Auto news and reviews from Car Buyer's Notebook.com: Environment Archives

May 16, 2008

Time for an SUV Bailout?

With gas prices hitting an average $3.78 a gallon in the U.S., millions of people who thought it was their god given right to plow down the freeway in vehicles that were more buses than cars are fretting that they can't afford the gas to go and buy something they don't need. You know, in order to do their part for the economy.

So maybe it's time for a bailout for these suckers, who used to love looking down their noses at furry environmentalists driving crap boxes, and who now look forlornly as life passes them by on the way to the mall.

You see, we thought of this because of the current fervor over mortgage bailouts, the theory of which says we can't have people, and the banks that enable them, suffering due to their bad decisions and/or greed and/or fraudulent behavior.

So why don't we give people a free house and buy back their big SUV at the same time, replacing it with an economical car?

The biggest question should be where to attach the bow -- on the car or the house? And hey, if Ty Pennington will show up for the house rechristening, we'll show up for the BRAND NEW CAR! presentation.

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General Motors Powertrain Europe opens doors for Tech Show

Turin/Italy -- GM Powertrain Europe’s comprehensive Tech Show provides answers about how cars will be propelled in the future.

As part of the global GM Powertrain organization, GM Powertrain Europe has global responsibility for small diesel engines, diesel control systems, small gasoline engines and manual transmissions. Its footprint encompasses 15 facilities in 7 European countries, employing 9,000 people and producing on average more than 17,000 engines and transmissions per day.

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Eco-Friendly Toyota Deals Take Leadership Role in Environmental Construction

TORRANCE, Calif. -- Once a symbolic target of environmentalists, auto dealerships are now playing a leading role in the development of buildings and facilities exemplifying leading-edge environmental construction standards.

Toyota of Rockwall (Texas) is the first dealership in the country to receive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Rockwall joins Pat Lobb Toyota (McKinney, Texas), which earlier received a Silver certification as the first dealership to be LEED certified. But they won't be the last.

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Posted by Frank at 7:32 AM | Filed under Auto Marketing | Auto News | Environment | Volkswagen

May 14, 2008

Stephen Wallman awarded gold mdeal for Volvo emissions work

The world’s perhaps most important invention for controlling exhaust emissions on cars was developed at Volvo Car Corporation in the early 1970s.

Under the leadership of the legendary environmental expert Stephen Wallman, the three-way catalytic converter controlled by an oxygen sensor was introduced. Mr. Wallman has now been awarded the Royal Swedish Automobile club’s gold medal.

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Russian Kids Save Park, Win Volvo Adventure Victory

A campaigning project to rescue and revive an endangered and environmentally-sensitive urban park in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod has won the 2008 Volvo Adventure and the US$10,000 first prize, the five students of the ‘Green Sail' team, beating off stiff competition at the World Final in Gothenburg today (Tuesday).

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May 13, 2008

Toyota Awards Huron Watershed $100,000 for Bioreserve Project

Ann Arbor, MI -- The Huron River Watershed Council (HRWC) is announcing major support from Toyota Motor North America, Inc. and the Toyota Technical Center (TTC) in the amount of $100,000 for the Bioreserve Project.

Building on the fundraising efforts made through Liz Swims the Huron, HRWC has secured a total of $230,500 towards the project total of $250,000, which include; $43,000 in donations from individuals to Liz Swims The Huron; $5,000 from Keybank; $65,000 from Community Foundation of SE Michigan; $7,500 from Visteon; $7,000 from Speckhard-Knight Charitable Foundation and $3,000 from TCF Bank.

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GM Hosts Collegiate Advanced Tech Vehicles

Culminating four years of competition General Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy will host a finish line ceremony and press conference featuring vehicles from the collegiate engineering competition Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility.

The event marks the end of the Challenge X competition and concludes a 350-mile road rally from New York City to Washington, D.C. Following the press conference, select vehicles will be available for brief ride and drive opportunities.

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May 12, 2008

2008 Fuel Economy Guide Available for Download

The EPA has issued a comprehensive PDF guide to fuel economy of all 2008 vehicles, which you can download by right-clicking here.

In today's gas market, buyers are more sensitive than ever about buying cars that get good mileage, and more important, they want the government ratings to be as accurate as possible -- nobody wants to buy a vehicle that gets 10% worse mileage in the real world than the sticker rating.

To address this situation, the EPA has started using an updated test to assign more accurate MPG ratings to new vehicles, and you can learn about that by watching the video in this post.

Video: New Fuel Economy Ratings

The EPA is using more realistic tests to determine the estimated miles per gallon performance of 2008 vehicles, so consumers will have a more realistic idea of how vehicles perform on the road.

To download the 2008 EPA Fuel Economy Guide, right-click here to save the PDF to your computer.

May 10, 2008

New Ford transmission gets improved MPG

DEARBORN – Ford Motor Company is fitting the 2009 Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner with the automaker’s newest, advanced 6-speed automatic transmission, further demonstrating its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel economy for customers.

The new 6F35 front-wheel-drive transmission offers a 4 to 6 percent improvement in fuel economy versus conventional 4- and 5-speed automatics, in addition to improved acceleration.

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Volvo Sponsors Ecological Adventure for Students

15 national teams of young environmentalists from all over the world will congregate in Gothenburg, Sweden next week for the seventh Volvo Adventure World Final with US$20,000 of prize money on the line for environmental excellence.

From hundreds of projects in more than 50 countries around the world submitted on-line by the 31st January 2008 deadline the Volvo Adventure judges have selected a shortlist of 15 finalists, each of whom will be chasing the US$10,000 first prize to invest in their project.

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Survey: Quest for Fuel Efficiency Changing Americans' Car Consciousness

Detroit, Mich. – With rising gas prices, today’s car buyers admit fuel efficiency and diversity is not just a necessity, it’s also fashion forward.

If Americans had to choose between driving a car that was beautiful on the outside vs. one that was “greener” on the inside, nearly eight in 10 Americans (79 percent) who plan to buy or lease a car within the next two years would choose the greener car.

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Student Teams Show Off "Green" Vehicles at New Jersey Ride and Drive

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM) will host a behind-the-scenes opportunity to see the vehicles from the collegiate engineering competition Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility in action.

The event is May 15, at Old Bridge Township Motorsports Park and is a stop on a road rally from New Jersey to Washington, D.C. Seventeen Chevrolet Equinoxes have been re-engineered by student teams using a range of cutting-edge clean vehicle technologies such as hybrid, plug-in or fuel cell propulsion systems.

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Race Fans on Fast Track to Recycling

CONCORD, N.C. -- Race fans will have an opportunity to support the environment, their favorite drivers, as well as Speedway Children's Charities for two weekends of racing at the historic Lowe's Motor Speedway this month.

Partnering with Lowe's Motor Speedway and Bealer Distributing, the local Anheuser-Busch wholesaler, Anheuser-Busch Recycling Corporation (A-BRC) is supplying more than 225 recycling containers in the concourse and select suite areas.

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May 9, 2008

One million hybrids on American roads

In December 2007, an auto dealership employee somewhere in America handed a new owner the keys to the one millionth hybrid vehicle sold in this country. In that month, industry sales of 30,892 hybrids brought the cumulative total to 1,012,442 units.

This event occurred a month after Toyota recorded the sale of its 500,000th hybrid in the United States, and only a few months after Toyota Motor Corporation reached the one-million-unit mark in global production of hybrid vehicles.

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