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First Drive: Chevrolet Cruze Turbo Diesel

Great mileage, good performance – but is it worth the price?

by on May.24, 2013

At 46 mpg highway, the new Chevy Cruze Turbo Diesel gives even hybrids a run for their (gas) money.

It looks like your run-of-the-mill Chevrolet Cruze, albeit with a nicely loaded interior. But it only takes a second, after you slip behind the wheel and turn the key, to recognize something’s different.

There’s that chattering sound from under the hood that tells you this is the new 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Turbo Diesel, the first time any of General Motors’ U.S. brands has put an “oil burner” under the hood of a passenger car since 1986. There’s good reason why it’s taken so long considering the disastrous diesels it produced in the mid-‘80s, models so bad they almost single-handedly destroyed the American diesel market.

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But it’s a new world. Technologies such as high-pressure injection and turbocharging have transformed the modern diesel, making them smooth, quiet, quick and clean.  Or, at least, that’s what we’ve experienced from other manufacturers, such as Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. So TheDetroitBureau.com went to Hell and back – Hell, Michigan, that is, to see if the new Cruze Turbo Diesel was anywhere near as good as the competition.

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After Nearly Killing the Diesel, GM Brings it Back

Chevrolet launches Cruze diesel, considers other options.

by on May.24, 2013

The 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel will have the highest highway mileage rating of any non-hybid passenger car sold in the U.S.

The company that all but killed the diesel engine is now hoping to bring it back.

For the first time since 1986, General Motors began selling a diesel-powered passenger car this week, and company officials say that a successful launch of the 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Turbo Diesel could convince them to add additional “oil burners” to the line-up.

“We’ll be watching very closely,” said Chris Perry, vice president of marketing for the Chevrolet brand, adding that with the launch of the Cruze Diesel, Chevy hopes to give some “real competition” to the European makers that currently dominate the small but growing U.S. diesel market, especially Volkswagen.

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Diesels were a significant part of the U.S. market in the late 1970s and early 1980s as American motorists struggled to deal with rising fuel prices after two Mideast energy shocks. But the market took a tumble late in the ‘80s, in part due to some major quality problems with GM diesels, especially an Oldsmobile engine that had a tendency to fail catastrophically.

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Lutz Looking to Buy Fisker

Former GM “car czar,” Chinese supplier reportedly offer $20 mil for failed plug-in maker.

by on May.24, 2013

Former GM car czar Lutz meeting with reporters at the Detroit Auto Show.

General Motors’ former “car czar” and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz reportedly is part of a group making a bid to purchase the assets of fast-failing plug-in carmaker Fisker Automotive.

The $20 million offer would be part of a pre-packaged bankruptcy deal, according to the Reuters news service. Fisker, which produces the $100,000 Karma plug-in hybrid sports car, laid off three-quarters of its staff in April and senior executives subsequently told a Congressional committee that a Chapter 11 filing was quite likely to follow.

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Credited with the original concept that eventually became the Chevrolet Volt plug-in, Lutz did not return a request for comment. But he recently expressed his interest in Fisker through a bylined column on the Forbes blog.  He described the Karma as “quite possibly the most beautiful four-door sedan ever,” and referred to its underlying technology as “ground-breaking.”

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Tesla, Chrysler Get into Sniping Match

Makers dispute who paid off the government first.

by on May.23, 2013

Tesla CEO Elon Musk boasts his automaker was first to completely pay off its federal loans.

It began with a seemingly innocuous statement from Tesla Motors but has quickly escalated into a spitting match with Detroit’s third-largest automaker, Chrysler.

On Wednesday, the battery-car start-up announced that it would pay back the remaining $451.8 million that it owes the U.S. Energy Department nine years ahead of schedule, using money it expects to raise from an upcoming, $1.1 billion stock offering.

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That prompted the irrepressible Elon Musk, the constantly tweeting Tesla CEO, to declare that Tesla will become “the only American car company to have fully repaid the government.”

Or will it? Not according to Chrysler.

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Chevrolet Spark EV Starts at $19,995 After Credits

Battery car captures nation’s highest mileage rating.

by on May.23, 2013

The 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV can be purchased for as little as $17,500 in some locations due to federal, state and local incentives.

General Motors will begin selling its new Chevrolet Spark EV at select dealers in California and Oregon next month for a base price of $27,495 including destination charges.

