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Detroit Auto Show Brings Out The Green
DETROIT (AP) - Hybrids, advanced diesels and green alternatives are pushing
aside the traditional displays of speed and chrome at Detroit’s auto
show, a nod to a new fuel-efficient reality for car makers.
Automakers, only weeks after Congress approved tougher fuel-efficiency requirements,
are broadening their array of cars that get more on a gallon of gasoline, cutting
carbon dioxide emissions and using alternative power sources.
Most of the vehicles and technologies have been in the pipeline for years,
but the podiums at the North American International Auto Show should further
a signal
a shifting direction for the industry after years of pushing more horsepower
and speed.
“
The industry all together has to show further and faster improvements on the
fuel-efficiency side,” said Dieter Zetsche, chief executive of Daimler
AG, which has pushed a diesel strategy to improve its fuel efficiency.
The auto industry has made vehicles more efficient in recent years, but much
of the gains have been offset by increases in horsepower and vehicle weight.
In 1987, for example, the average vehicle could accelerate to 60 miles per
hour in 13.1 seconds, weighed 3,221 pounds and had a 118 horsepower engine,
offering
about the same power as a 2008 Nissan Versa subcompact, which offers 122 horsepower.
By 2007, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
the average vehicle weighed 4,144 pounds, boasted a 223 horsepower engine and
did
zero to 60 mph in 9.6 seconds.
President George W. Bush signed an energy bill in late December that requires
the industry’s fleet of new cars, sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks
and vans to average 35 miles per gallon by 2020, a 40 percent increase and
the first major changes since the 1970s.
With gas prices surging past $3 a gallon and calls for lawmakers to address
global warming, the new law will challenge the industry and heavily influence
future
vehicles.
General Motors Corp., which created a green buzz last year with the Chevrolet
Volt, is showing a similar plug-in hybrid concept on a Saturn Opel. GM also
will extend its hybrid lineup, releasing a new Saturn Vue two-mode hybrid,
which is
expected to boost fuel economy by about 50 percent when it hits showrooms later
this year.
Toyota Motor Corp., which has dominated the gas-electric hybrid market with
its Prius and Camry hybrids, will raise the curtain on the A-BAT, a hybrid
pickup
truck built on a car platform.
Even niche, luxury carmakers are getting in the advanced hybrid act. Fisker
Automotive, an Irvine, California startup, will show a plug-in hybrid sports
sedan that is
estimated to start at about $80,000.
Sandy Stojkovski, a fuel economy expert and director of vehicle engineering
at Ricardo, Inc., estimated that more than half of the vehicles by 2020 will
need
some kind of hybrid configuration to meet the new standards.
“
There has to be some additional technologies brought in and in greater volume
such as the hybrids and mass quantities of the improved engines,” Stojkovski
said.
Still, auto industry officials note that many consumers are turned off by
the higher costs of a hybrid vehicle, typically $4,000 to $5,000 more, and
more
modest alternatives are needed.
Ford Motor Co., is taking a practical approach through its new EcoBoost engine,
a more fuel-efficient powertrain that it plans to use in about 500,000 vehicles
in North America during the next five years. The engine is much more cost-effective
than a hybrid, using direct-injection and turbocharging technologies.
“
We needed a solution that would affect millions of cars - not thousands or hundreds
but millions. And a lot of the advanced technology stuff, which eventually will
play in the future, is a ways away,” said Sue Chischke, Ford’s
senior vice president for sustainability, environment and safety engineering.
Daimler showed its GLK compact sport utility vehicle, offering a diesel option
that can get up to 35 mpg. BMW AG, meanwhile, showed advanced diesel versions
of the X5 sport utility vehicle and a 3-Series passenger car.
Car makers have been testing advanced vehicles for several years, including
hydrogen fuel cells and plug-in hybrids, with the hopes that the technologies
will improve
and become more viable.
While analysts caution that futuristic vehicles frequently receive attention
and acclaim at auto shows but rarely reach the showroom floor, this time may
be different.
“
The No. 1 rule of auto shows is to not get lured in by the hype,” said
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