I know who will be the winner in the fight for greenest car maker in 2008
There is a lot of talk about who will win the fight for the greenest car maker in 2008: Toyota or GM? Also, who will win in the battle for the best hybrid: the two-mode or synergy drive? I'm here to tell you who will be the winner but first let me tell you how well each has trained.Next year, GM could release the first plug-in hybrid (it might bow in 2009). GM has already surpassed Toyota's Highlander SUV's highway mileage with its Saturn SUV. Next year, GM's two-mode hybrids will probably have better city and highway mileage than the Highlander, maybe even the Prius. GM is running ads for the Volt already and next year the Volt will be a working car, not just a concept. GM calls their cars vegetarian and it looks like they are the leaders on batteries. Knock out? Don't dismiss Toyota just yet.
Toyota is testing plug-in hybrids and they promise to be first on lithium-ion batteries. Toyota has the best hybrid on the market and they plan to increase the electric only range and top speed. Prius is ready to be a brand and Toyota has said they will lower the price of a hybrid so much, they will have a hybrid in every car they make. Toyota has a track record of supporting hybrids before they were cool so who knows who will win? I do!
Who will be the winner in the fight for the greenest car makers in 2008? The consumer will be the winner, and, with gas prices probably going up a lot in 2008, we could use it.
[Source: Arizona Local News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CitS 12:59PM (11/02/2007)
Until they count ALL the cars a manufacturer sells--in the US and elsewhere--this is nonsense. Chevy Volt here, filthy cars over there. This kind of thinking is why the US "green" movement is just another way to sell stuff.
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GreyFlcn 1:15PM (11/02/2007)
Frankly, even Toyota is pretty dirty per capita sales.
For every Prius they sell, they sell a Tundra 4x4 Truck.
We need higher CAFE to actually decrease the AVERAGE carbon output.
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Karkus 1:07PM (11/02/2007)
I won't argue about who will "Win", since my vote would be none of the above. (and why didn't you consider Honda, which has often won this "award" in the past?) But let's consider some of those "claims"
Clearly, combined MPG is a better measure of "green-ness" than highway mileage. So the Vue is 25/32, which averages to 28. Not so great anymore, and less then the Ford/Mazda SUV hybrids.
As for next year's GM hybrid having better mileage than the highlander... sure that's possible (which one are you referring to, by the way?)
Mabybe better than the Prius....how did you come to that conclusion? There's a huge gap in MPG to cover there. Give us a reference if you're going to make a claim like that, please.
Also, it matters not only how your best vehicles stack up, but it also matters how many you sell (GM won't come anywhere close to Toyota hybrid sales for years), and how many bad polluting vehicles you make. Both GM and Toyota make big low MPG status symbol trucks/SUVs, although GM certainly makes more. Again, my vote would be neither.
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Throwback 2:30PM (11/02/2007)
Ahh such negativity. The fact their is even a "fight" to be the greenest is a good thing. Why not relish that instead of bashing companies for their past?
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Lascelles Linton 4:00PM (11/02/2007)
Karkus, Good point about not including other companies but Honda is not really pushing hybrids. See link below or advertising they are "green." Of course, that should not mean they could not be the greenest but I guess a better description would be, who is the apparent winner. It was a trick question anyway. We win :D
As for the Saturn. The quote and link is also below. Two mode probably won't surpass the Prius but some of the promises they make look like it may just do that. Of course the plug-in is "2009-ish" and there are still a lot of questions there so I only stated it was possible. I think a lot depends on how the EPA rates a plug-in car's MPG.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/10/23/honda-president-ceo-plug-in-hybrids-unnecessary-dont-reduc/
"In 2008, Saturn will introduce a 2-mode hybrid Vue, which will increase fuel economy by an estimated 45 percent over the comparable non-hybrid model. Saturn also has committed to producing a plug-in hybrid Vue that will get approximately twice the fuel economy of any SUV currently on the market."
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/10/12/2008-saturn-vue-green-line-hits-the-street-at-24-795-and-32-mpg/
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Karkus 4:44PM (11/02/2007)
Thanks for that link. That does sound promising, although even that source is pretty short on details.
However, you do have to consider that this 2009? GM hybrid may surpass the current (2003 technology) Prius, but that the next Prius revision is also scheduled for 2009. Will a 2009 GM beat the 2009 Prius ?
Also, by ~2009 we should have the next Honda hybrid, as well as some new clean (well, sort of) TDIs from VW to choose from.
Good points about the winner being us !
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Lascelles Linton 6:29PM (11/02/2007)
Karkus, Initially GM said 2008 for the plug-in. Then kinda backed off. Honda won't do plug-ins soon so they probably won't be an MPG leader. It's almost impossible to tell who will be the leader. I don't even think insiders on either companies know, even for 2008. The simple fact is even if you sort out everything each company says, compare the technologies etc they can still change their minds. For example, I bet Toyota introduces a special edition "plug-in" if Saturn has a plug-in next year. I don't think it's an accident we heard about Toyota testing plug-in right after Saturn said they would be first to market.
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Domenick 6:57PM (11/02/2007)
I think Nissan is a strong contender for the title. 780 million dollar "green" r&d center, several BEV concepts (with one BEV going on sale in 2010) and a "green" program already several years under way say that maybe they aren't all hippy about it but they are putting a lot of money where there mouth is.
Now if they'd only kill that huge-ass Titantic or Armada or whatever it is they call it...
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