If you check any European car ad, you will see in tiny letters at the bottom the car's consumption and CO2 production figures. This information is a mandatory requirement in Spain. But, according to Ecologistas en Acción and the Unión de Consumidores de España (UCE), an environmental organization and a consumer union from Spain respectively, these figures are not accurate and could be misleading.
Spain taxes the purchase of cars depending on CO2 production figures, therefore it's a consumer's right to know previously what these figures are. UCE found out that 11 automakers didn't have accurate information or their ads were plainly misleading, like saying a car is under 119 g/km when it's just one model and the ad focus on the sport version that produces more than 200 g/km. Also, these figures tend to be hidden with small print. They also accuse automakers of trivializing these figures because all cars pollute even when polluting less.
Don't think it's just one automaker: Hyundai, Nissan, Seat, Volkswagen, Peugeot, Honda, Citroën, Opel, Dacia and Mercedes-Benz were accused of these practices.
Following his speech to the Commonwealth Club a few days ago, GM CEO Rick Wagoner apparently told reporters that a second E-Flex platform vehicle was also under development at the company's Warren MI technical center alongside the Chevy Volt. This second ER-EV is destined for the Opel (and presumably Saturn) brand. Following the debut of the Volt in January 2007, GM has shown two other E-Flex concepts, the Opel/Saturn Flextreme and the Cadillac Provoq. The Provoq is expected to make the production transition in 2009 as a conventionally-powered crossover.
The Flextreme, however, carries some of the design language of the new Opel Insignia that was recently revealed. The significantly more aerodynamic Flextreme also carries the hatchback/wagon type body shape that is more popular in Europe. An Opel-badged model would likely have an appearance similar to the Flextreme but with more conventional style body openings and without the pair of Segways in the back. It's unknown at this point what type of range extender would be used with the Opel although the concept used a diesel.
So far we've only found one source for this report of a second E-Flex vehicle and we're still waiting to hear back from GM for any confirmation or comments on any of this. As soon as we here back we'll provide updates.
Spain is a country with plenty of sun hours, and wasting the solar resource is really missing a good opportunity. So, after similar announcements from Seat and Nissan, and thanks in part to the Spanish Government's incentives for installing solar panels, GM has decided to install up to 320,000 m2 (about 80 acres) of electricity-producing solar panels on the roof of its factory in Figueruelas, near Zaragoza, Spain. The agreement was announced by French company Veolia and represents an investment of about € 53 million. The Figueruelas factory currently mounts the Vauxall/Opel Corsa and Meriva models.
You know these names and have read about what these vehicles are and what they promise. Now, you can kick back and spend some time getting better acquainted with how these vehicles look. The gallery for the Sintesi is below. Check out over 75 more photos after the jump.
Gallery: Geneva 2008: Pininfarina Sintesi on the stand
Click the Opel Meriva concept for a high res gallery
For several years GM's European operations have been offering a tiny van-like vehicle called the Meriva. The current Meriva is a pretty conventional looking tall wagon based of the B-car Corsa platform. It's now just about time for a refresh of the Meriva and Opel is showing a concept at the Geneva Motor show that is probably very close to what the next production version will look like. The look of the concept carries all the styling elements of recent Opel concepts including the scalloped side panels and the headlamp shape. One interesting design element of this concept is the rear hinged back doors. Many concepts feature so-called suicide doors because it makes it easier for viewers to the see the interior of the car when it's rotating on a show stand. When this happens though, they usually leave out the b-pillar making it totally impractical for production. In this case the b-pillar is present and the press-release even focuses on these FlexDoors. Based on this it seems likely that the new Meriva will actually feature this door design. The other big question is will we see this car in Saturn dealerships in a couple of years?
One of the new concept vehicles that General Motors will debut at next month's Geneva Motor Show next month previews where GM might be headed with its Opel Meriva compact MPV. The current Meriva is a tall wagon based on Opel's B-car Corsa platform. Like the larger Zafira, the Meriva is a one-box shape and the new concept will follow that same path. The new concept picks up the design language introduced on last year's Opel GTC and Flextreme concepts (note that pronounced "hockey stick" line arcing down and back from the front fender). Perhaps as the United States' impending new CAFE regs take hold, GM will come around and start offering stylish, compact, family-oriented alternatives like the Meriva in Saturn showrooms, instead of relying on lesser variations of products already available from brand siblings like Chevy.
The current-generation Saturn Vue is also sold in Europe as the Opel Antara, and in the right hand drive UK market as the Vauxhall Antara. Since it's introduction in 2007, the Euro editions have been available with an Opel 1.9 turbodiesel engine. With the public debut of the two-mode hybrid Vue last week at the Detroit Auto Show the next bit of speculation revolves around a European edition and the possibility of a diesel hybrid. According to GM spokesman Brian Corbett there are no production plans for an Opel/Vauxhall hybrid Antara or a diesel hybrid. The two-mode system is quite expensive to manufacture at this point, and a diesel two-mode would probably be prohibitively expensive for its market segment. Add in the lesser popularity of hybrids in Europe and it will probably quite a few years before a diesel hybrid Antara shows up on European roads. A mild hybrid diesel with the second-generation belt alternator starter system using a lithium battery might be a different story though, not that GM is saying anything about that.
Not long ago, we published a list of SUVs available in Germany with the highest mileage possible. But what about - at least on legal terms - how much CO2 a car produces? Never fear. Auto-News has a list of the "cleanest" SUVs on sale in Germany (and I'd say most of the EU), all of them producing less than 200 g/km of CO2, so it complements that previous list which had no information about CO2. Just remember that automakers should have an average of 130 g/km in four years' time.
