One MPG is not enough: Automakers desperate to make a gallon go further
If anyone were to come along and do an updated version of Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing," the could change the background vocal from "I want my MTV" to "I want my MPG" or "I want my low Cd." Coefficient of drag, that is. Carmakers are taking every step they can, starting with aerodynamics, to give cars better gas mileage right now while they wait for more substantial technologies to come online in the near future.
But the tweaks don't stop with aero finessing. The 2009 Dodge Ram spent 200 hours in the wind tunnel, and it also received tweaks to its ECU, which means it spends more time in its cylinder cutoff mode. That, plus eighty pounds of weight savings, adds up to one more MPG on the EPA sheet. Said Ford's Derek Kuzak, "We need to treat every joule of energy in a vehicle like a precious commodity."
In fact, that song hook could also be "I want my XFE." The Cobalt XFE, developed over 18 months to offer the best gas mileage in the Cobalt line, is selling six percent better than expected. Fuel economy, instead of design, is the number one reason people buy a Cobalt now. And the XFE has the lowest on-the-lot time of any Cobalt model. That's how important the price of gas has become.
[Source: Automotive News, sub req'd]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Dave 9:44AM (7/22/2008)
Who would buy a Cobalt for the design? Go buy a Campbell's soup can and drive in that....same thing.
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71cuda 10:15AM (7/22/2008)
But Campbell's soup cans get notoriously bad gas mileage. I would suggest Progresso.
The Other Bob 12:04PM (7/22/2008)
"I wish. The only reason why GM and Ford are scrambling to bring small cars here is because of CAFE,"
They are building more small cars because demand is up. These cars were on the drawing board years ago. This was before increases in CAFE and long before gas even hit $3.50 a gallon.
Unfortunately CAFE will be given the credit, when the market is what is making changes.
Stupid, armchair engineers think that car companies start building these things overnight.
SimbaDogg 12:43AM (7/23/2008)
@the other bob
CAFE standards, for the last 3-6 months have had NOTHING to do w/ the big three, eh ford and gm, scrambling to sell smaller cars.
the fact is, they couldn't sell a full size truck of suv if they tried, they can't even give them away. even toyota is putting tundra and sequoia factories on hiatus. people just dont want those big ass cars anymore, its all about current oil prices, not CAFE standards. a change in CAFE standards would show a shift in production over years, not toyota, ford, gm, and chrysler slowing and shutting down big truck plants within months of each other.
Brian 9:46AM (7/22/2008)
With the new strict CAFE standards, automakers have to spend more money on technologies to increase the fuel economy. Its great to consume less gas but the major downward will be that future cars will COST MORE. And and I know it has ruined alot of future product that auto enthusiasts were looking forward too.(RWD Impala ex.) I stress this again, would the government please stay out of the auto industry. This is supposed to be a free market. If consumers need fuel efficient cars, then its their responsibility to buy an efficient car.
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Pete 10:55AM (7/22/2008)
Yeah, the gov't won't help in a bailout, but they have massive demands...
P.V. 10:05AM (7/22/2008)
"...Its great to consume less gas but the major downward will be that future cars will COST MORE..."
That's what's happened in Europe. Gas prices are more than double what they are here in the US, so car prices are also double. The era of cheap cars, along with the era of cheap gas, is over.
"This is supposed to be a free market. If consumers need fuel efficient cars, then its their responsibility to buy an efficient car."
I wish. The only reason why GM and Ford are scrambling to bring small cars here is because of CAFE, and Bob KLutz has already shown how KLutz-y he is, what with delaying the Cruze and not bringing the Beat (even though it was supposed to be a "global" car). Mr. Mulally (Mullaly? Mullally? Mulaly?) couldn't bring the Euro Fords soon enough, and aside from the current Focus and Escape Hybrid (and, relatively, the Flex), none of Ford's vehicles are particularly fuel-efficient. If it wasn't for CAFE, I doubt GM and Ford would be putting the energy into small cars that they are today and they'd still keep selling SUVs/CUVs (despite the fact that the Ford F-150 has been beaten in May by (in order from greatest to least) the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Camry, and Honda Accord). Chrysler doesn't even seem to be trying to make its vehicles more fuel-efficient; all it's done is lower the price of gas to $3.
Gregg 10:11AM (7/22/2008)
PV, the European prices are only double if you convert them into our weak dollar, which Europeans do not have to do when they buy a car. Europeans get paid in euros and live in a euro economy. The only way the dollar cost affects them is when they buy American goods or travel here...they love our weak dollar.
jb 11:02AM (7/22/2008)
i guess you did not read the article. They say the XFE is selling better than expected. it's because consumers WANT good MPGs. Has NOTHING to do with CAFE.
And yes, the USA has not be built and succeeded on excess and waste, which is what the energy consumption had become lately. This will change, for the good of the country in the long term.
