www.xgo.com.cn

The Smart ForTwo car is now adding a partner, the electric version.  Smart used to be a somewhat popular vehicle selling 24,622 Smart vehicles in 2008, and if more were available probably could have sold even more, and then sales have diminished greatly.  Smart has been trying to figure out what to do to put them back into the black.  One major problem with the Smart is that you can get a car for about the same price, similar fuel economy, more power, and room for more than 2 people.  The Smart really didn’t offer anything to separate themselves, other than it’s a cute looking car, as many feel. 

Now comes along a Smart electric car.  There will be 250 sold in the U.S. this fall as a trial before the electric car is officially introduced in 2012 as a 2013 model.  You can only lease these vehicles. It will cost $599/mo. for 4 years with a 10,000 annual mileage limit.  Each car will have a “black box” to collect information to work out any minor problems before 2012. 

Nothing will change with the interior or exterior of the existing Smart ForTwo, because the original Smart was designed as an electric car.  There isn’t really any power to this electric Smart.  It uses a 30-kilowatt electric motor with a horsepower equal to 42.  This vehicle has a top speed of 62 and according to some reviews, rides “choppy.”  You can fully charge the battery in 8 hours with a standard 220-volt appliance line.  You get about 80 miles between charges. 

The couple of reviews I read were not fabulous.  As I said earlier, other than the “fun” aspect of the Smart, there isn’t anything else to offer that would truly make you want to choose this car over another.  I’m not interested, but I’m sure there are some people out there that will be very interested in test driving and buying the Smart electric car.

California has just extended access to the state’s carpool lanes for zero and ultra low emission vehicles until 2015.  If you are unfamiliar with the HOV lanes in CA, they are lanes that are available for cars with more than one person in them. This is supposed to encourage people to carpool and have less vehicles and gas emissions on the road.   Part of the change in law for the HOV lanes is that hybrids such as the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight that were allowed in the HOV lanes will no longer be allowed.  Let me clarify this rule.  These vehicles were/are allowed in the HOV lanes without 2 people. Due to the low emissions, they can be in the HOV lanes without the extra person/people.

Honda has 2 cars that qualify for the HOV lanes, now that the Insight is back with the “regulars.”  The Honda FCX Clarity and the Honda Civic GX.  Currently there are only about less than 10 of the fuel-cell powered Claritys on the roads, and the Civic GX, which is a natural gas-fueled vehicle is not on the roads much either.  These new rules for the HOV lanes in CA could possibly make some people shy away from the hybrids and move towards these alternative fuel vehicles. I guess it really depends on how much traffic a person sits in daily on the highways. If you sit for a long time, maybe one of the zero or ultra low emission vehicles are right for you.

www.ford-fiesta-2011.info

Some more exciting news for Ford and domestic vehicles.  The 2011 Ford Fiesta, according to Mark Phelan of the Detroit Free Press, is the “most fuel-efficient and sophisticated subcompact car on the market.”  The Fiesta competes with subcompacts such as the Chevrolet Aveo, Honda Fit, Nissan Versa, and the Toyota Yaris.  The Fiesta’s base price of $13,320 is in the middle of the group. When the Fiesta is fully equipped, it comes in on the high end, though supposedly it offers features to justify the price difference.

The base price includes a 120-horsepower, 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine with a five-speed transmission.  The 1.6-liter engine is standard in all models.  You can get a six-speed dual clutch for $1070 on any of the models.  The fuel economy is really reason enough to get this car.  There is a $695 SFE option package that gives you a dual-clutch gearbox, low rolling resistance tires, and some aerodynamics that gives the Fiesta fuel economy of 29 mpg in the city and 40 mpg on the highway.  Without the SFE option, the fuel economy is 29 mpg in the city and 38 mpg on the highway with the dual-clutch gearbox, and 28/37 with the manual transmission.

A weakness of the Ford Fiesta is that it has low-rpm torque so you have to rev the engine a lot  and the interior storage is not so great, but according to Phelan, the strengths outweigh the weaknesses.  Phelan says that the way to go is the dual-clutch transmission.  The cargo space is average for the sedan or hatchback and the headroom is good.  

According to Mark Phelan, you definitely need to check out the 2011 Ford Fiesta. I might just do that.

Here’s my one stop shopping car news for the week.

GM is offering an 8 year or 100,000 miles warranty on the Chevrolet Volt battery.  This is a nice guarantee for the new owners of the Volt when it goes on sale in November.  This warranty is better than any other GM warranty which is 5 year or 100,000 miles.  GM must feel pretty confident with the new Volt battery.

New York City just opened its first public electric charging station.  This is an effort to try to encourage NYC residents to go with an environmentally friendly vehicle.  There will be 100 more public charging stations installed around NYC between now and September 2011.

