Here was a little story I found and wanted to share, its not much but you can clearly see how  this can affect an entire industry. This survey was conducted across different fleet managers across the industry.

Almost half of all fleets (49 percent) are measuring emissions. In 2008, the first year PHH Arval asked the question, slightly more than a quarter of all fleets (28 percent) were measuring their emissions. There have been significant gains in this area in the past two years….

Cost continues to be a concern. Although the number of people that identify cost as a barrier to greening their fleets has fallen slightly each year, it continues to be significant at 42 percent (down from 46 percent in 2008). Twenty-nine percent of respondents have been finding cost savings as they reduce emissions. This is slightly up from last year (25 percent)….

Fleets focusing on driver behavior as a key way to reduce emissions. Seventy-four percent of fleet managers are reaching out to drivers to enlist their help with fleet environmental goals…..

SOURCE: http://www.automotive-fleet.com/News/Story/2010/06/Nearly-Half-of-Fleets-Measure-GHG-Emissions.aspx?interstitial=1

Its about time Tesla finally is going to become an industry monster.

Here is a snippet from that article.

Hey if they are looking for some great consulting, you know where to find us. lol

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) — U.S. electric sports car maker Tesla Motors filed for an initial public offering of up to $100 million, aiming to cash in on growing investor interest in battery-powered vehicles and green technology.

Tesla Is Finally A Industry Player

The IPO filing on Friday from the six-year-old start-up, best known for its $109,000 all-electric Roadster, represents a landmark in the resurgence of electric car technology that most carmakers until recently had dismissed as impractical……

Tesla is a small player with a high-end market and limited production, but hopes the Model S electric sedan will broaden its potential market.

It has received about 2,000 reservations for the car, which is being designed as a four-door, five-passenger premium sedan with an additional third row with two rear-facing child seats. It has a base price of $49,900.

The R&D guys at Mercades are working on a new plug engine; a new plug-in hybrid technology. The automaker plans to utalize the technology on all of into models within the next 3 years. Here is the article below.

The information comes from Mercedes-Benz research and development chief Thomas Weber, who explained to Autocar during a recent interview that it “makes a lot of sense to bundle the high-price tech option to the sort of customers willing to pay for this sort of thing.”

The technology has already been previewed by last year’s Vision S500 Plug-In Hybrid Concept, which combined a 3.5L V-6 gasoline engine with an electric motor running on lithium-ion batteries.

Dropping this powertrain into the next-generation S-Class, which is also expected to benefit from a weight reduction program and aerodynamic aids, Mercedes-Benz could potentially deliver the promised 70 mpg luxury sedan.

There won’t be a purely electric version, however. Weber ruled such a car out due to concerns over its range. Note, however, that a plug-in hybrid version could potentially drive on all-electric power alone for short distances.

As for the rest of the lineup, expect a new range of “MoVe” modular V-6 and V-8 engines featuring direct-injection and turbocharging technologies.

 

Source: http://www.automotive-fleet.com/News/Story/2010/01/Plug-In-Hybrid-Option-for-Next-Gen-Mercedes-Benz-S-Class.aspx

 

 

Find A Great- R-Class here…..

http://www.superherocars.com/postads/listing_details/789/_2007_Mercedes-Benz_R350.html

The Karma by Fisker.. Makes A Huge Splash

Fisker Automotive has announced today that they will be opening a North American plant to begin assembly of their 2012plug in models. Fisker Automotive has been at the forefront of innovation over the past 3 years behind Tesler. The company has been looking into purchasing a plant closed by GM at the start of the industry meltdown.  With this plant reopening this places the industry back on a path to recovery; and to a new era within the industry.

Fisker Automotive is leading a new generation

Fisker plans to use the $528 million dollar loan given by the department of Energy to start moving into the plant; which already comes equipped with specialized production equipment for making hybrid vehicles. Fisker plans to produce at least 100,000 units of mid size vehicles that cost about 40,000 per unit.

The factor that separates FIsker from many others is the innovation behind the company itself and not just their cars.  Just like SuperHeroCars.com saves you time and money; Fisker is a smarter, leaner type of car company. Fisker focuses on the process of driving a vehicle and plans on enhancing driving experience, while not adding too much clutter.

