If you're trying to conserve fuel, making said fuel cheaper doesn't help the cause. If you're trying to sell cars, making the stuff they run on cheaper might help. But one thing is for certain, not everyone is a fan of Chrysler's new "Let's Refuel America Gas Card."
As we calculated this morning, the incentive will likely only save a driver a few hundred bucks a year. As ABG reader Dan pointed out in a comment on the original post, buyers need to give up any other incentives currently available in order to get the gas card, and some of those deals are much bigger than $1,200 (the gas plan is in effect for three years). Automotive News is reporting that the Union of Concerned Scientists has got their own phrase for the plan: a "cynical deal." Here's the kicker, the Union's statement continues:
But a mere 3-mpg boost would yield the same savings over the 15,000 miles per year typically driven in the first three years of ownership. Over the lifetime of a vehicle, such a fuel economy increase would save drivers more than $3,000. It wouldn't stop saving drivers money after just three years.
Still, Suzuki knows a way to attracts potential buyer eyeballs when it sees one, and has announced its own fuel program: buy a new Suzuki before the end of June and get three months of free - totally free - fuel. Of course, if you think $400 a year isn't a good reason to buy a new car, don't bother doing the math on three months of no cost fuel. The automakers are playing on fears of high gas prices and hope you can't, or don't, do the math.
Due to what Suzuki is calling a "revision in engine emissions," the Swift 1.3-liter DDiS model has had its CO2 rating reduced from 124g/km to 119g/km, placing it in the UK's Vehicle Excise Duty Band B, which has an annual charge of £35 per year. Additionally, the Swift DDiS will be free of any Congestion Charges in London due to its emissions of less than 120g/km of C02.
The new Swift will probably be a decent drive, with 125 lb ft (170 Nm) at just 2000 rpm being plenty to get the little car moving. What's more, the turbo diesel mill will return 61.4 mpg in the Combined cycle. Priced at £10,515 in the U.K., the new DDiS model lies in the middle of the Swift range and marks a pretty decent value for the money. Press release after the break.
Last Spring, when Suzuki and Intelligent Energy announced their partnership, we wondered out loud if fuel cell powered-motorcycles were in the offing. What we got was a very cool concept bike at the Tokyo Motor Show called the Suzuki Crosscage, which did in fact use IE's Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) technology. The bike was clearly just a concept, though.
News comes by way of IE today that they have furthered their partnership with Suzuki. Could we finally start to see bikes like IE's ENV on our roadways? "This is an important next step for our collaboration with Suzuki as we move from a very successful concept toward a range of commercially viable fuel cell motorcycles," said Phil Caldwell, director of business development at Intelligent Energy. With those words, we remain hopeful that this investment and collaboration bears water-emitting fruit in short order.
Until the Tata Nano arrives, the Suzuki Maruti 800 will be the cheapest car you can buy in India and in other nearby countries (and even South America). Some versions of the Maruti have been sold arrived in Europe and this inexpensive machine is called the "smallest car in production" for good reason: it's a really small car.
Power comes from a 0.8-liter 3-cylinder engine, which gets about 45 HP. Unfortunately, like some of the other misers on this list, the Maruti 800 needs 6.5 liters of gasoline for every 100 km of average driving (which comes to 38 mpg). Luckily, the driver can improve the economy to just 6 liters per 100 km (40 mpg) by turning off the A/C unit.
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.
There is a slight lack of clarity about this $3,000 figure. Does it refer to the actual retail price? Or does it refer to the cost of materials that are used in preparing this automobile? It's not quite clear. ... There's not much clarity about which standards, and which year, this $3,000 car is aiming to fulfill. ... Will airbags be included? Will seat belts?
Right now, in Europe we have the Euro3 standards, and soon we will have the Euro4 standards and around 2013 the Euro5 standards will also be implemented. Are [Tata] only planning to release it domestically in India? Are they thinking of exports? There is so much that is not known about this car. ... Our fundamental stance is that rather than Suzuki becoming very concerned about watching over our shoulder to see what other people are doing, we'll move forward at our own pace.
Makers of small, econo-boxes like Suzuki and Honda probably have the most to worry about cars like Tata's Rs 1-lakh. The $3,000 price Osamu mentions is a price some say the car may actually sell for instead of $2,500. In fairness to Tata, the comments we told you about seemed to be a slip and the official debut is in January 2008. There are still very big questions but Tata is Indian's #1 automaker and may have bought Jaguar and Land Rover, so don't write off this car just yet.
Meet the Concept A-Star, the latest entry from Suzuki which will be introduced at the Auto Expo 2008 in New Dehli, India. The model, which was developed and will be produced by Maruti, Suzuki's partner in India, is set for export to European markets as well the Indian market.
Besides the styiling, which I quite like for such a small car, the A-Star promises to beat Europe's current gasoline fuel-misers (with the exception of hybrids): the Peugeot 107/Citroën C1/Toyota Aygo triad. Suzuki is developing a brand-new 1.0 liter engine with promised emissions under 109 CO2 g/km. No diesel is expected to be installed in this vehicle, which will surely hurt sales in a significant way, but the car will allow British buyers to pay the cheapest tax rate possible (£35).
We already announced this for Toyota and for Honda, and now it's time for Suzuki and Nissan: Thailand is giving significant tax incentives for automakers who decide to build cars that are considered respectful to the environment. To be eligible for the tax incentives, a company must, first of all, be building vehicles that get better than 56.5 mpg (5 l/100 km) and produce less than 192 grams of CO2 per mile (120 g/km).
