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Filed under: Diesel, Audi

At the Essen Motor Show in Germany, Audi has announced a new part of its 2009 motorsports program. After three years of running its pioneering R10 TDI, Audi’s diesel racer is being replaced for 2009. The manufacturer has designed an all-new diesel powered R15 TDI. The R15 remains an open cockpit car like its predecessors, but will use a smaller, lighter and more efficient diesel engine. The R10 uses a 5.5L V12 but Audi has not revealed any other details about the R15 engine yet - and there are no images of the R15 yet. So far, Audi has only revealed a limited program for the new R15 starting with the 12 Hours of Sebring in March and followed by the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Audi will be looking to tie Ferrari with a ninth overall victory at Le Mans. Audi spokesman Christian Bokich tells ABG that the company is not yet ready to announce what plans it might have for the rest of the American Le Mans Series.

[Source: Audi]

Continue reading Audi announces new R15 TDI diesel racer for Le Mans

Audi announces new R15 TDI diesel racer for Le Mans originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Diesel, Emerging Technologies, Etc., Ethanol, EV/Plug-in, Green Culture, Hybrid, MPG, Lightweight

It’s been a very good year for green car related news. In the past year, hundreds of thousands of people have lost homes and jobs. Here at AutoblogGreen we churn out words, photographs and videos every day of every week and we’re grateful that you keep coming back to check out what we have to say, even when you berate some of us (OK, that would be me!) when you disagree with our (OK, my) opinions. No doubt we all have some strongly-held opinions about how best to address the issues of energy independence and the environment. As long as you keep coming back we’ll keep writing, and sometimes we’ll be on the same side of the fence and sometimes not. Sebastian, Jeremy, Xavier, Domenick and I, along with the rest of the ABG crew, all consider ourselves very fortunate to be given the opportunity to do this. But there’s more to be thankful for, as you can see in our latest Top Ten list. Let’s get on with it so you have something else to criticize me for.

Honorable mention: Chris Paine, director of Who Killed the Electric Car? As a film, Paine’s documentary wasn’t the greatest motion picture of all time. It did however, re-ignite the debate over plug-in vehicles and in part prompted many of the world’s automakers to re-start EV development. It also got many more people interested in the green car discussion, and for that he deserves a special mention. Now, on with the show…

Ten green automotive things we’re thankful for originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Diesel, MPG, Legislation and Policy

Over at the GM Inside News forums, a poster has put up an interesting proposal to help the automakers and jump start the economy. Some elements of this have already put forward previously, but a warning to all the anti-diesel zealots in the audience, you won’t like this. Essentially the idea is for the president, either the one who is making out his pardon list right now or the one moving in January 20, to issue a temporary waiver allowing high mileage European cars to be imported into the United States. The 24 month reprieve would allow automakers to bring in any car that gets at least 44 mpg combined and passes current European safety regulations and either Euro IV or V emissions regulations. From a safety standpoint, this shouldn’t be a problem, since European regulations are different than the ones here in the states, but still plenty safe.

The real issue lies with emissions. Most of the cars that would qualify are diesel powered. While many are now equipped with particulate filters and would have no issue with soot emissions, NOx is another story. Given that California seems to be particularly averse to NOx emissions, it seems unlikely that they would agree to this waiver and its not clear that the president has the power, even under the War Powers Act, to over-rule California’s emissions standards.

The other problem with this plan is that right now even fuel efficient cars are not selling because many people, especially those at the low end of the market, can’t get credit and they can’t afford to pay cash for a new car. Such a plan would have been helpful six months ago, but unless Hank Paulson is willing to start leaning on his banking buddies to actually loan money out instead of just hoarding that $700 billion, it probably won’t help. The cost of importing these cars from Europe rather than producing them domestically would probably also make the plan non-viable.

