Why Is Prius The Much-Loved Toyota?

By Anthony Fontanelle

Why is the Toyota Prius much-loved? One answer may be that Prius shoppers want everyone to know that they are driving a hybrid. But there are numerous reasons to add to the list.

Only a third of Prius owners cited that reason just three years ago, according to CNW, which tracks auto shopping trends. “I really want people to know that I care about the environment,” said Joy Feasley of Philadelphia, the owner of a green 2006 Prius. “I like that people stop and ask me how I like my car.” Dan Becker, the head of the global warming program at the Sierra Club added, “The Prius allowed you to make a green statement with a car for the first time ever.”

This spring, over half of the Prius owners surveyed by CNW Marketing Research of Bandon, Ore., said that the main reason they bought their car was that it makes a statement about them.

Mary Gatch of Charleston, S.C., picked the car over a hybrid version of the Toyota Camry after trading in a Lexus sedan. “I felt like the Camry Hybrid was too subtle for the message I wanted to put out there,” Gatch said. “I wanted to have the biggest impact that I could, and the Prius puts out a clearer message.”

Unlike the original Prius buyers, who wanted to be first with its innovative technology, the latest owners are far more conscious of foreign oil dependence and global warming, said Doug Coleman, Toyota’s product manager for Prius. “Consumer knowledge and consumer awareness is changing,” Coleman said.

Prius sales for the first six months of the year increased 93.7 percent from last year, to 94,503, and the Japanese automaker has already sold close to as many Prius cars as it did in all of 2006.
The Toyota Prius was first embraced by famous celebrities and remains in trend long after most cars have lost their hum. Owners have included Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Billy Joel, and Larry David. David has bought three, including one for his role in the HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Now Prius drivers are typically found in cities on the East and West Coasts, and in college towns like Ann Arbor, Mich., and State College, Pa. “You can’t drive across town without seeing half a dozen of them,” said Peter Darnell, a software engineer and Prius owner in Westford, Mass., north of Boston. Darnell admits to feeling smug this year when gasoline prices spiked above $3 a gallon. But that was not the main reason he purchased a Prius. “I have to admit that I’m a granola-crunching liberal, and I really liked the idea of minimizing the impact on the environment,” Darnell said.

Corey Confer, the general sales manager at Joel Confer Toyota in State College, said that he had received calls from as far away as Key West, Fla., from buyers looking for a Prius. His dealership advertises an $800 discount on each vehicle. A number of dealers in the West are adding $2,000 premiums.

Nationwide, Prius sales increased dramatically in May, when gasoline prices rose over $3 a gallon. Worldwide, Toyota has sold over one million Prius cars. Toyota was alarmed to see Prius sales even out last year. But before gas prices hit record levels, Prius sales were climbing again.

Toyota executives have said that they plan to offer a hybrid version of everything the company sells worldwide, perhaps as soon as 2010. That fact could make a fanatic forget about the most fascinating Volkswagen Touareg part. Japanese press reports said that the Japanese automaker may even build Prius into a separate brand, with basic and sporty Prius models.

General Motors Reports Progress Toward New All-Electric Car

By John Birchard/Voice of America

In January of 2007, General Motors (GM) unveiled a concept car powered solely by electricity. The Chevrolet Volt is a big step beyond today's hybrid, that uses both a gasoline engine and electric motor. VOA's John Birchard reports on the progress GM is making toward turning the Volt from an attractive idea into a production vehicle.

As vice president of research and development and strategic planning for General Motors, Larry Burns is responsible for the company's efforts to reinvent the automobile, so to speak - to move beyond conventional gasoline-powered vehicles to environmentally sound "green" cars of tomorrow.

The seemingly routine news of GM's recent award of two contracts to suppliers who will conduct advanced battery development for the Chevrolet Volt is, according to Burns, really a milestone for the company. Because the battery that powers the Volt is the key to its existence.

"Specifically, what you can do is plug your car into a regular 110-volt outlet at night and, over a four to six-hour period, recharge the battery so that the next day you can drive this car 40 miles [64 kilometers] on pure electric drive with no emissions."

At the suggestion that forty miles, 64 kilometers, doesn't sound like a long distance, Larry Burns cited research that indicates the projected range of the Volt would meet most Americans' requirements.