According to our source news, Thailand is the most important producer of SUVs and pick-ups for Japanese companies, hence the government's interest in making these companies build greener vehicles. The picture above shows Nissan's current flagship in Thailand, the Navara pick-up.
The plan is working. Honda, for instance, has already invested 6,700 million baht (about $220 million US) in Thailand auto production facilities. Expected investment figures for Suzuki and Nissan are, respectively, 9,500 million baht ($313 million) and 5,550 million ($183 million). These new two plants could produce up to 138,000 Suzukis and 120,000 Nissans per year.
[Source: Finanzas.com via Econoticias] [Edited: The plural of baht is baht (thanks to Snark for the correction)]
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.
Remember the Crosscage, the Suzuki motorcycle that runs on hydrogen? Intelligent Energy, a company based in the British Midlands, wants to make sure that we not only keep the vehicle in mind, but also know that the UK company had something to do with it. In a press release out yesterday, the British Midlands Development Corporation says that:
The motorcycle, which runs in almost complete silence and emits pure water, is a joint venture between British Midlands based company, Intelligent Energy, the UK's leading commercial developer of Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell technology and the Japanese motorcycle and scooter giant.
We're not the type to miss Intelligent Energy, which is supplying the fuel cell technology for the Crosscage. The company also makes the ENV bike (Oh, and as a curious aside, I just wanted to note that the company devoted to promoting work being done in the British Midlands is based in Chicago).
[Source: British Midlands Development Corporation]
When our Autoblog colleague Chris Tutor spent a week with the Suzuki SX4 recently he came away less than impressed with the fuel economy. Chris only managed 21 mpg with the all-wheel-drive compact. Unfortunately for Americans enamored with the cute little SX4's styling, the current 2.0L AWD powertrain is the only setup available right now. Over in Europe, buyers now have a new option in the form of a Peugeot 1.6L diesel driving only the front wheels. That combination yields a more palatable 44.4 mpg (US) on the EU combined cycle. If Suzuki could offer a similar combination here for something close to the $15,000 price of the current AWD model, they might have a real winner.
Below the fold are two videos that proves green can be cool. The first video is Jay Leno showing off his E85 Corvette at this year's SEMA. "Green goes with mean was the message at" SEMA, according to the video's description (and backed up by Jay saying the car has 600 horse power). The second video is all about Suzuki's fuel cell concept bike the Crosscage. The electric engine and fuel cell battery's light weight and compact design means a power output of 155 CCs.
The power and speed every gearhead wants is best accomplished with green, efficient products ... and now EVs are starting to look like they should provide that power and speed. The idea that electric cars are just golf carts is officially dead.
Fellow blogger Alex Nunez says that the the Suzuki SSC is "a geometric, omnidirectional 'mothership'". We won't argue with that description, but we'll add that it kinda looks like an upside-down Jawa Sandcrawler from Star Wars too. Another thing that the SSC, or Suzuki Sharing Coach, has in common with the Sandcrawler: it houses droids. Well, sort of. The accompanying Suzuki PIXY houses a human occupant, but we won't hold that against it 'cause it's just a concept after all.
While we're comparing the SSC with other vehicles, why not draw some attention to the Opel Flextreme which was just shown off at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Like the SSC, the Flextreme also excretes human transporters from its hind-quarters. Consider too that Toyota has been showing off the i-Swing single-seater since '05. Do we spot an emerging trend here?
Suzuki is planning on sending a few concept motorcycles to the Tokyo Motor Show. One of those, the Biplane, has gotten some attention over at Autoblog. We thought that the Crosscage would be better suited to our green-minded readers, as it comes equipped with a fuel cell and lithium ion batteries. No gasoline engine appears to be present. Take a minute and read the press release past the break. Sea bass... uh, I mean Suzuki appears to be using the fuel cell technology from Intelligent Energy, makers of the ENV bike. It looks like the hydrogen may be stored directly in the center of the frame, right where the two intersecting tubes of the frame come together. That would leave plenty of room in the area normally reserved for the gas-tank of a normal motorcycle for the batteries. This is really just conjecture at this point, though, so we'll have to wait until we hear some English press releases to be sure exactly what is going on inside this cool-looking bike.
Besides the fact that the bike is powered by a fuel cell and batteries, the bike looks pretty sporty. Considering the reputation that Suzuki has earned with their GSXR series of bikes, that should not be a shocker to anybody. What is rather interesting, though, are the suspension systems on the bike. That front fork looks suitably high-tech, being single-sided along with the rear swingarm. We're not counting on ever seeing this bike in production form, but it's still an awesome design.
On the heels of the new Opel Agila, we can now show you its sister car, the Suzuki Splash. Set to be built in Hungary it's basically identical to the Opel, so the same three engines -- 1.0L gasoline, 1.2L gasoline, and 1.3L diesel -- will find their way under the Splash's stubby little hood. In terms of appearance, the Suzuki will wear a mildly different front fascia, but that's about it. In the end, it's shaping up to be a good-looking, economical, and clean little runabout. We like it, and are looking forward to September, when we'll see it "in the metal" when it debuts in Frankfurt.
Suzuki's press release can be found after the jump.
If you're trying to conserve fuel, making said fuel cheaper doesn't help the cause. If you're trying to sell cars, making the stuff they run on cheaper might help. But one thing is for certain, not everyone is a fan of Chrysler's new "Let's Refuel America Gas Card." 
Recently, we told you 
_thumbnail.jpg "Beijing 2008: BYD e6")