Fisker currently has one production vehicle out called the Karma which was featured at the NY Auto Show back in April.

For more information on Fisker log on to Fiskerautomotive.com

SOURCE:http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091021/ANA02/910219980/1186&AssignSessionID=373326151678011

As the nation is turning in their oil drinking clunkers and leaving car dealerships with hybrid and electric vehicles. The batteries and motors on those new vehicles, are made of a rare earth metals. Autonews.com broke the story earlier today.

Our planet will be giving up more resources besides Oil.

Worldwide demand for rare earths, covering 15 entries on the periodic table of elements, is expected to exceed supply by some 40,000 tons annually in several years unless major new production sources are developed. One promising U.S. source is a rare earths mine slated to reopen in California by 2012.

Among the rare earths that would be most affected in a shortage is neodymium, the key component of an alloy used to make the high-power, lightweight magnets for electric motors of hybrid cars, such as the Prius, Honda Insight and Ford Focus, as well as in generators for wind turbines………

- This begs a few questions that the public has to raise; where will we find this rare metal now? What will happen when there is a shortage. Will we have to end up paying even more for cars due to the high input cost? Why wasn’t this a factor before everyone started to make the shift? Why wait until 2012 to reopen the earths mine? What if the demand for these vehicles exceed the supply that is available?  The list of questions can go on for miles but that doesn’t change anything.

Jack Lifton, an independent commodities consultant and strategic metals expert, calls the Prius “the biggest user of rare earths of any object in the world.”

Each electric Prius motor requires 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of neodymium, and each battery uses 10 to 15 kg (22-33 lb) of lanthanum. That number will nearly double under Toyota’s plans to boost the car’s fuel economy, he said.

Toyota plans to sell 100,000 Prius cars in the United States alone for 2009, and 180,000 next year. The company forecasts sales of 1 million units per year starting in 2010.

- Doesn’t this seem wrong that all of a sudden after “clunkers binge” we are now learning that the Prius uses the largest amount of rare metals in the world to make. That doesn’t seem to add up we are cleaning up the air but robbing the environment of the rarest metals to create vehicles.

Reuters reported last year that Japanese firms are showing strong interest in a Canadian rare earth site under development at Thor Lake in the Northwest Territories.

A Toyota spokeswoman in Los Angeles said the automaker would not comment on its resource development plans. But media accounts and industry blogs have reported recently that Toyota has looked at rare earth possibilities in Canada and Vietnam

- So as we speak there are plans to unearth these metals within the next year, if sales are expected to reach 1 million units per year. They would need to ensure that enough metal to supply the automakers. This is the most troubling aspect of this entire finding; the automakers did not comment on the development plans. Lets just hope that we dont have to end up in a war to control the earths precious metals. 

Source:  http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090831/ANA02/308319944/1186&AssignSessionID=373326151678011 

The government’s Cash-For-Clunkers program has been officially launched; to some is a success but to other it may spell not fair well for used car dealers. According to AutomotieNews.com this program has more customers fulling up new car show rooms across the country.

The Cash For Clunkers Program has many used dealers on the ropes.

Many customers across the country are finding out that their vehicles do not qualify for the program. They have been walking into dealerships expecting to get rid of their clunker for a green vehicle and a voucher for $4,500. Some even end up buying a used vehicle anyway; this may hurt many used dealers due to the volume of customers flocking toward the new dealerships looking for those vouchers.

This hurts many within an industry that has been badly beaten by the economy; now this is like throwing salt on a wound. As if used car sales were not struggling enough, this just affirms that maybe the government may have rushed into this cash for clunkers thing? But this program is still in its first stages; lets see what happens at the end of the quarter or even by the end of the year.

The worst thing is that there are a few unsatisfied customers out there who have to settle; they need the vehicles but they had to settle due to a government program. As stated below one customer didn’t get exactly what he wanted.

Wallace says a customer who wanted to trade his 1989 Toyota pickup for a new vehicle didn’t qualify. It was “a junker in every sense of the word,” he says, but the truck’s four-cylinder engine was too fuel-efficient to qualify under the government rules.