Most of these models are also available in the U.S. but, as usual, without the high-mileage diesel powerplants Europeans love. The list is after the jump. Vehicles with DPF (Diesel Particulate Filters) have these letters added to the marque and model. The picture above shows the SUV in the 20th position, the SsangYong Actyon 200 Xdi 4x2.
FuelMarker Corporation, makers of the Phill home CNG refuelling station, has announced that it is going to be on sale in the Netherlands. While Germans have quite a large network of public CNG fuelling stations, Netherland's infrastructure is more limited.
Phill is being introduced in the country as part of GM's new marketing initiative of its natural gas version of the Opel Combo and Zafira: the first 50 buyers will get a Phill fuelling charging station at home for free.
Phill is now commercially available in Italy, France, Poland, the Czech Republic, Finland and the United States (check here for a video). Future plans include making the station available in Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Barbados, the U.K., Australia, Lithuania, and Pakistan.
Opel's latest mini-car, the second generation Agila, is now available in Europe. The little car shared with Suzuki has received its official CO2 ratings and two of the three engine combinations qualify for the reduced vehicle tax bracket in the UK. The 65 hp 1.0L gas engine and 1.3L 75 hp diesel are both rated at 120 g/km meaning that a UK tax disk only costs £35 a year for the Agila. The five-seat Agila is also being priced aggressively at £7,595.
General Motors of Europe has looked the market potential for tiny cars like the Smart ForTwo, Volkswagen up! and Toyota iQ and found it wanting. Small cars like these are great in a strictly urban environment but they aren't very appealing for other applications. Even after ten years on the market, the Smart has never topped 100,000 sales in a market it has had to itself. Given what it sees as limited demand, GM has no current plans to develop a production car based on the Opel Trixx Concept it showed in 2004. According to GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster, they will Instead stick to slightly larger cars the size of the current Daewoo Matiz and the future Chevy Beat.
Remember the Opel Flextreme? We haven't heard too much about this version of the E-Flex platform with the Segways in the back since it was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show back in September. But General Motors has repeated an interesting announcement regarding the high-tech lithium ion batteries in the Flextreme - and in the Chevy Volt - during the current LA Auto Show: the General is seriously considering leasing, not selling, the new and expensive batteries to consumers. So says Just Auto (subs req'd), which got the confirmation from GM today and adds that leasing the batteries would solve "a number of issues that would otherwise significantly slow their launch."
GM has been talking about leasing the batteries for these cars since at least August. In September, Nick Reilly, the president of General Motors Asia Pacific, explained that leasing costs for the batteries could cost as much as gas does today. Looks like this story is not going anywhere, which certainly hints that we'll be seeing it again in the future. [Source: Just Auto]
Do you think that GM can produce a successful small car? They succeeded... in Europe (and later in other markets badged as the Chevrolet Corsa or Chevy). The Corsa is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Introduced in 1982 as the Opel Corsa in the European Continent and as the Vauxhall Nova in the UK, the car helped GM enter the subcompact segment in Europe, and a new factory was installed near Zaragoza, Spain.
While at that time critics were really harsh on such a late entry (For instance, Ford had started producing the Fiesta in 1975 in a new factory near Valencia, Spain), the product has become a very successful one. Small engines (including a late '80s introduction of an Isuzu-sourced diesel plant) meant high MPG and gas-saving for European pockets. The Corsa even had a sporty version that sill managed to run under 8 l / 100 km (about 30 mpg).
The Corsa is now in its fourth generation, which has a lot in common with the Fiat Grande Punto, including a sweet 1.3 CDTi diesel engine which is surprisingly good (if you ever rent a B segment car in Europe you will probably drive it), EcoFlex options and they're even fitting a hybrid powerplant into it.
How about getting it into the US as a Saturn? Check the gallery for the hybrid concept and compare the current generation with the pic above (which I just love).
Auto-News has published again another list of money and CO2-saving cars in Germany. Now it's time for the people-carriers. They have to seat at least seven, although the two seats at the back are usually only suitable for children. The list includes a selection of compact Station Wagons, compact (and not so compact) MPVs, and three vehicles which are usually delivery vans but they have windows around and more seats.
You would think that all these vehicles are diesel, but the truth is that you can find two natural gas powered vehicles. Their consumption figures is then converted to gasoline equivalent. You will also find a couple of cases of badge engineering.
As said, the SWs and some of the MPVs only have 2 extra seats for children, but at least half of the models can decently seat 7 adults.
Some of our readers asked for US availability. None of this cars, except the last one on the list (Mitsubishi Outlander, pictured here) is available in the US, and not with the diesel engine.
It looks like the Volt won't be the only alternative-power variant of GM's next generation Global Compact Car or Delta platform. While Delta is the source of a lot the hardware for E-Flex, it is also the basis of the Opel/Saturn Astra and the Chevy Cobalt. German magazine Automobilwoche is reporting that a hybrid version of the next Astra is under development. That much is almost certainly true but they are also reporting that the Two-Mode Hybrid system is being used.
While a front-wheel-drive version of the Two-Mode system will debut in the Saturn Vue later in 2008, it is probably far to expensive to be practical in the Astra. Much more likely is the second generation mild hybrid system that was shown in an Opel Corsa at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The 2nd gen BAS system will use a stronger alternator starter and a lithium ion battery. This will allow it to be coupled to smaller engines and be more useful.
If you check any European car ad, you will see in tiny letters at the bottom the car's consumption and CO2 production figures. This information is a mandatory requirement in Spain. But, according to Ecologistas en Acción and the Unión de Consumidores de España (UCE), an environmental organization and a consumer union from Spain respectively, these figures are not accurate and could be misleading. 
FuelMarker Corporation, makers of the Phill home CNG refuelling station, has announced that it is going to be on sale in the Netherlands. While Germans have quite a large network of public CNG fuelling stations, Netherland's infrastructure is more limited. 