"Because 70 percent of the people in the U.S. travel less than 40 miles a day. For a lot of people this kind of vehicle could meet most all of their travel needs on pure battery electric driving," he said.

Americans are accustomed to hearing automakers talk about the car of tomorrow... about hydrogen power and fuel cells being the wave of the future. But it always seems to be the next decade, or beyond, before these marvelous pollution-free vehicles will arrive. So, we asked the GM executive when will the all-electric Chevrolet Volt be in a dealer's showroom, ready for sale to the public? His answer?

"Since we started our production engineering in January of this year and, typically, the lead times in the auto industry are three to four years, that would suggest we ought to have it out in that time frame. But we haven't formally announced that date, just because there's still a lot of work to be done on the battery and we want to make sure we get that work done properly," he said.

Storage of electricity has long been a vexing problem for automakers. The battery that is big enough to store sufficient power to not only move the car, but operate all the electrical devices that modern cars require is currently too big to carry in the car and still have room for people and cargo. So, the contracts General Motors awarded to those suppliers recently amount to a crucial component for GM's non-polluting future fleet.

GM Europe launches Environment Initiative

By Iver Penn

General Motors Corp.'s European division announced an affirmation on Friday regarding making its model line more environmentally friendly. The division said that it would put cleaner engines in conventional cars, offer more cars that can use ethanol and move ahead with fuel cell technology.

Company officials said at a news conference in Berlin that the company dubbed the program ecoFLEX and it would offer an ecoFLEX version with lower emissions in each model line, starting with the 2008 Corsa 1.3 CDTI compact from its European Opel brand.

The car will emit only 119 grams per kilogram of carbon dioxide, a figure that is below the proposed EU average standard of 130 grams per kilogram. According to the officials, one key to the new models was that the company aimed to have them driven the same and cost the same as the more conventional vehicles they are based on.

Saab, a Swedish brand, would also expand its range of biofuel engines. Even luxury brand Cadillac will offer a model with an E85 biofuel engine by fall 2007. E85 is a term used for motor fuel blends of up to 85 percent ethanol — an alcohol that can be derived from plants — and just 15 percent gasoline.

Vice Chairman Bob Lutz of General Motors said that the program offers ways to trim down CO2 emissions quickly. He said that E85 has a very strong potential to significantly minimize CO2 from passenger cars in the near term. He added that a pan-European policy is required to make the necessary fuels widely available and reflect the lower CO2 emissions in vehicle taxation.

GM officials said that they would tackle environmental concerns with several technologies instead of just focusing on just one. They continued that they were moving ahead "flat-out" on developing vehicles that run on hydrogen fuel cells, while other technologies could simply enhance the environmental performance of existing internal combustion engines.

One example was the Eco-Turbo engines that make use of smaller cylinder displacements but yield equivalent power and efficiency through turbo charging.

The company claimed that it would develop 16 new GM Europe engine families and 10 new transmission families by 2012.

About General Motors Corporation

The world's largest automaker, General Motors Corp., has been the annual global industry sales leader for 76 years. Founded in 1908, GM today has almost 284,000 employees around the world. GM manufactures its cars, auto part like GMC brake drum and trucks in 33 countries. With global headquarters in Detroit, the company in 2006 globally sold 9.1 million GM cars and trucks under Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall brands.

Hybrids: No.1 Item On Many Consumers' List

By Anthony Fontanelle

The automotive industry is bombarded with financial crises. One of which is the rising gasoline prices. And in times like this, one would think purchasing cars would be the last thing consumers would do. But that is exactly what they are doing. As a fact, most consumers’ list has hybrids as the first item.

Kevin Volk, the general manager at Bob Moore Saturn, said that hybrid sales have increased in the past week. "People are really trying to come in and get out of their gas guzzlers,” he said. "During Memorial Day, we were in a position where we had to go out of our market in search of hybrids.”

Volk said that sales for the fuel-friendlier vehicles have grown 25 percent in the last month, an increase he attributes to the fact that people have been paying as much as 41 cents more for a gallon of gasoline than they were a month ago.

Paul Taylor, the spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), said that hybrid car sales are up 86 percent nationally as compared to this time last year. "People do take a greater interest in hybrids when the gas prices increase,” Taylor said.

Mike Fowler attributes hybrid sales increase to the number three. "Three dollars a gallon seems to be that magical number,” said Fowler, the chief executive officer of Fowler Toyota in Norman. "Once you hit $3, people start really getting concerned; it seems like people start paying closer attention.”

