier last year, GM has things under much better control. Competition between Chevrolet and Buick-GMC dealers ought to be minimal.

Finally, one more interesting tidbit, from a question about GM’s bland paint colors. Reuss says Chevrolet will soon offer Atomic green, as previewed by a custom paint job at last November’s SEMA show, on the Camaro. Reuss likes the more colorful palette he saw at Holden, and is letting exterior design chief Mike Simcoe, an Aussie, “lead the charge” on more colorful paint for GM cars and trucks. He can start with the all-silver Cadillac displays I saw at the Chicago and Geneva motor shows.

Via MotorTrend Magazine Blogs

Filed under: Europe, Technology, Volkswagen, UK

This is what we mean when we say that the future of alternative fuels isn’t anywhere close to being decided. A team from the BBC program Bang Goes the Theory has rigged an older Volkswagen Scirocco to run on coffee pellets. It’s a bit complex, with the coffee grounds needing to be heated to 1,292 degrees Fahrenheit, and the resulting concoction cooled, separated and filtered before it’s run to the engine. Because coffee contains carbon, however, it works.

It’s expensive, though. The trial run the Starbucks Scirocco will make from London to Manchester and back will cost more than 25 times what the same trip on gasoline would because the car goes just three miles on a kilo of coffee. The 209-mile trip is also take ten hours, due to the number of stops required to refill the fuel canister and regularly clean out the system.

So, on second thought, this is not what we mean when we talk about the future of alternative fuels. But it is really neat, and it’s for the kids, and those sorts of things count for a lot in our book. Hat tip to Joviocoe!

[Source: The Daily Mail]

Grounds for Celebration: TV scientists convert VW Scirocco to run on coffee originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via Autoblog

Filed under: Truck, Etc., Technology, Chrysler, Dodge

Back in November, during Chrysler’s seemingly endless business plan presentation, Ram trucks chief Fred Diaz told the captive media audience that the new 6.4-liter Hemi gasoline V8 would likely appear in Ram’s heavy duty trucks. Fast forward to today, however, and it would appear that the big Hemi is now off the table. PickupTrucks.com reports that the 6.4 Hemi will instead be exclusive to Chrysler’s potent SRT vehicles. Chrysler VP of product development, Joe Veltri, says that the 6.4 is designed for performance, not the grunt work truck buyers demand of their vehicles.

PickupTrucks.com notes also that Veltri sees a need for Ram to get gas engine that delivers more power and torque than the currently-available 5.7-liter Hemi, but that the likely course of action will involve building off that engine, rather than looking to adapt the SRT lump for truck duty. Why the drive to add more gas offerings in the diesel-dominated heavy-duty truck category? Emissions regulations, natch. Increasingly strict rules mean that diesels are becoming commensurately more costly to produce and sell, and Chrysler sees the ratio of diesel to gas engines offered becoming much closer in future years than it is today. Head over to PickupTrucks.com for the full skinny.

[Source: PickupTrucks.com]

Chrysler’s upcoming 6.4L V8 only for SRT, not for Ram? originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via Autoblog

Filed under: Spy Photos, Convertible, Performance, Chevrolet, GM

GM’s obviously thrilled with the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro’s success, as it’s pretty much owned the Ford Mustang on the sales charts to this point. Now, the retooled Mustang hopes to bounce back with new powertrains aimed at erasing any performance advantage the Camaro model has. File that battle under “To Be Continued.” The other thing the Mustang has going for it, however, is that sunseekers can opt for a ragtop variant. As in, today. Chevy fans? Not so much.

The waiting game continues apace, however, as the Camaro Convertible inches closer to showrooms. The latest good news comes from Camaro5.com, where a contributor nabbed the droptop Camaro out testing with its roof down – the first such sighting. We think it’s a looker, just like its fixed-roof sibling, and better still, with the top stowed, all the visibility compromises the coupe has to make in the name of its wicked curb appeal are summarily erased. This is one ride we’re definitely looking forward to. For additional photos, make tracks over to Camaro5.com.

[Source: Camaro5.com]

Spy Shots: Chevy Camaro Convertible spotted top-down originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via Autoblog