Archive for March 15th, 2010

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Ethanol, Mazda, Racing

As expected, the Dyson Racing Team, MazdaSpeed and BP announced today that the Lola-Mazda cars will be running on a new blend of biobutanol and ethanol for the 2010 American Le Mans Series Season. The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), which handles the technical regulations for ALMS, put out a technical bulletin last week announcing that iBE20 had been approved for use in LMP-class cars this year. The Dyson team ran one of its two cars unclassified as a test during the last two races of the 2009 season.

iBE20 was developed by a partnership between BP and Dupont and is a blend of 20 percent biobutanol and 80 percent ethanol. The butanol is currently being produced from corn and sugarcane, but BP is developing processes to produce it from cellulosic feedstocks.

All photos Copyright (C)2009 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: Mazda]

Continue reading Officially Official: Dyson-Mazda-Lola to run biobutanol blend in 2010 ALMS

Officially Official: Dyson-Mazda-Lola to run biobutanol blend in 2010 ALMS originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via Autoblog Green

“In only a few days our dealers have reinforced the accelerator pedal on more than 220,000 vehicles and are now running at a pace of more than 50,000 units a day,” said Bob Carter, this morning, from the Toyota stand at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show.

And he should know: Carter is Toyota Motor Sales, USA Group Vice President and General Manager — a certifiable big cheese at the company and the latest exec to publicly prostrate himself at the court of media and, more importantly, consumer, opinion.

“I know that many customers have been very concerned and rightfully so. Some customers are upset and that’s also understandable. We deeply regret the concern these events have caused,” said Carter.

“Nothing is more important to Toyota than the safety and reliability of our vehicles and right now we are completely focused on fixing the vehicles affected by recent recalls,” a sentiment Carter reiterated several times during his introduction of the refreshed 2011 Avalon.

In addition Carter addressed the most recent recall involving the 2010 Toyota Prius and Lexus HS250h, highlighting what the company calls “inconsistent brake feel” of the anti-lock brake system (ABS) and its remedies for models already on the road and currently in production. The priority is clearly on the higher profile and considerably larger volume Prius. Carter said that running changes made to the Prius production line last month have addressed the ABS response time for new vehicles. As for the ones already sold, Carter said notification letters are going out to Prius owners this week and that dealers have already begun implementing software updates to improve ABS response. HS250h owners will be notified in the coming weeks and similar production line changes for the Lexus will take place later this month.

Regarding the significantly larger accelerator pedal recall affecting millions of Toyota’s best sellers, Carter called his companies’ ongoing repairs “effective” and “simple” and “one that lasts the life of the vehicle” and praised Toyota dealers nationwide for being “overwhelmingly supportive.”

“We have the best dealers in the country and they’re proving it by providing extraordinary service and care for our customers. Many dealers are extending service hours and adding more weekend service. Some are staying open 24 hours a day … seven days a week … and a few are even using remote facilities dedicated to repairing vehicles,” said Carter.

So what does all this mean? It’s merely more evidence that Toyota has made an about face on the recall issue, moving away from a disastrous ‘duck and cover’ PR strategy to an all out offensive campaign that would make Sean Payton proud. It started with Toyota president (and grandson of the founder) Akio Toyoda’s mea culpa last week and crystallized at today’s announcement, which was ostensibly about the redesigned flagship Avalon. Instead, Carter devoted the bulk of his and energy addressing his companies various recall efforts.

“With everything going on we considered postponing today’s media introduction ,” said Carter. “But new products are what drive our business.” And to sell new products, Carter and Toyota knows that they have to tackle this recall mess head on, before they can think of putting it behind them.

Via MotorTrend Magazine Blogs

Filed under: Car Buying, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota

It’s no secret that Hyundai has been enjoying a healthy dose of praise lately, especially with fresh new products like the Genesis, Tucson and Sonata garnering a lot of media attention. But it isn’t just the press that thinks Hyundai is on a roll – Kelley Blue Book now reports that the automaker now holds the Number One spot in brand loyalty, with 56.3 percent of Hyundai owners looking within the brand for new car purchases. Honda continues to hold the second place rank at 55.8 percent, and Toyota, in light of its recent recall woes, is down 4.4 percentage points to 53.3 percent, putting it in the third place spot.