Chevrolet is allowing new owners of the 2011 Corvette ZR1 and Zo6 models to have the opportunity to help build the engines for their cars.  For about $5800 plus the cost of travelling to Detroit, you can go to the GM Performance Build Center and work side-by-side with the professional engine builders.  At the end, you can personalize your engine with your name. Definitely worth $5800!  Not sure, but I’m sure that there are definitely lots of Corvette owners that will be interested.

What else can I tell you of importance this week?  Detroit brands top Asian and European counterparts in a study of the most appealing models.  Porsche is the number 1 brand of appeal for the 6th straight year.  Lincoln and Cadillac had the highest appeal scores of the domestic brands.  Detroit’s three automakers had an average of 787 out of 1000 points in the 2010 Automotive Performance study done by J.D. Power and Associates.  This average is a 13 point lead over the average score for European and Asian brands.

I think this is all I have for you for top car news this week.  Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

I know what most of you are saying….”minivan video worth watching? Yeah right!”  Well, I’m telling the truth. During the problems with the auto industry the last few years, minivans have been hit close to the hardest.  All automakers are trying to find a way to attract more than the mothers with young children to minivans.  They are giving some “men appeal” and others older appeal, but truthfully the real target audience will always be the same….mothers with young children.  Plain and simple. Convenience is such a factor this audience and minivans give customers that.  There is a lot of room for a lot of stuff, and when your kids are young, you have a lot of stuff!

So, now let me get to the video. It’s a video made by Toyota for the Toyota Sienna. It’s really funny. The video is trying to show that it’s hip to own a minivan.  What do you guys think??  Me personally….I like the video but not sure that all of a sudden I want to get a minivan because I’ll be cool/hip.  Not so sure but the video on YouTube has gotten more than 4 million hits, so Toyota has gotten a lot of publicity for the Sienna. Maybe it’s helping sell it!

Here’s the video:Swagger Wagon

A nice bonus of hybrids these days are the quiet rides (and of course the great gas mileage!)  The days of silent hybrids are just about over.  Congress, with the help of automakers and advocates for the blind, are adding sound performance requirements for hybrids and electric cars.  The silent hybrids make it hard for pedestrians and the blind to hear them and use those cues in order to safely cross the road, etc.  It sounds kind of dumb, but makes sense.  People know the sound of an accelerating vehicle, and then to have no sounds, can definitely cause some problems and danger for some, especially the blind that use sound cues as a way of life.

Of course there are always those that don’t feel the same way.  Those people, mostly green car advocates, say that we need to reduce the noise of the trucks, buses, and motorcycles, and then you could hear the hybrids.  Noise pollution will be increased with these new requirements on hybrids and electric cars and the green car advocates say that adding noise is not the answer.

Also as of right now, each automaker is coming up with their own sound for their hybrid.  Ford feels like the sound of the hybrids and electric cars should be a standard sound and not like cell phones with each having their own sound.  “This can cause confusion” they say. I agree. I think that Congress and groups make a decision on the best sound for the hybrids and then all automakers use it.  I like that idea the best.

Well the days of silent hybrids are over.  I guess we need to just move along and accept it. The noise will be for a good cause and I’m going to bet the sound won’t be too bad. We shall see….

The 2011 Volvo C70 is a hot car.  It may not be the top sports car out there for sale, but it is worth a look for sure.  It has a hardtop that is retractable and lowers into the trunk at the push of a button.  I personally think that IF I had a convertible I would want a hardtop.  They seem safer and I like the hardtop look better.  So, Steven Cole Smith of the Orlando Sentinel says that there is a few minors complaints with the Volvo C70, even though he recommends it.  “Instruments and controls” are alittle dated, and the seats are perfect for short people but just adequate for average people.  You lose half the trunk space when you have the top down as well.  Navigation system kindof sticks out and looks like an afterthought according to Smith.  But with these negatives, Smith says “this is a good car.”

The 2010 Volvo C70 has a base price of $39,950 with options that can make the price at least $46,550.  The 2011 C70 will have some style updates, but no mechanical changes.  The fuel economy is 19 miles per gallon in the city and 28 mpg on the highway.  The Volvo C70 has a turbocharged 2.5-liter 227 horsepower five-cylinder engine with front-wheel drive and a five-speed automatic transmission.

Even though there are some imperfections, I would call it, I think that the Volvo C70 is a forgotten convertible that needs to get remembered. I like Volvos, and this is definitely one model to consider.

I thought it would be appropriate to give some summer driving tips since most of the East Coast is in an awful heat wave, as well as the rest of the country in mid-summer as well. Forbesautos.com gave some summer driving tips, and I thought of a few important ones in my mind as well.

