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The Camaro is here, well almost. After the concept Camaro sports coupe which debuted during 2006’s auto show, Chevrolet is aiming high with a convertible.

The Detroit Auto Show is now looking at the Camaro Convertible Concept.The automaker has said that the Camaro convertible will go on sale shortly after the coupe arrives in 2009. Camaro is expected to be affordable and this is sen as giving Chevy a chance to sell a lot of Camaros.

According to technical analysts, the concept coupe and convertible will be powered by a V-8 engine. It is also being rumoured that Chevy might offer V-6s in a bid to the price down. This may be seen as copying from what Ford does with its Mustang. Analyst predict that a V-6 will start in the low $20,000 range. Mustang starts at around $20,000 for the V-6.

Camaro in fact will be the final member of a trio of new cars on which Chevy is banking heavily. First up is the redesigned 2008 Malibu due out this fall. It's built off the same platform as the Saturn Aura sedan that bowed for 2007. Malibu will be followed by a redesigned Impala and then Camaro.

While it is being forecast that Malibu could sell 200,000 units annually, the Aura might see 300,000 units. Meanwhile 100,000 Camaros are what industry experts expect.

The convertible Camaro is expected to feature a traditional softtop rather than a retractable metal hardtop. This according to the company is being done to reduce cost and retain trunk space . The convertible concept is done in the traditional orange pearl with twin gunmetal gray sport stripes.

Labels: Cars, chevrolet

posted by a correspondent @ 10:46 PM 0 comments

Chevrolet Spark in India by April

Come April, and GM will have another addition to its colourful range of beauties. The auto giant is likely to roll out its mini-car Chevrolet Spark by that time.

The Chevrolet Spark is expected to help GM to cement its place in the India auto mart with a share of at least 10 per cent by year 2010, say industry experts.

Spark will be rolled out of GM's Halol plant in Gujarat initially. The company also has plans to make the vehicles at its new plant coming up at Talegaon near Pune in Maharashtra at a later stage. GM has pumped in an investment of about Rs 1,300 crore a Talegaon.

The Talegaon plant is expected to go on stream by August 2008 and was expected to have a capacity of 140,000 units a year. The capacity expansion at the Halol plant started last year, is expected to be completed by March. GM is pushing up its capacity to 85,000 units a year from the current 65,000 units.

GM also has said that it would roll out its premium sports utility vehicle, Captiva, and a diesel version of its premium sedan Optra this year itself. Talking of year 2007, the company plans to expand its presence to 96 towns from 79 during the year and also has lined up measures to add t its number of showrooms to 214. The automaker has 95 showrooms currently.

Labels: Cars, chevrolet

posted by a correspondent @ 10:41 PM 0 comments

Monday, January 08, 2007

Chevrolet Volt electric car concept - news and photo gallery

GM finally embraces the plug-in hybrid with Chevrolet Volt.

Chevrolet Volt, the first electric car from the GM stable is at the concept stage. General Motors showcased its electric concept car Chevrolet Volt at the Detroit Auto Show on Sunday. GM, which abandoned its EV-I electric car project has shown to the world that it is capable of doing a one-up on Toyota in the green car department with the Chevrolet Volt.

GM lovingly calls its battery car as a plug-in hybrid, meaning the Volt's power pack can be charged from a wall socket. Also, the Chevrolet Volt sports an E-Flex onboard engine, which can run on hydrogen, petrol, ethanol and biodiesel. The lithium ion battery which will go into the Volt is still not perfect; GM says that it needs more work on the Chevrolet Volt before it can be put out for commercial production.

The GM Chevrolet Volt has enough battery power to go 40 miles without a recharge. According to GM, the average American drives about 20 miles to work every day. So, a 40-mile strong battery should make the Volt a hit with the commuting masses. GM claims that the Chevrolet Volt can be charged fully in 6.5 hours when plugged into a standard household outlet. GM says the Chevrolet Volt's battery can be charged on a 110-volt standard outlet.

What's more, the Chevrolet Volt's E-Flex engine can run up to 1000 kilometers, if it makes use of its other fuel options. The power plant of the Chevrolet Volt is a 53-kilowatt generator.The three-cyliner E-Flex engine powers the 160 hp motor Volt which moves the car’s front wheels.