[Source: GM Inside News]

Forum poster proposes plan to boost fuel economy, save Detroit originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Diesel, EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Volkswagen

Volkswagen still has yet to announce a production hybrid drivetrain of any sort, instead choosing to focus its efforts on clean diesel technology, and with good effect - the new Jetta TDI was named the 2009 Green Car of the Year. Despite the lack of production plans, VeeDub has been testing some interesting hybrid concepts for the last few months, especially the Golf Twin Drive. Up until now, all of the Twin Drive models had been based on the previous fifth-generation Golf, but that has just been rectified as the German automaker has updated its concept with the latest chassis and sheetmetal.

Twenty Golf Twin Drive cars currently exist and are undergoing testing. Independent tests of the Twin Drive indicate that it can achieve over 90 miles per gallon (US). Three electric motors are used, one up front with the 1.5L diesel engine and one for each rear wheel, making this an all-wheel drive car. Despite its excellent efficiency, there is a high monetary cost to pay for this much technology, so don’t expect a production version any time soon.

[Source: World Car Fans]

VW adds Twin Drive technology to sixth-gen Golf originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Diesel, MPG, PSA, Citroen, European Union

It’s common knowledge that most carmakers selling cars in Europe have a set of models that are a little “greener” than the rest of the line-up. Each OEM’s respective marketing department created a set of evocative names for these models, like Citroën’s Airdream. Now, Citroën has taken the good idea a step further: mating the green label to its fleet cars. This makes cars with reduced CO₂ emissions and lower fuel consumption available to fleet users, and it also makes sense from an economic point of view, since lower fuel consumption also means lower running costs and road taxs. The Airdream Business label will not only include the most efficient powertrains available (1.6-liter HDIs) for each model (C4, C4 Picasso and C5) but the business part adds the highest possible optional equipment: Citroën’s signature satellite navigation system (called MyWay), rear-park assisting, bluetooth connectivity, and so on. The only options are lightweight rims and metallic paint.

[Source: Citroën via Le Blog Auto]

Citroën launches Airdream Business label originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Diesel, EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, SMART, AutoblogGreen Q & A, AutoblogGreen Exclusive

One of the newest cars to drop into the US market is the Smart ForTwo. A decade after its European debut, the two-seat city car finally arrived stateside after several abortive attempts by both its parent company Daimler and independent distributors. This time around Daimler worked with a US distributor set up by serial entrepreneur and race team owner Roger Penske to create SmartUSA. At the LA Auto Show last week we sat down with SmartUSA president David Schembri to discuss the company’s first year in the American market and where they are going.

When it launched, SmartUSA set a target of 20,000 annual sales in this country. Given that this car is definitely a niche product, that relatively modest goal was probably wise. As it turned out, it was actually fairly conservative. Smart delivered the first US-spec ForTwo to a customer in Manhattan on January 16 of this year and the 20,000th example earlier in November “to a couple in their mid-fifties, empty-nesters,” as Schembri described them, in Dallas TX. Not bad for a car that has received decidedly mixed reviews from both media and prospective buyers in this country. Read on past the jump for more of what Schembri talked about.

Continue reading ABG chats with SmartUSA president David Schembri about EVs, diesel, micro-hybrids and more

ABG chats with SmartUSA president David Schembri about EVs, diesel, micro-hybrids and more originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Diesel, BMW, First Drive

Last week, BMW revealed most of the details on its first new 50-state legal clean diesels and we’ve now had the chance to spend some quality time behind the wheel of the new US-spec 335d. Following our arrival at Los Angeles International Airport, we were sent off in a brand new US-spec, 50 state legal diesel 3-series for a driving tour of the freeways, surface streets and canyons north of the city.

The 3-series is BMW’s biggest selling model by a wide margin, accounting for 45 percent of all the brand’s sales so far this year. For the 2009 model year, the 3-series received a minor exterior face-lift with a re-sculpted nose and tail. On the inside, the 2009 3 is the first US-market BMW to get the new redesigned version of the previously dreaded i-Drive interface. Of course, the real reason for ABG’s interest is the introduction of the most fuel efficient BMW ever offered for sale in the United States, the 335d. Find out about our first impression after the jump.

Photos Copyright (C)2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading ABG First Drive: 2009 BMW 335d

ABG First Drive: 2009 BMW 335d originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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