Park Wisely -parking under trees may give you shade, but they can cause your car to be a mess as well.  Birds live in trees, they poop on your car, and bird poop can actually chip paint on your car.

Check fluid levels -this is to prevent your car from overheating.

Take your time.  Drive smoothly and use cruise control. By not rapidly accelerating and braking aggressively can save you money on gas.

Watch your weight.  If you are going on vacation, make sure that you take everything out of your car (or on top) as soon as you get to your destination. It take more power (and gas) to carry heavier loads in your car.

Rotate your tires.

Check your tire pressure monthly and/or before you go on a trip.

Take roads outside the norm.  It may take longer but travelling on Route 1 (Coastal Highway) in California or Florida’s Overseas Highway have unbelievable views that make the longer trip well worth it.  I personally love the Coastal Highway. I’ve travelled on it from San Francisco to San Diego. Absolutely beautiful.

Take it slow if you are towing a boat. It takes a lot of gas to travel on highways at high speeds, run the A/C, and tow a boat. Slower uses less gas and therefore saves some money.

Make sure you have the right tires. Basically make sure the snow tires are away for the summer.

Make sure you have a gallon of water in your car….just in case.  It will come in handy if your car happens to overheat or your A/C breaks and you are ridiculously hot.  My sister-in-law had a car that had no A/C and to prevent overheating, she drove with the heat on. She needed a gallon of water to drink in order to survive!

Enjoy your summer and travel safely!

So, I try to only give you the summary of auto news about once every few weeks, but I found some interesting stuff over the last few days that I wanted to make sure all of you saw too.  So, this is part 2 of my car news for the week.

There is a company, Terrafugia, that says that it will be selling a car-plane to us by the end of 2011.  This car-plane will have wings that will unfold for flying (this will only take 1 minute to do) and fold back up for driving.  You will need a runway to take off and land, but then you can fold up the wings and drive yourself home!  The base price is about $194,000, but realistically it will cost a great deal more if you want a radio, transponder, or GPS.  You can also get a full-plane parachute which might come in handy.

Are you looking to buy a Chevy Volt?  Well, if you live in Texas, New York, Connecticut, Washington DC, California, Michigan, or New Jersey you may be in luck.  GM announced that California, Washington, Austin, TX, and New York City will be the first ones to see the Chevy Volt in November of this year. GM expects to quickly run out of them and then Michigan, NJ, CT, and the rest of TX and NY will receive the Volt in 2011.  All 50 states will get the Volt in about 12 to 18 months from the debut.  The Volt will be about $32,780 before tax credits.

Edmunds.com says that in many cases it’s cheaper to buy a new car than a used one.  The prices for used cars are high and you can get subsidized loans for a new car, whereas used car loan interest rates are usually high.  Here’s a crazy statistic….the average price of a 3 year old car is 11.1% higher than it was last year.
Happy 4th of July by the way!  Hope everyone had a fun and safe weekend.

Well to be honest there isn’t a whole lot of interesting tidbits for you today.  I searched and searched but came up pretty empty. I do have a little to share, but nothing too exciting.

Auto sales for June were not good.  Ford, GM, and Chrysler sales for new cars and trucks dropped between 12 and 13% from May.  Toyota dropped 14%.  Hyundai did have good news and had a slight gain.  The auto industry problems are clearly not over.  People are still afraid to buy new cars with the current economy. The job security factor and unemployment rates are major problems for the auto industry.  Though the good news is that sales are up for most automakers from last June. Though that wasn’t too hard to do since last year at this time it was awful for the auto industry.

Toyota has more problems. They will be recalling about 270,000 vehicles worldwide to fix a faulty engine. 180,000 were sold overseas and the rest in Japan.  Good news is that no accidents have been reported to these faulty engines.  Do you feel sorry for Toyota yet?

Did you pre-order a Nissan Leaf?  Well it looks like there are some problems with the logistics of the rollout plan and how to meet the demand with the limited amount of Nissan Leafs that will be available. Supposedly if you pre-ordered you were to hear by June 30 when you would be getting your vehicle.  Well, an email came from Nissan saying that they are working out the details and would contact these people later in the summer. Quite vague. I’m sure Nissan will figure it out and get the Leaf on the streets in no time.

No matter what websites I looked at tonight, I see so many luxury cars being unveiled. It’s crazy. I just wrote about how auto sales are down this past month, though we still have new luxury car after new luxury car coming out of the woodwork.  I guess that truly the people that are buying these vehicles aren’t worried about job security, but still. It seems crazy that we can have so many high end cars that will be successful during this auto industry that isn’t very strong.  We’ll see I guess.