“If you lived within 30 miles from work (60 miles round trip) and charged your vehicle every night when you came home or during the day at work, you would get 150 miles per gallon. “More than half of all Americans live within 20 miles of where they work (40 miles round trip). In that case, you might never burn a drop of gas during the life of the car,” said GM Vice Chairman Robert A. Lutz.

Unlike the runaway hit Toyota Prius, the Chevrolet Volt will be run almost entirely on battery power. Toyota Prius, on the other hand, uses an optimum mix of battery power and fuel to make the best of both energy sources.

The battery pack, placed in a tunnel between the passenger seats, is computer-controlled. The Chevrolet Volt's onboard computer determines when the battery should shut down and switch to alternate fuel. The Volt battery is desgined to operate within a temperature range of 30 degrees to 80 degrees. If the temperature crosses these limits, the computer shuts the battery and automatically switches to other fuel for optimum on-road performance.

Along with Toyota, GM was one of the first carmakers to pursue the hybrid car project. However, as Toyota powered ahead with its green car Prius, GM scrapped its eco-car project in 2000, after trying for four years. At that time, GM claimed that there was no market for such a hybrid car. However, Toyota showed there is a market, and a big one, and GM took note. The Chevrolet Volt shows that the company is this time serious about the new market.

GM is embarking on this project at a time when it is seriously pursuing a corporate restructuring which involves shutting down unprofitable units and retrenching workers. The funky-looking Chevrolet Volt is four-door and sporty as you can see from the accompanying photo gallery of Chevrolet Volt. Scroll down to see the full set of pictures.

In the prototype electric car which GM had put together before 2000, the battery power was poor, it could not run air-conditioning, and the car had problems running long distances and climbing.

GM has built the Chevrolet Volt concept car on the modified Delta small car architecture. This car architecture is similar to the one GM currently uses for the Chevrolet Cobalt and HHR.

Said Larry Burns, GM's vice president for research and development and strategic planning: "Instead of a big battery and a small engine generator used in the Volt, we would use a fuel cell propulsion system with a small battery to capture energy when the vehicle brakes," he said.

More than making a mark of its own, the Chevrolet Volt may force other automakers like Honda and Nissan to pump up their own hybrid and fuel-cell car strategies, analysts said.

Jon Lauckner, vice president and global program manager for Chevrolet Volt said: "This isn't a PR ploy or a science fair project, we're dead serious. We're working with battery-makers now on how fast the battery pack can be developed, but it's not going to be way out in the future. We plan a working Volt prototype this year." GM has described the Chevrolet Volt development as "something very important for the future of our company."

The Chevrolet Volt is built to support all-electric mode from 0 to its top speed of 100 mph. The Volt can speed to 60 mph from standstill in 8 to 8.5 seconds. The Volt fuel tank can hold 12 gallons of fuel. GM has also carried out substantial weight reduction in Chevrolet Volt by using advanced plastics.

GM's pioneering effort in building an electric car EV-I and then abandoning it in favour of gasoline-powered conventional automobiles made it the target of many environmentalists who have been pushing for green cars. It even led to a documentary called "Who killed the Electric Car?"

The plug-in hybrid car will be charged from a 110 volt wall socket. The combustion engine on board will be used for charging the battery and not for running the car.

Talking about Chevrolet Volt, an official who founded the non-profit group CalCars said: ""We commend GM for being the first out of the starting gate in the Great Plug-In Car Race of 2007. GM's announcements are the biggest victories yet for CalCars.org and other PHEV advocates. Now our campaign is in third gear. We'll work with the auto industry, government, fleet buyers and advocates to get to the day -- soon, not in a decade -- when customers can buy PHEVs as easily as any other car."

The Chevrolet Volt is the first car developed by General Motors under the E-Flex Engine System. According to GM, today's cars are built around a mechanical propulsion system, which relies on petroleum products as the primary source of fuel. GM believes that the way ahead will be in designing a viable alternate architecture.

Said Anne Asensio, executive director, GM Design who developed the Chevrolet Volt: “First and foremost, this is an advanced technology vehicle that uses little to no fuel at all. But we didn’t see any reason why that should compromise its design.” Designs for the Volt have been solicited from across the world.

The primary problem facing all electric car manufacturers is battery technology, which is still, to put it mildly, behind the times. Until technology grows up to accommodate much more power in much lighter batteries, battery-powered cars will have a long way to go.

Labels: Auto Industry, chevrolet

posted by a correspondent @ 7:29 AM 7 comments

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