Motor companies show leaner, greener models but muscle still dominates in Detroit
Mon 14 January 2008
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The Detroit Motor Show included some lower carbon vehicles alongside the traditional power and performance models. The Show was also notable for the greater presence of Chinese manufacturers and the growing influence of those from Japan.
A number of car makers showed hybrid plug-in concepts in Detroit. GM, for example, announced that production may begin as soon as 2010 on a plug-in hybrid electric version of the Saturn Vue Green Line, which it expects to be the first regular production plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.
Toyota displayed its plug-in hybrid prototype, which, like the current Prius, switches from pure electric to gas engine to a blended gas electric mode. But the plug-in has a second battery pack that allows it to store greater levels of electricity and is capable of operating in pure electric mode for longer periods of time and at much higher speeds. Toyota officials are reported as saying that when the plug-ins make it to showrooms depends on their ability to mass produce the batteries and the usage by fleet and commercial customers.
Chrysler rolled out three plug-in concept cars: the Chrysler ecoVoyager, Dodge Zeo and Jeep Renegade. The Zeo concept is completely electric while the ecoVoyager includes a fuel cell while the Renegade contains a low emission diesel engine.
Ford Motor Co. already has a partnership with Southern California Edison to develop a small fleet of plug-in hybrids. The company delivered its first plug-in to the utility late last year.
Chinese automaker BYD, which is also one of the world's top battery suppliers, said it will begin selling a plug-in hybrid sedan in China by the end of this year and wants to bring the vehicle to North America in three to five years.
Commentators, however, pointed out that in spite of their talk of environmental development, the two biggest product launches of the show - Ford's F-150 and Chrysler's Dodge Ram - are heavyweight pick-up trucks. Reported in The Guardian, the Detroit Free Press's motoring critic, Tom Walsh, described this as an "utter thematic contradiction", asking: "Is [the motor show] the greenest place on earth this week? Or gas-hog heaven all over again?"
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