Brian 10:41AM (7/22/2008)
@ PV
Are you forgetting that Bob Lutz is the one who gave us the CTS, G8, Solstice, Malibu etc. He is the one who has improved the quality and gave us great new product. The delaying of the cruze is related to cash flow and partly because maybe they don't want to rush it and make sure it is as good as it can be when it does finallt get here. The Beat, well it doesn't exactly meet our US safety standards. A total redesign might have to be made to make it road legal. If they brought it over here as is, the critics would hammer it for not being safe.
P.V. 10:53AM (7/22/2008)
@Brian (2nd post):
OK, maybe I was a little harsh on the decision to delay the Cruze, as I agree that the Cobalt is not near the end of its life-cycle.
I'm not saying GM doesn't make good cars in general (it does). What I'm saying is that they need to work harder (and they aren't working hard enough right now) to move away from even larger sedans (forget SUVs) to small sedans/hatchbacks. Lutz saying that GM won't bring the Beat over to the US was especially disappointing considering that American auto-show-goers were the ones who voted on the minicar triplet. I find it sad that we get to vote on a product that we will never be able to see on American roads. The Beat was supposed to be engineered to meet each country/continent's standards, but apparently they left out American crash safety standards when designing the car.
I am not in any way saying that the Malibu, G8, CTS, and Solstice are bad cars. It's just that none of them (with the exception of the Malibu, especially with the new 6-speed transmission) have particularly good fuel economy numbers (they may be good for their respective classes), so they shouldn't be the focus in the fuel economy debate (GM, of course, shouldn't abandon them altogether, because those are the best cars in the lineup).
By the way, doesn't the Saturn Sky sell better than the Solstice?
why not the LS2LS7? 11:01AM (7/22/2008)
Brian:
Your argument doesn't work because people don't take into account the big picture.
At $3 one person can barely afford gas or cars as is and so buys a Cobalt or an Accent or something. Another person in the Northeast is barely making ends meet because of the cost of heating oil to heat his house. And 1,000 other people say "why shouldn't I get an F-150 with the trailering package and then lower it to the ground?" Because these people couldn't think ahead, the amount of oil we use goes through the roof, driving the price up, hurting the two people who did nothing wrong even more than the F-150 people who had money to burn.
And then there's the issue of all the money we have to send overseas to fill the tanks of these money wasters. People don't see the problem with that, but it's reducing the wealth of this country by a huge amount every day.
Just ask T. Boone Pickens about it. A life-long oil man and now he's trying to reverse our dependence on foreign oil.
http://pickensplan.com/
Sometimes the government has to get involved, just like it did with auto emission in the 70s. Or industrial pollution even before that.
The Other Bob 12:09PM (7/22/2008)
"I wish. The only reason why GM and Ford are scrambling to bring small cars here is because of CAFE,"
They are building more small cars because demand is up. These cars were on the drawing board years ago. This was before increases in CAFE and long before gas even hit $3.50 a gallon.
Unfortunately CAFE will be given the credit, when the market is what is making changes.
Stupid, armchair engineers think that car companies start building these things overnight.
Holden Miecranc 12:35PM (7/22/2008)
Looking at EPA mileage estimates, it becomes pretty obvious that GM is not exactly getting its' butt whooped in the MPG battle:
4 Cyl / Manual
Corolla- 26/37
Cobalt / G5 XFE- 25/37
Cobalt / G5- 25/35
Aveo- 27/34
Accent- 27/33
Elantra- 25/33
Mazda3- 24/32
Scion tc- 20/27
4 Cyl / Auto
Corolla- 27/35
Versa- 27/33
Aveo- 25/34
Elantra- 25/33
Cobalt / G5- 24/33
Mazda3- 22/30
Scio tc- 21/29
4 Cyl / Auto:
Malibu / G6- 22/33
Sonata- 22/32
Camry - 21/31
Mazda6- 21/30
Fusion / Milan- 20/28
6 Cyl / Auto:
Malibu / G6- 18/29
Sonata- 19/29
Camry- 19/28
Fusion / Milan- 18/26
LaCrosse- 17/28
Mazda 6- 17/25
Rocketboy 12:56PM (7/22/2008)
Of course T Boone wants to get cheap energy. He's putting his money on water now, not energy...
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_25/b4089040017753.htm
Hamud 9:50AM (7/22/2008)
HAhahah, laughing hard about the Dire Straits quote.
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P.V. 9:54AM (7/22/2008)
Does anyone know the fuel economy numbers for the Euro Focus?
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Bah 11:58AM (7/22/2008)
The Euro economy numbers aren't run on the EPA test, so wouldn't be very relevant because the two tests are very different.
JIM MBONGO 10:14AM (7/22/2008)
I don't understand why most people always spend their time critising Cobalt design. Is Honda Civic design or Ford Focus design better than the Cobalt. I don't think so!
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Dave 10:24AM (7/22/2008)
It's like riding in a cardboard box. The door panels are so cheap feeling. The powertrains are nasty. The transmissions are ancient. The switches are CHEAP.
Hop in a Mazda3 and you'll figure out why a Cobalt is a POS.