Honda to lease fuel cell cars in California
By Dee-Ann Durbin, BusinessWeek,
Los Angeles, CA, Nov. 14, 2007
Source: BusinessWeek.com
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8STQLN80.htm
Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday it will begin leasing its new FCX Clarity hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered car to a limited number of Southern California drivers this summer. Honda wouldn’t say how many vehicles will be leased. The company plans to offer a three-year lease with a $600 monthly payment. The low-slung, FCX Clarity sedan was unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Honda also is developing a home fueling station that uses a home’s existing natural gas supply to produce hydrogen. The automaker now has such a fueling station on its research and design campus in Torrance.
Ford Motor Co. President and CEO Alan Mulally said Tuesday that his company is at least 10 years away from offering a fuel-cell car on the market, in part because Ford is concerned about the safety of the highly flammable lithium-ion batteries used in the vehicles.
But Tetsuo Iwamura, president of Honda North America, said Wednesday that the FCX Clarity only uses the lithium-ion battery in limited amounts compared with a hybrid or electric vehicle, which would rely more heavily on the battery to drive long distances. Iwamura said the battery is safe. In a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, hydrogen combines with oxygen in the vehicle’s fuel-cell stack, and energy from the reaction is converted into electricity to power the vehicle. The vehicle’s only emission is water.
General Motors Corp. also said Wednesday it will put 100 fuel-cell vehicles on the road in California, New York and Washington, D.C., starting next year, including 10 that will transport visitors at Disneyland.
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General Motors Corp. Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said Wednesday that support of technology — not congressional intervention — is the best way to wean the company off foreign oil, but that GM will comply with the law if Congress raises fuel economy standards. “We will do anything that anybody tells us. We have the solutions to get there,” Lutz said. “It’s just, I feel compelled to say, that for the goals that the nation is pursuing — namely less CO2 and independence from foreign oil — it is not the right strategy.”
An energy bill before the U.S. Senate would set a 35-mile-per-gallon average fuel economy requirement for an automaker’s fleet by 2020. Automakers support a more modest approach that would require 32 to 35 mpg by 2022. Lutz spoke after introducing a slew of GM vehicles designed to improve fuel economy, including the hybrid Chevrolet Silverado, which is the first full-size hybrid truck; the subcompact Chevrolet Aveo5, which gets 35 miles per gallon on the highway; and the Chevrolet Volt electric concept car.
Lutz wouldn’t say how much GM will charge for the Silverado hybrid, as well as its hybrid sport utility vehicle counterparts, the hybrid Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon. But he said both will cost less than the most expensive versions of those vehicles. Lutz also said GM will build the subcompact Chevrolet Beat hatchback, which was introduced as a concept in New York earlier this year. The Beat will be built in South Korea. He didn’t say when it would go on the market.
Lutz said Chevrolet is aiming to offer the best fuel economy in every vehicle it sells. “This technology will radically alter the landscape,” he said.
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Nissan Motor Co. will try to hang on to its share of the important crossover market with the redesigned Nissan Murano introduced Wednesday. The 2009 Murano has new upgrades, including a sliding glass moonroof and second-row skylight and a fold-flat rear seat back, as well as a retuned engine and a bold new grille with sharply angled headlights. The company said the ride is also stiffer, thanks to the new platform. The 2009 Murano goes on sale in January.
Nissan first introduced the Murano in 2003, and its distinct styling made it an immediate hit. But with more crossovers flooding the market, including the hot-selling Buick Enclave and Ford Edge, Murano sales have been flagging. Murano sales were down 1 percent in the first 10 months of this year, even though overall sales of crossovers and sport wagons were up 16 percent, according to Autodata Corp.
Nissan also unveiled a new version of its flagship GT-R super car, which it first showed in Tokyo last month. The 480-horsepower GT-R is expected to be sold for around $80,000 in the U.S. next year.
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German automaker Volkswagen AG will decide in the next six months whether to build a new U.S. plant, a spokesman said Wednesday. Steve Keys said Stefan Jacoby, Volkswagen of America’s chief executive, is considering a number of factors, including location and the skill level of the work force. The relative weakness of the U.S. dollar versus the euro also could make the United States a more attractive location than Germany.
Volkswagen had a plant in Pennsylvania but shut it down in the 1980s. Jacoby has said he wants Volkswagen to do a better job of developing and marketing cars that will appeal to Americans. Volkswagen AG is the world’s fourth largest producer of passenger cars and is Europe’s largest automaker but accounts for just 2 percent of the U.S. auto market.
Volkswagen’s U.S. sales were down 3 percent in the first 10 months of this year, the victim of a weak market. Sales of the automaker’s small cars, including the Beetle and Rabbit, were up significantly but were dragged down by flagging sales of the Passat sedan.
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Chrysler LLC said Wednesday it’s lowering the price of its diesel-powered Jeep Grand Cherokee by $1,000 in order to boost consumer interest and awareness. The company also is adding a diesel option to the lower-priced Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, said Chrysler’s product development chief, Frank Klegon. The diesel version of the four-wheel-drive Grand Cherokee now sells for around $41,500, or $3,500 more than the gasoline version.
Klegon said around 5 percent to 6 percent of Grand Cherokees sold are diesels, and the company wants to increase that number. Diesels can improve fuel economy by up to 30 percent over gas engines. “It should be higher,” Klegon said. “I think it’s a real potential powertrain for the future.”
Chrysler also introduced hybrid versions of its full-size Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen sport utility vehicles Wednesday. The hybrid engine improves fuel economy by 25 percent, or up to 40 percent in city driving, without compromising the vehicles’ performance or towing ability. Chrysler developed the hybrid systems in a partnership with General Motors Corp., Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
Klegon said Chrysler’s expertise in diesel and hybrid technology make it uniquely positioned in the marketplace as automakers embrace new technology to improve fuel economy.
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The MINI Clubman has arrived in America.
The Clubman made its North American debut Wednesday at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The car is a larger version of the MINI compact, with five doors and more leg and storage room. The car’s rear door is split, and it has a rear-hinged door on the right-hand side of the car to ease access to the back seat. It also has 40 possible combinations of exterior paint colors for owners who want to personalize their vehicles.
The Clubman will be available with two engines for U.S. drivers: a 1.6-liter, four-cylinder with direct gas injection that gets 175 horsepower, and one without direct injection that gets 120 horsepower. The MINI Clubman is set to go on sale Feb. 16 with a starting price of $20,600.