Peugeot Putting on the Environmental Style

Not long ago green motoring was understood to mean driving in cars without style.At Peugeot they believe this is no longer the case and point to their latest model of the 207 as the case in point.A stylish family five-door car,the Peugeot 207 1.6 HDi 90S is not compromised by its environmental credentials. Fuel consumption at a combined 62 mpg,5 star Euro NCAP safety rating, and CO2 emissions of 120 g/km work to place the 207 competitively in band B of the government's VED bracket (£35 per year).

So we have a car of decent family size,stylish exterior and interior,with air conditioning, delivering economic running costs,road tax,income tax (for certain company car drivers) and congestion charge savings.

What is more this car is available now at just a little over £12,000.

The 207 makes it 16 models, producing sub-120 g/km CO2 emissions that Peugeot currently has on offer in the 107,206 and 207 ranges; and another range ,the 308, will follow next month.

Green without compromise on style and performance seems clearly to be the message from Peugeot.

You will find further details on these and other new green cars out at the Green-Car-Guide

Ford's Own Bonneville Flyer on Hydrogen

Last week,Ford Motor Co. notched up a speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

The Fusion Hydrogen 999 reached 207.297 miles per hour on August 15.The success of this venture in part shows the immense pressure that carmakers are under to produce low emission cars for commercial production.Although some two or three years away for the passenger production car , the Bonneville success pointed to a viable development for passenger-car powertrains. We will watch these devolopments in fuel cell technology with interest over the next years.

And what do we have here? Another member of the sub 120 club.

This is a car (shown above) that you will see introduced in 2008. It debuts at the Frankfurt Motor Show on 11th September.With a 1.6-litre turbo-diesel engine ,the Volvo C30'Efficiency' will deliver a fuel consumption of 57.6 mpg and emissions below 120 g/km.

Volvo will be revealing its future plans for hybrids at the Frankfurt Show. We will bring news of this to you.

The New Energy Efficient Honda Hybrid Rally Car Due To Debut At Chatsworth Rally Show

If you have an interest in motorsport and low emission cars, you will regularly find someting to interest you in these pages.

I am pleased to share with you news of Lancashire-based Oaktec's unveiling this weekend of the new Honda Civic Hybrid at Silverstone.This new car has been produced by the Oaktec development project which also developed the Honda Insight,the first hybrid winner of the F1000 class A championship in 2006.

Oaktec, a development project supported by the Energy Efficient Motorsport programme (EEMS) and regional development agencies,sees great environmentally responsible motorsport potential for the Honda Hybrid. The latest hybrid,though bigger and heavier than the Insight, retains the CVT transmission,and the 1338cc 4 cylinder engine with 20kw booster electric motor/generator.

Oaktec partner and co-driver Bill Meeson says"Once the car is up and running we will continue to explore the use of bio-fuels to further add to the car's green credentials."

Immediate plans for the new Honda include a public debut around a special rally stage at Chatsworth at the end of September, and a competitive rally run-out before the yearend.Next year, the car may compete in endurance races.

For more details of this exciting low emission car development...

The Oaktec team is always on the look-out for much needed funding to continue its excellent and most worthwhile work.If your company is looking for a high profile and very worthwhile green project to support with sponsorship you should contact Paul Clarke at the Green-Car-Guide

BlueMotion to Join the Sub-120g/km CO2 Green Car Club

Soon to be joining the ranks of the growing number of environmentally-friendly cars coming-in at under 120g/km CO2 is the Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion.Due to be shown at
the Frankfurt car show next week,this is the most economical Golf with a fuel consumption of 62.8 mph ,and 119 g/km CO2 reduced from 135g/km for the current model.This enhanced fuel efficiency delivers over 1200km (745 miles)from one Golf tank of fuel (55 litres).

The Golf BlueMotion will be available in Germany by the year end.Customers in the UK will have to wait a little longer,for a launch early in 2008.

It is expected that the price will be only marginally more than the current model,and with the better fuel consumption this extra cost will very quickly be recouped.

This model follows the Polo BlueMotion highlighted by low emission cars (Tuesday,27th march,2007

For more details on the Golf...




Copyright (c) 2006-2007 M P Ryan and CFM(Services) Limited. All rights reserved.

GM's Alternative Energy Drive On A Charge With The Volt

The Financial Times today reports that General Motors aims to launch its Chevy Volt electric car by 2010. The challenge is both to perfect the performance of the lithium-ion battery based on a nano phosphate technology, and produce a production model of the Volt which "needs to be affordable to the buyer of a normal-sized car,"says Frank Weber, the carmaker's chief engineer.

low emission cars reported previously on the development of the Volt concept car (January 8,2007) . At the time, it was said that "with the proposed Chevy (or Vauxhall) ,GM have a sporty car with power and promise.This one won't stall on a hill. It has a 1-litre , 3 cylinder petrol engine on board ,but only to recharge the battery."

If the technological challenge with the special battery is solved as expected - GM plan to start testing batteries in October- a solution on cost,in order to price the car within the reach of its target market, being considered by GM is to allow buyers to rent the vehicle's battery.

The FT says that Mr Weber estimates an average Volt owner would,with battery rental,pay similar monthly running costs to that for a traditional petrol-driven family saloon i.e the Chevy Malibu.

Bob Lutz, GM's Vice-President, is reported to have said that a second design of the concept saloon model ( to that shown in January) would be unveiled at the Frankfurt car show next month. We'll keep an eye out for this one,and bring you details as soon as we have them.

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Audi Comes Clean With Its Sub-200g/km Emission Luxury Saloon

With the new generation Audi 8 range comes the claim of 'cleanest' luxury saloon. The new 2008 MY Audi2.8-litre V6 FSI petrol model emits 199g/km (the new Lexus LS600 hybrid coughs 219g/km-but it is a 5 litre costing from £81k). Prices for the Audi 8 range from just under £50k to £81k.

Benefits include

• economy boost and emission reduction made possible through direct fuel injection and Audi valvelift technology
• 210 OPS at 5,500rpm,280Nm at 3,000rpm,0-62mph in 8.0 seconds,top speed 147mph,combined mpg 34.0, CO2 100g/km
• enhancements to styling,equipment,ride and handling characteristics
• optional extras include new driver assistance systems using radar technology e.g. lane assist warns driver of unintentional departure from driving lane

• lowest-in-class rolling, road and ambient noise levels claimed

This looks a beauty! Still a whopping CO2 rate but given its size there is environmental consideration. It just shows the technological improvements that are still being squeezed out of the petrol driven cars.
For more details to gaze in awe at ...

Volvo powers-up its range of bioethanol flexifuels

New flexifuel models will soon join the 125PS 1.8F which is currently available in the Volvo C30,S40,and V50.As it continues its long standing commitment to environmental care, Volvo is adding two new engines and models to its FlexiFuel range with the all new Volvo V70 estate and Volvo S80 executive saloon.These will be powered by a two-litre FlexiFuel unit and will be available here later this year.In 2008, there will be a five-cylinder 2.5-litre turbocharged engine.

A senior spokesman for Volvo says,"FlexiFuel has considerable potential in larger models, too."

Fredrik Arp,Volvo Cars President,believes that no single fuel can replace petrol and diesel by itself."Our Flexifuel programme is an important part of our strategy to contribute to sustainable personal mobility."

With five Flexifuel models available, Volvo are to offer the broadest bio-ethanol range in the UK.