News was released today that Pontiac’s 2008 G6 GXP will carry a sticker price of $26,795 for the sedan and $26,595 for the coupe. The regular GT version of the G6 will have a price of $22,995 for either coupe or sedan. So what makes up the bulk of the difference between the two cars that would warrant an increase in price that is over $3,000? Try a sport tuned suspension, 6-speed automatic transmission, 18″ wheels and a lim 35 extra horsepower from a 3.6 liter engine (that is .1 liter larger engine than the GT).

While we should know that the G6 is not the G8 and will not have the same performance expectation (i suppose), it just seems as though we should expect more for $26,595. For that price point a Mustang GT can be had that has 48 more horsepower than the G6 GXP.

The Connellsville Police Department in Pennsylvania has just taken delivery of the very first electric motor driven police cruiser in the United States. The test car is a 2000 Chevy Impala police cruiser belonging to the department that volunteered for the risky procedure (okay, so it is not Robocop). Coherent Systems International Corp. performed the modifications to the cruiser at their own cost and just recently returned the cruiser to the Connellsville Police Department.

Coherent Systems confirmed that the electric police cruiser will maintain its charge for a full 8 hour shift and can be easily recharged by just plugging it into the wall. So instead of paying the price of an 8 hour shifts use of gas the car will be running on approximately .35 cents worth of electricity per shift.

The search for the VW diesel with the highest mileage is over. Syl Schmid the owner of a 1986 VW Jetta Turbo Diesel, from Blue Rock, Ohio has been declared the winner by VW, the car has done a mere 562,000 miles according to the odometer and the cars records too.

Mr Schmid wins a six month lease of a VW Touareg V10 Tdi, if he takes the Jetta back at the end of the six months, do you think would notice?

PRESS RELEASE:

VOLKSWAGEN DIESEL HERITAGE SEARCH FINDS HIGHEST MILEAGE DIESEL IN OHIO

1986 Volkswagen Jetta Has 562,000 Miles On The Original Engine

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Volkswagen of America, Inc. announced that, as part of its Diesel Heritage Search, it has located the highest mileage Volkswagen diesel vehicle in the United States, a 1986 Jetta Turbo Diesel owned by Syl Schmid of Blue Rock, Ohio with over 562,000 miles.

The Jetta’s mileage was recently verified by Volkswagen of America, Inc. and Byers Imports, a Columbus, Ohio-based Volkswagen dealer. Fuel and mileage records presented by Schmid show the Jetta frequently delivered fuel economy over fifty miles per gallon.

“Mr. Schmid has a story that is like so many of our diesel owners; he loves the longevity of the engine and fuel economy that his diesel Volkswagen has delivered these last twenty years,” said Steve Keyes, Volkswagen Public Relations Director. “Throughout all of entries that we received for our Diesel Heritage Search, we found many VW owners who were passionate about their cars and the economic benefits of the diesel engine.”

Schmid originally leased the Jetta for three years and decided to purchase the vehicle at the end of that period. After twenty years, and over a half million miles, he is especially proud of the original drivetrain and muffler. In recognition of owning the highest mileage Volkswagen diesel in the U.S., Volkswagen has provided Schmid with a Touareg V10 TDI to drive for six-months.

Volkswagen announced their Diesel Heritage Search in March 2007 and received more than 200 entries for the highest mileage and oldest operating U.S. diesel Volkswagen vehicles. Volkswagen recently recognized a 1977 Rabbit owned by Clint Wilson of Tehachapi, Calif. as the oldest diesel Volkswagen.

Volkswagen is a leader in the U.S. diesel passenger car market with over 815,000 diesel vehicles sold since the introduction of the 1977 Rabbit, the first U.S. Volkswagen diesel. In addition to the currently available diesel Touareg V10 TDI, Volkswagen has previously announced that the 2009 Jetta and Jetta SportWagen, which will be available late first quarter 2008, will feature a Clean Diesel TDI engine option.

Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of America, Inc. is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. Volkswagen is one of the world’s largest producers of passenger cars and Europe’s largest automaker. Volkswagen sells the Rabbit, New Beetle, New Beetle convertible, GTI, Jetta, GLI, Passat, Passat wagon, Eos, and Touareg through approximately 600 independent U.S. dealers. Visit Volkswagen of America online at vw.com.

Source [Auto Blog]

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/08/23/vw-finds-highest-mileage-diesel-in-ohio/

As the rest of the world gnaws over the decision of whether ethanol is a feasible solution to the great fuel debate, Brazil is moving forward with their own ethanol vision. The Detroit Press has just concluded a three part series on Brazil’s transformation back to an ethanol dominant nation.

Back in the 1970’s while under military dictatorship Ethanol was the law and petroleum based engines were penalized. Then came democracy (coencidence) and a sugar boom in the 1980’s that sent sugar prices through the ceiling and sent ethanol out the door. Now ethanol has returned full force to the Brazilian market and it looks like (for now) there is no turning back.