Since the little battery-electric vehicle will qualify for a federal tax credit of $7,500, that will bring its effective price to $19,995 – and possible even lower thanks to various state and local tax credits. The maker also plans to offer a three-year, $199 a month lease after a downpayment of $999.

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That will position the Chevy Spark EV as one of the lowest-priced battery cars on the market, a move Chevy hopes will increase the appeal of the vehicle in a market still skeptical of electric propulsion. Based on EPA forecasts, the maker claims motorists could save as much as $150 a month on gasoline.

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Tesla Confirms Plans to Repay Fed Loan

Move means profit for taxpayers on controversial loan.

by on May.22, 2013

The Tesla Model S is generating 30% gross margins, according to the California maker.

Tesla Motors today confirmed it will pay back a more than $450 million loan it received from the Department of Energy, part of a controversial Obama Administration program intended to encourage the development of clean, high-mileage automotive technology – but which has seen several high-profile failures by companies that received some of the taxpayer-funded loans.

Earlier this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk signaled his plan to pay off the program more than a decade ahead of schedule – a move meant to reduce Tesla’s interest costs but which also is expected to generate a profit of as much as $12 million for the U.S. Treasury.

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“I would like to thank the Department of Energy and the members of Congress and their staffs that worked hard to create the ATVM program, and particularly the American taxpayer from whom these funds originate,” said Musk, referring to the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program. “I hope we did you proud.”

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VW “Service Action” Meant to Keep Gas Out of Diesel Cars

A potentially costly mistake.

by on May.22, 2013

VW hopes to make it impossible to accidentally fill a TDI with gas instead of diesel.

It’s the sort of problem that can plague anyone – even President Barack Obama, whose limousine broke down during a visit to Israel earlier this year.

It turned out that someone inadvertently filled up the tank of the armored Cadillac sedan – nicknamed “The Beast” – with diesel instead of gasoline.  The two fuels don’t mix and that simply mistake can prove a costly one.

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The problem occurs frequently and all over the world. A recent study found that British police run up nearly $2 million in repair bills each year pumping the wrong fuel into their cruisers.

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Growing Number of Americans Go Carless

Trend affects old as well as young.

by on May.22, 2013

Ford Chairman Bill Ford, shown here with Zipcar Chairman Scott Griffith. A growing number of households are relying on services like Zipcar rather than owning a vehicle.

Whether by choice or through financial reality, the number of American households without a car has doubled over the past two decades – and is now approaching 10%.

Significantly, the shift is affecting older Boomers as well as Millennials. The impact of this trend could be significant, especially when it comes to alternative forms of transportation such as car-sharing and mass transit, according to research by CNW Marketing.

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“While the recession was in large part responsible for the latest spurt, the trend was already clear,” says CNW’s research chief Art Spinella, “A growing number of Americans felt they didn’t need or want a personal car.”

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Sorry, Says Marchionne for Italian-American Slur

Fiat/Chrysler apologizes for jest.

by on May.21, 2013

Fiat/Chrysler CEO Marchionne gets his point across -- but angers some listeners.

Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has apologized for using what some took as an offensive term for Italian-Americans during the Detroit Auto Show last January.

Describing his frustrations with the slow effort to return the Alfa Romeo brand to the U.S. market, Marchionne said the new 4C sports car didn’t have the right powertrain yet, adding that, “With all due respect to my American friends, it needs to be a wop engine.”

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The term was meant to convey the desire to have a distinctly Italian engine for the little Alfa – which ultimately won approval from Marchionne a few weeks later.

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BMW-Toyota Sports Car to Debut in Tokyo

The goal is to “exceed all expectations.”

by on May.21, 2013

Senior officials, including Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda and BMW Chairman Nobert Reithofer, celebrate their expanding alliance.

What do you get when BMW and Toyota set down to develop a sports car? We’re apparently about to find out, their joint effort reportedly set to make its eagerly awaited debut at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show.

The midsize sports car is one of several projects that the German and Japanese automaker have announced as part of a growing alliance first announced in 2011. Among other things, the two makers plan to work on fuel cells, lithium-ion batteries and hybrid technology, while BMW is now providing diesel engines for Toyota to use in its European line-up.

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“I get so excited thinking about the cars that will result from this relationship,” Toyota chief Akio Toyoda said in January.

So do a lot of industry observers waiting to find out precisely what the two partners have in store.

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