Wallace gave the man $1,800 for the truck and sold him a used 2008 Nissan Versa small car.

“He was a little disappointed, but he needed a car,” Wallace says

This program works well for most of the GM dealerships that have  been in ot water. But its the average  used car dealer that will suffer here; this program has potential buyers flocking to new car show rooms and ignoring the used car dealers on  the way there.

Why scrap a car that can be resold? That doesn’t seem like something that should be done during rough times. But what do we know?

Here is the rest of the article…

Says Greg Cole, who owns Chevrolet dealerships in Pocatello, Idaho, and Athens, Ga.:, "It’s a positive program, and it’s just when General Motors dealers needed it."

But it also has redirected customers away from Cole’s used-car lots to new-car showrooms.

Adam Simms, owner of Toyota Sunnyvale in Sunnyvale, Calif., says his new-car sales are strong thanks to the federal government program. He expects to sell about 190 used vehicles in July, which would be his best used-vehicle sales month ever.

But Simms is concerned that taking so many used vehicles out of the market to be destroyed will hurt his used-car business over the next few months. Of the 130 vehicles he has taken in under the program, about 110 would have been resold as used at his store under typical circumstances.

Says Simms: "You’ll see the impact in August, September and October of those cars being destroyed."

Half ‘true junk’

Wallace says half the vehicles he has taken on trade under the guzzlers program are “true junk,” but the others “are vehicles somebody would have retailed.”

So in some instances, Wallace is giving customers $4,500 for their trade-ins so he can sell the vehicles on his used-car lot.

“People are always calling, saying they want an $8,000 or $9,000 car to go fishing in or for their high school student,” Wallace says. “You can never have enough of those cars.”

Source: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090729/ANA05/907299975/1132&AssignSessionID=373326151678011

Cash For Guzzlers; will it be a Hit or a Major Flop?

Dealers across the country will be receving letter stating how they can register online for the goverments cash for guzzlers program.  The outline of the program will also allow dealers to file claims for those who have utalized the program thus far.

Only dealers can acess the websites which are linked to cars.gov  a new site designed by the goverment to aide in this transition period within the industry.

Thanks to AutoMotiveNews.com here are the details of whats going to be happening.

Only dealers who register can participate in the new program, aimed at spurring auto sales by offering credits of up to $4,500 to customers who swap old vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient cars and light trucks.

The program calls for dealers to provide the credits to customers, and then to file with the government for reimbursement. Dealers also will have to dispose of the engines and drive trains of the old vehicles to keep them off the road in an effort to improve the fuel economy of the U.S. fleet. Tyson said the new federal rules are aimed in part at preventing fraud in dealer disposal of used vehicles.

Today’s letters instruct dealers how to use a secret code to access a new Transportation Department Website just for dealers, Tyson said. Registration can begin today, a copy of the letter shows.

Dealers will have to provide personal banking information when registering, and those with more than one vehicle franchise will have to file separately for each franchise, the letter says.

The new dealer Website will be inaccessible to the public and will be linked to the Transportation Department’s cars.gov site that details the program for consumers, Tyson said.

In preparing the letters, the government asked car companies for the names and addresses of all current dealers, including those slated for termination by General Motors, Tyson said. There were more than 19,000 dealerships as of the end of June, according to National Automobile Dealers Association data.

President Barack Obama signed the cash-for-guzzlers legislation last month, and dealers were allowed to begin selling cars under the program July 1.

However, dealers couldn’t file for federal reimbursement until the rules were announced, nor could they be sure they were complying with the yet-to-be-released standards.

Both the government and NADA urged dealers to wait until the rules were out, but a number of dealers have already sold cars under the program. It’s these dealers that the Transportation Department worries may overload its systems next Friday with reimbursement claims, Tyson said, adding the Transportation Department is urging dealers to space out their claims.

The program has already drawn extraordinary interest among both dealers and consumers. The cars.gov site has been heavily trafficked since it was launched less than a month ago, Tyson said. He said the agency’s hotline fielded about 2,300 telephone queries yesterday, more than 400 from dealers.

Source: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090717/ANA05/907179952/1078&AssignSessionID=373326151678011