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Originally Posted by ReaganLogan  I would say it is more of our EPA's out of touch with reality standards that they impose on us and then wonder why increased fuel economy is NOT happening. When in actuality it is but emission standards increases end up keeping them the same.
GM has some beautifully crafted diesels that Saab uses in Europe, yet they do not pass American emissions. *** is that about???
Also, Chevrolet's Tahoe Hybrid just won the "Green Automobile" of the year award at the LA Auto Show...
Not bad for a place that is heavy on green automobiles... |
I think you're right about the EPA. Their measures have prevented diesels becoming a real alternative to petrol engines. However I don't see there is any reason for GM to tap on their own shoulder either. Hardly anybody was able to predict the oil price climb but it seems that at GM they did much less research in efficient and smaller displacement engines than most of their European and Japanese competitors. And not just in engines. GM is a large transmission manufacturer but it still has many car models that use the old 4-speed automatic transmission. And to think it's almost 2008 already.
The fact that BMW and MB chose to use GM's hybrid technology was a jackpot for GM. Now the company doesn't look as backward as it would otherwise and they will get products on the market much sooner than without the co-operation.
IMO awarding Tahoe Hybrid with Green Car of the Year title is an oxymoron. This type of vehicles are the worst to start with when you are developing an environmental-friendly car. Of course it's nice that GM offers a more economical engine choice but it should only be a temporary measure until the rest of the model range is enough wide and ready to compensate for dropping the worst gas-guzzlers.
PS.
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate GM (or American cars in general). In fact I like many of their new models.
I just think they've done some very serious mistakes and they should admit them. The car market has changed very much in a short period of time and GM should adjust accordingly. This means making big changes to the range and dropping the models that are not selling anymore. What I hope they don't think is that they can get away by keeping the lineup mostly intact and only adding hybrid engine options for them.