|
|
|
|
|
|
LA Auto Show: Green Is 'In'By Noel Adams Open Access Article Originally Published: November 25, 2008
Los Angeles was having yet another bad air day as I drove the 10 freeway into down town Los Angeles, but this time it wasn’t the automobile that was the big cause. The recent wild fire up in Sylmar, combined with very dry conditions, had produced some of the worst air quality we had seen in a while. I pulled into the south parking lot of the Convention Center ready to see what the automobile manufacturers had to offer now that “Green” is in. The first media day started with a keynote address from Carlos Ghosn (pronounced goan), president and CEO of Nissan. The first part of his talk was about the problems facing the auto industry because of the economy, repeating often how car companies were struggling to develop new technologies because of their inability to find low cost loans. It was a theme that I would hear over and over again throughout the next two days of media presentations. In the second part of his talk he addressed the need for zero emission vehicles, saying how zero emissions was the end game that automobile manufacturers must work towards. He noted how Nissan was working in alliance with Renault to develop electric vehicles. They are also working with several foreign governments and at least two states in the US to roll out EV charging stations and put electric vehicles on sale. He said that Nissan was going to make electric vehicles available first in Oregon around 2010. Strangely he didn't mention Project Better Place even though Nissan is working closely with them. After the Keynote address I made my way to the South Hall to see what new vehicles Nissan had to offer. The Nissan stand was packed with so many people I couldn’t even get near enough to see the cars or the presenters so I had to make do with listening to what they had to say and wait until after they had finished to actually get a look at the cars. After listening to Mr. Ghosn's talk I was very disappointed to see that they didn't have any electric vehicles on display, not even a concept vehicle. Instead they launched the Nissan Cube, followed by the launch of the latest Z car, the 370ZX. The Nissan Cube is a boxy four-seat car that looks like a smaller sibling to the Scion Xb. It has a quoted fuel economy of around 30mpg which isn’t too good but I have found that Nissan often understates fuel economy early on so we may see better numbers closer to spring 2009 when the cube will appear in showrooms. I couldn’t find any weight numbers for the Cube but it is supposed to be a relatively light vehicle so it might make a great platform for the next generation ACP eBox, perhaps the ACP eCube! The 370ZX will be faster with more power and better handling than the 350 ZX but should also achieve better fuel economy. The car is expected to have a base price just under $30,000 which should make it a strong competitor to cars like the Porsche Boxter.
The next presentation was from BMW who had a curtain around the Mini E that blocked the view from about a third of the audience while they went through the presentation of the BMW vehicles. They showed the 335d diesel sedan that will meet emission standards in all three states, and a mild hybrid based on their top of the line 7 series sedan.
Reader Comments
A valid email address and confirmation is required before your comment can be posted. Comments not confirmed within
24 hours are automatically deleted.
3 comments so far...
|
a d v e r t i s e r
September ePOLL
Do you agree that the $100 billion invested in technology innovation was an appropriate expenditure by the American government?
RELATED ARTICLES
a d v e r t i s e r
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Learn How Your Organization Can Appear Here Too. Click the Advertising Link Below
| |||
|