Veracruz takes on luxury crossovers Complacency is a quality best left at the factory door when it comes to cars. Back in the '80s, when Volvo was famous for making safe cars, the brand's vanguard was an ugly, slow, heavy machine called the 240. Natural selection took us from soup to trees, trees to cars. The Aura, Sky and Outlook are fine machines, but even better examples of "80%" cars: GM vehicles that are an interior, gearbox, suspension and/or trunk space away from greatness.
Com
Auto engineers are getting more and more sophisticated, but buying a fuel-efficient car doesn't have to be rocket science--if you follow a few common-sense shopping tips. Honda's Insight-full hybrid combines a gasoline engine and an electric motor. Hybrids combine the best of electricity and gasoline. GM says the vehicle will change the way people commute, reducing emissions and America's dependence of foreign oil. The technology combines radar sensors and a computer system to assess a car's speed and the distance to a vehicle in front, Nissan Motor Co.
Hybrid
Hybrid technology also works on a larger scale. Hybrids combine the best of electricity and gasoline. Hybrids sound good -- they are, for example, exempt from the range limitations of battery-powered cars. In 1999, five hybrid busses ran up to 18 hours a day in New York City. Battery concerns will slow the launch of a planned super-efficient Toyota Prius, also delaying the automaker's hybrid options for full-size trucks and SUVs like Tundra and Sequoia. Toyota first demonstrated a futuristic hybrid concept vehicle at the Tokyo Auto Show in 1995. In 2000, Honda and Toyota both started selling "hybrid" electric cars that evade those bothersome range limits. But even hybrids could seem passed by 2004, when major auto makers promise to start selling cars powered by fuel cells. Starting in 2008, they can get a hybrid Peterbilt when their time comes. The flagship hybrid's redesign will still debut in 2009, but with updated nickel-metal hydride batteries. Nearly every automobile manufacturer saw sales declines in July, but while the overall car market is down 3% this year, hybrid sales are up more than 50%. Manufacturers looking for share gains would be smart to invest in a growth segment: hybrids. In addition to the gasoline and diesel power trains now available, Mercedes will soon introduce electric and micro-hybrid versions of the diminutive auto. Toyota's unveiling of its road-ready plug-in hybrid project last week has spurred a publicity contest. The auto industry has responded to the new desire for fuel economy by offering a growing number of fuel-efficient models--not just hybrids. Honda's Insight-full hybrid combines a gasoline engine and an electric motor. The Toyota Prius, a five passenger hybrid about the size of a Corolla, gets 52 miles per gallon around town and 45 on the highway.
A few years back, concerns about pollution -- and nagging worries about global warming and oil shortages -- led to a trickle of electric cars powered by batteries. Because the batteries were heavy and expensive, the cars didn't drive far enough between recharges. You never plug in these cars to recharge the battery -- you simply fill the gas tank. Because the battery is not the cars sole source of support, so to speak, it can be much smaller than the weighty, costly monsters used for battery-operated cars.
About the Author
John Gorman is a successful Webmaster and publisher of www.WeKnowCars.com. He provides more information on all types of car and car issues that you can research in your pajamas on his website.
สมัครสมาชิก:
ส่งความคิดเห็น (Atom)
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น