Astra’s Saturn washer pump may not be the deciding factor. Although driving a hybrid may save consumers money in the long-run, getting into one quickly may be more expensive than anticipated. Taylor said that it takes about four years for consumers to recoup the price of a hybrid in fuel savings.

Mike Wicker, the general manager of Joe Cooper Ford, said that most customers have done the math and know when a hybrid is the right investment for them. The increase of hybrid sales has increased the number of hybrid cars Joe Cooper Ford receives from the factory. Its inventory of hybrids is larger, doubled over the last year, Wicker said. The days of selling one or two hybrids a month are over, Wicker added. "Now they are sold before we even get them.”

Megan Vance Ochs, the general manger of John Vance Auto Group, said that consumers are opting for General Motors vehicles with active fuel management, which allows the engine to turn off half the cylinders under light-load conditions.

"These are really better solutions for this part of the country,” Vance Ochs said. She said that hybrids, while they are capable of saving on fuel, are better suited for stop and go driving under 25 miles per hour. "We are too spread out for that,” she said of the region's layout. Cars that can take either gas or ethanol also have become popular buys during the recent gas price increases, Vance Ochs said. "The manufacturers are coming out with some good solutions,” she said.

Federal Agencies Expands Hybrid Fleet

By Anthony Fontanelle

Three federal agencies in Kansas recently added hybrid vehicles to their fleet. The hybrid vehicles included in the fleet of the federal agencies are the 2007 Saturn Aura Green Line vehicles. Two units of the hybrid car were already delivered to different federal agencies in Kansas.

Two units of the 2007 Saturn Aura Green Line were delivered by the General Services Administration (GSA) to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 in Kansas City, Kansas. One of these will be used by the EPA while the other is for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) office in Kansas City, Missouri. The third vehicle will be delivered to the GSA fleet in Kansas City, Mo.

Romell Cooks, the regional administrator for the NHTSA’s Central Region, was given the keys to the hybrid Aura. “While safety of the motoring public is a key concern of the NHTSA, we are equally concerned about the fuel efficiency of our passenger cars and light trucks,” said Cooks. “These types of vehicles will make a difference.”

Aside from the three hybrid vehicles, the GSA has ordered 50 units in all of the Saturn Aura Green Line. The vehicles will be delivered by GSA to different federal agencies across the country. The Aura Green Line became an obvious choice for the federal agencies in Kansas City Kansas due to the fact that these vehicles were built in General Motors’ assembly facility in Kansas City, Kansas.

The deliveries of the hybrid vehicles is in connection with the Executive Order 13423 signed by President George Bush which mandates federal agencies to increase the use of alternative fuel vehicles on their fleet by ten percent every year. To date, GSA’s fleet management division has already delivered 3,581 units of alternative fuel vehicles and 20 biodiesel vehicles to federal agencies.

Administrator John Askew accepted the keys to the Saturn center shoulder seatbelt-equipped Aura Green Line for EPA Region 7. Askew has this to say after receiving the hybrid car: “Using fuel efficient vehicles like the Saturn hybrid we’re receiving today just makes sense. Not only does it protect the environment by reducing emissions, but using less fuel strengthens our energy security.”

Meanwhile, GSA’s Heartland Region Administrator Bradley M. Scott has this to say: “GSA is proud to join EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as government leaders in using and supporting environmentally friendly vehicles, and we look forward to providing energy efficient vehicles and alternative fuel-use cars to more federal agencies in the future.”

Aside from mandating a ten percent increase in alternative fuel vehicle use, the Executive Order also directs federal agencies across the country with more than 20 motor vehicles to reduce petroleum fuel consumption by as much as two percent every year. The directive will stand until the year 2015.

The Aura Green Line is the hybrid version of the current North American Car of the Year. The Saturn Auras delivered by GSA to the three federal agencies are seen as a good step for the government to take in the present situation. Environmentalists have been lobbying for the widespread use of alternative fuel vehicles because these vehicles are more environment friendly than conventional vehicles which run on petroleum fuels. The Saturn Aura Green Line, according to General Motors, has a fuel mileage of 35 miles per gallon. That figure means that federal agencies will be consuming less fuel as compared to none-hybrid vehicles.