The Pontiac Solstice and the Saturn Sky were released at the same time in 2005 to many raving responses. The Solstice was the greased lightening for Pontiac right out of the box as the waiting list for the new roadster stretched out for many many months. Now two years later and the Sky is the steady date and the Solstice is sitting along the side of the gym waiting for someone to ask her to dance.

The New York Times tackled this subject and focused the microscope on the reputations of the two GM brands. What they found is that no matter what Pontiac builds their cars will eventual suffer from the brands poor reputation; no matter what the initial response is when the car is unveiled. The Transformers movie could not even Jazz-up the status of the Solstice to the car buyers eye (making the fact that Jazz, the Solstice in the movie, was killed off even more foreshadowing for the car and brand).

The 400 Saturn dealerships across the U.S. are cranking out on average one Sky per month (with a lower production total than the Solstice). With 2,700 Pontiac dealerships selling the Solstice they are achieving an average of 1 car every 2 months. Thus Pontiac is on pace to sell approximately 18,000 of the 20,000 Solstices scheduled to be built in 2007.

When the Vice Chairman of your parent company, Bob Lutz, is referring to your brand as “damaged goods” and your own marketing dollars tend to favor the youngster of the brands over the tainted older sibling a rough road is surely ahead. GM will need to reassign some creative resources in engineering, design and marketing on the Pontiac brand if they hope to revive the one time powerhouse. So far there are no indications that GM is inclined to make that effort.

Source[NewYorkTimes]

That Jaguar symbol may look as though it is moving fast but that is no indication of the speed with which Ford will be able to unload the Jaguar and Land Rover brands. That is the speculation coming from Topspeed and could very well be the concern of Fords Board of Directors, along with Ford’s President Alan Mulally.

Mulally expressed doubt that the credit volatility of world markets would slow down the sale of Jaguar and/or Land Rover. However there are very few indications coming from the mouth-pieces of Ford nor any interested buyers that the case is otherwise.

Topspeed further intimates that the effects of the uncertain credit markets in North America and Europe could open the door for other interested parties not effected by international credit. Namely, Russia and China may yet have a buyer step forward that might be looking to expand their own brands into other markets and could use an affiliation with Jaguar or Land Rover as a stepping stone.

The only thing that seems certain at this point is that we are sure to hear more on this topic in the months or year to come.

Source[TopSpeed]

Apparently none of the car manufacturers are eager to go to the Frankfurt Auto Show without something new to show. Ford has already showed one of the cards in its hand with the European Kuga. Now they have announced that the Verve concept will also be on display as the small car model of future design and styling.

The lines of the Verve run quite similar with the ascending slope of the aerodynamic Kuga crossover SUV. The platform upon which the Verve is built will serve across the globe as the B-segment platform for Ford. Taking the initial leap as the first to bring the platform to market will be the all new Fiesta.

The U.S. Government has signed a research contract with the Arizona State University to discover the best means to convert the oils from ordinary pond scum into JP-8 military jet fuel. As part of a team with UOP (a Honeywell company), ASU’s lead researchers Qiang Hu and Milton Sommerfeld will spearhead the $6.7 million government assignment by first researching which of the 40,000 varied strands of algae produce the most oil.

We have covered the story on the conversion of Algae to fuel before back in a June Article: From Pond Goo to Alternative Fuel: Algae the Diesel of Tomorrow?The advantages of algae as a fuel source over other bio-sources are many, but here are just a few:

Well it would seem quite a lot if the name happens to be Daimler! A name that has been associated with Jaguar since the early sixties, after Jaguar acquired the rights to use the name. During which time Daimler always represented the top of the range Jaguar model, in fact the Daimler XJ6 Vanden Plas, was the premier car to come out of the Jaguar factory in the series two days.

However the name never appeared on any models that went stateside, for some reason, maybe because they found it hard enough in those days to sell the one car, let alone confusing things with various models too.

The problem is that Daimler Chrysler is a stand alone company, while Ford own Jaguar, also own the rights to use the name Daimler, which could result in some serious problems and confusion for consumers, if a Ford owned Jaguar came out with a Daimler badge and at the same time Daimler Chrysler were trying to sell a high end car, well its just crazy or is it?

It would appear that the two auto giants have come to some sort of an arrangement, that will see both companies using the Daimler name, now as mentioned earlier is that not going to be confusing for people? Exactly what the arrangement is remains a secret for now, so we shall have to wait and see.

Source [Auto Blog]

Holden has taken their Commodore sedan and applied the old utility treatment to it. They chopped out the sedan from the B-pillars back and gave it a little truck bed. Adding a perfect accent to the ute back is some aggressive fascia and side skirts. The standard VE version comes with a 241-hp 3.6 liter V6 matted with four-speed automatic transmission or a 261-hp when paired with a 6-speed manual transmission. Ofcourse, Holden did not stop there as they are pairing the VE ute with the SS treatment.

The SS-V version of the Holden ute has GM’s 6.0 liter V8 engine that is putting out 362-hp. So my question is do the Australian’s really need another modified sedan with a high-powered engine? Is the TRD Aurion sedan with its supercharged V6 putting out 329-hp not enough?