GM/DC To Jointly Develop Newfangled "Hybrid" Engine - Maybe Ready By 2007!

[hatrack]

Well I'll be hogtied & hornswoggled! What WILL they think of next?!?

EDIT

"The "two-mode" hybrid system, adapted from GM's transit bus hybrid on the market in some US cities today, uses smaller electric motors that work like a gear set to offer superior performance and fuel economy, Tom Stephens, group vice president of GM Powertrain, told reporters on a conference call. That allows the system to use a smaller conventional engine, making it more cost-effective than competitors hybrids. GM and DaimlerChrysler will spend "hundreds of millions of dollars" in development of the hybrid system, one reason they agreed to partner, Stephens said. The companies will sign a definitive agreement early next year, they said.

"We've both been looking for this kind of leapfrog technology that we think will be the one into the future," Eric Ridenour, executive vice president of product development with Chrysler, said on the conference call. GM will first use the system in late 2007 in its Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon full-size SUVs, Stephens said. Chrysler will follow "shortly after" with a hybrid version of its Dodge Durango full-size SUV among a range of hybrids, Ridenour said.

EDIT

Chrysler and Mercedes have not rolled out any hybrid vehicles yet. GM earlier this year began offering hybrid pickup trucks, but in very small volumes to some fleet customers, and the vehicles only get a 10 percent to 12 percent improvement in fuel economy. Some analysts do not consider the vehicles to be true hybrids. "There is no doubt that Toyota is about five years ahead of everybody else, so everybody else is late in the game," said Graeme Maxton, managing director of consultancy Autopolis.

Honda Motor Co. Ltd. began selling its third hybrid in the US last week and Toyota has said it will eventually offer hybrids across its entire vehicle lineup."

EDIT/END

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/28560/story.htm

[MemphisTiger]

1. This is good. I think the way they

are introducing these vehicles to the market in a slow manner with a good marketing campaign makes people more likely to accept them as opposed to the electric car fiasco. This is a step in the right direction. I wish I had waited a few years to buy my last car to buy a hybrid.

[TrueAmerican]

2. We don't need this

Professor Dubya already invented the Hydrogen Car.

[XNASA]

3. I wouldn't trust any new piece of GM technology.

GM hasn't developed a new powerplant that actually works in about 50 years.

They are really good at PR though.

[Kolesar]

4. my GM 2.8l V6 managed 141,000 miles

[XNASA]

5. That's great........

But it's nothing compared to how long a Honda or Toyota engine will last. I've got a 93 Acura that's my daily driver. I expect it to run for at least 200,000.

Besides, that piece of GM technology is about 50 years old. Not saying that it's not a good engine, just saying I don't think that GM has been on the cutting edge for a long time.

The only exception I can think of would be the Northstar engines, and even those are well behind the industry.

[Kolesar]

6. you made an absolute statement that is unsupportable

"GM hasn't developed a new powerplant that actually works in about 50 years." I don't really care if you are going to drive 200,000 miles in your Acura. My experience with is that they rust out before the engine fails, especially at the moderate rate of miles that I put on a car in a year. My Datsun was a rust bucket--it had holes through it in three years. My Toyota had blooms of rust at three years of age also. I can get that with a Chevy. Japanese cars are certainly not worth the price premium that they demand.

The last time I was shopping for a car was 2000, and the equivalent Hondas and Toyotas cost at least $5000 more. $5000 more for a product that is going to be in the crusher by 2015 no matter what badge is glued to its nose. I bought the car whose value added was in Michigan, not Tokyo. There is a substantial electronics industry in Michigan that is a spin off of the auto industry and we need as many electronics jobs as we can in this country.

[amandabeech]

7. Ah, yes. "Michigan cancer" is what my Dad used to call it.

He was an auto body repairman and made his living off the stuff. It is not cheap to repair and tends to recur.

I thought that most states have limited the amount of salt that they spread on the roads in the winter, and that the cancer was more rare than it used to be.

You might enjoy a song named "Rusty Chevrolet" by Da Yoopers, made up of residents of the U.P. of Michigan. They're the ones that put out that "up north" hit "Second Week of Deer Camp."

[Kolesar]

8. There are salt mines a-plenty here so it is cheap

They put a liberal dose on the roads even when they are only expecting an inch or so of snow. Motorists expect the snow to be burned off the pavement. I think snow tires are the real solution. I have had good success with a Ziebart rust treatment and the surface-super-polymer coating they put on it. My car has been through 4 winters and looks quite good. I go back for recoatings every year.

Da Yoopers--that's great