Furthermore, the Sonata is now KBB‘s fifth most-researched new vehicle, mostly due to the hype surrounding the stylish new 2011 model. The only vehicles ahead of it on the list are perennial mainstays, such as the Honda Civic, Accord, CR-V and Toyota Camry.

KBB market analysts believe that Hyundai should continue to promote its attractive new products, competitive price points and great warranty program in order to keep the momentum going (duh). These analysts also suggest that domestic automakers (Ford and GM, specifically) will prove to be Hyundai’s biggest competition in the near future, as these brands are set to roll out a host of new products to win over consumers. Follow the jump to read the full details in KBB‘s press release.

[Source: Kelley Blue Book]

Continue reading Study: Hyundai customer loyalty upends Toyota, Honda, takes #1

Study: Hyundai customer loyalty upends Toyota, Honda, takes #1 originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via Autoblog

Filed under: Car Buying, SUV, Hummer, Military, Off-Road

You’ve heard of art imitating life? Well how about life imitating war? That’s another story entirely, but not so far fetched when it comes to the Hummer. The sport-’ute that met the public eye during Operation Desert Storm has all but completely gone through its entire life cycle in the intervening years: first as a military-only vehicle, the original model became available to the public, then GM bought the rights and started churning out pickup-based H2s and H3s, the U.S. armed forces went back Iraq, the original H1 was discontinued and now GM is preparing to wind down the brand entirely. But not before one last pistol-shootin’ hoorah, courtesy of the one dealership that arguably sees the truck for what it is more than any other: Lynch Hummer.

The St. Louis-area franchise made headlines last year when they started filling their emptying showroom with gun racks, selling firearms to make up for dwindling sales in the gigantic SUVs. Now the dealership is connecting the dots with a one-of-a-kind promotion: Buy a Hummer, get a free shotgun.

The Browning Citori White Lightning is worth $2,000, and one will be given away with each purchase of a new Hummer. Fortunately, the same legal measures apply to the promotion as they would to anyone buying a new firearm, but if you’re looking for a one-stop shop to jump-start your own private militia, Lynch Hummer is clearly the place. Details in the press release after the jump.

[Source: Lynch Hummer]

Continue reading Out With A Bang: Hummer dealer giving away free shotgun with every new vehicle purchase

Out With A Bang: Hummer dealer giving away free shotgun with every new vehicle purchase originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via Autoblog

Filed under: Hybrid, Government/Legal, Recalls, Hatchback, Toyota

Toyota walked a fine line this afternoon when it revealed that its own two-day investigation of last week’s runaway Prius near San Diego, CA had reached the same conclusion as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s investigation. That is, the brakes on Jim Sykes’ 2008 Toyota Prius should have been able to stop the car. Toyota did not, however, go so far as to call Sykes a liar.

The investigation determined that the front brake pads were worn so far down from overheating that the rotors were scraping the pads’ metal backings. According to investigators, this could have only happened if the brake pedal were applied lightly (less than 50% or so) for an extended period of time, not pressed firmly to the floor as Sykes claimed he was doing. Only by “dragging” the brakes lightly could they become so overheated and worn, as firmly pressing the brake pedal while the car is accelerating would engage the brake override system that cuts engine power.

Though asked repeatedly if they had concluded that Sykes was lying, representatives for Toyota insisted that was not their judgment to make and they could only say that the investigation’s findings were not consistent with the scenario that Sykes describes.

Follow the jump for Toyota’s official statement in which it details all eight points of its findings.

[Source: Toyota]

Continue reading Toyota agrees with NHTSA investigation of runaway Prius, but not calling Sykes a liar

Toyota agrees with NHTSA investigation of runaway Prius, but not calling Sykes a liar originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via Autoblog