Sign up for free to get the latest from greenbang direct to your inbox
 
Home | Research Store | Work With Us | Events | Insight | Press | About | Newsletter | Contact

Are car makers really committed to going green?

Published Tuesday, 15th January 2008

road1.jpg

With the Detroit motor show in full swing, you can bet stories about green cars will be ten a penny this week. Well, alright, I doubt you can bet – William Hill wouldn’t be stupid enough to take your money.

And god knows, if you can bet on stories about green cars appearing this week, then Greenbang’s off to lay some serious money with the bookies that she can guess her own middle name.

In the meantime, Newsweek sums it all up nicely:

Detroit is anxious to show the world that it finally gets green and is working hard to engineer cars that sip instead of guzzle. They’ll roll out hydrogen-powered concept cars with names like ecoVoyager and fuel-friendly engines like the EcoBoost (eco, apparently, is the new i). There’s just one problem with this eco echo chamber: The most important new model introductions at the Detroit show are actually two hulking pickup trucks, the redesigned Ford F-150 (with a grill inspired by steel girders) and the Dodge Ram (with what its creators call “get-out-of-the-way” styling). That sure throws a monkey wrench into this garden party. […]

This old-school display of metal and muscle might mark the end of an era at the Detroit Auto Show. With Tata’s Nano taking the emerging world by storm and Toyota’s Prius hybrid selling more than 1 million units, massive models like the Ram and F-150 are looking like dinosaurs. Oh, sure, as long as there is work to be done–on ranches and construction sites–there will be a healthy market for pickups. But their days as the star of the show are waning. All those mileage misers cropping up at this year’s show demonstrate that the only way for Detroit to find itself in clover again is to head down the garden path.

Bookmark and share:
  • Twitter
  • Google Bookmarks
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Digg
  • Slashdot
  • del.icio.us
  • email
  • Print
  • PDF




Please note: Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment. There is no need to resubmit your comment.












RELATED NEWS

Latest Insight

Does oil-rich Middle East have a green destiny? thumbnail

Does oil-rich Middle East have a green destiny?

Think about Middle-Eastern OPEC countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the United
Super-sized batteries sprout up around the world thumbnail

Super-sized batteries sprout up around the world

Smart meters, smart grids, electric cars, wind and solar power … there’s one
Newest electric cars make hybrids green with envy thumbnail

Newest electric cars make hybrids green with envy

It’s a good sign when cars once considered among the “greenest” around find

LATEST REPORTS
1

Who’s the leading smart-city brand?

More than half of the world’s nearly seven billion people now live in urban areas, and that proportion is expected to reach almost 69 per cent by 2050. To avoid pushing local and global systems to the point of collapse, cities will need to become much smarter and more efficient Read more ...
more info
2

Managing the smart-grid data overload

Developing the UK’s smart-grid infrastructure will require communications and data technologies that can manage far more information than utilities must handle today. That’s the focus of a strategy report from Greenbang Research: “Enabling the UK’s smart-grid future: The wireless spectrum debate.” The report answers such questions as: Should dedicated Read more ...
more info
3

Incentives fire up UK solar market

The introduction of the feed-in tariff (FIT) incentive policy on 1 April has sparked an explosive reaction in the UK renewable energy market with solar leading the way in installations, according to a new Greenbang research report titled, “The UK’s Feed-in Tariff: Impact, response and market trends for the decade Read more ...
more info