Honda CR-Z concept
It has been a while since I've dashed off anything for this space, so here are a few odds and ends, perhaps connected. Perhaps not.
Our European Editor, Paul Horrell, sent me an email the other day with a succinct description of the European Union's answer to our Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. The EU is tackling fuel economy from the C02 emissions side. Horrell says the EU wants automakers to reach an average of 130 grams per kilometer by 2012. In a gasoline car, he says, that equates to 43 mpg U.S., and it's 48 mpg for a diesel. In four years. If you think only the Big Three American automakers have put the brakes on some product plans in light of CAFE standards that could reach 35 mpg for cars and trucks by 2020, consider what Porsche, Mercedes, BMW and really, just about everybody else, will have to do to reach those numbers. In four years.
I was a bit blindsided a few months ago, when some motoring websites broke news that Honda would show "a new CRX" at October's Tokyo show. I didn't think it would happen. As a onetime CRX owner, I'd learned to dismiss rumors of upcoming CRX concepts since the bad old days of the Del Sol. One source told me that some enthusiasts at Honda have wanted to do one for years, but the corporate will wasn't there. Then the CR-Z appeared at Tokyo, and it was obvious a production model would soon be on the boards. There is one catch, though. It's likely to be marketed as a hybrid-powered car. That means it won't be simple and high revving, like the original. And the last hybrid I can think of that was even available with a stick shift was the Honda Insight, which in a way, was the first reincarnation of the CRX. At least, it kind of looked like one. I hope Honda builds a line of CR-Zs, kind of like the Mini Cooper, most with hybrid power but some with high-revving 2.0-liter engines. That would be a real CRX reincarnation.
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There were also rumors of a Toyota-Subaru sports car concept for Tokyo, which was, yeah I know, ages ago. The car never showed up. So where did the rumor come from? You'll remember that GM dumped its 10-percent interest in Subaru some time ago. Toyota picked up that interest, but not to get into the horizontally opposed engine business. Rather it bought interest in Subie to keep that company reasonably well-capitalized. Now it has to figure out what it can get out of the investment. As we learned at Tokyo, a Toybaru sports car isn't it.
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The way the United Auto Workers dealt with each of the Detroit Three seems appropriate for each individual automaker. The UAW gave GM a two-day strike, then signed a deal to take over its health care insurance for a huge capital payout. GM seems very happy about paying a ton of money to get the benefits off its hands. Chrysler's deal is what you'd expect for a secretive, private company. The strike there lasted about six hours. We didn't get a great deal of details about the contract, which the rank-and-file barely passed. And then, Chrysler announced a bunch of new layoffs, cancelled models and cut shifts. And Ford, or "Ford's," as the locals call it, pulled off a contract without a strike. A couple of Ford UAW workers told the Detroit Free Press that they got a much better deal than they had expected, given Ford's poor health. Later, The New York Times ran a story suggesting William Clay Ford, Jr., had a lot to do with negotiations. Read past the first paragraph though and you'd find someone from Ford public relations saying, well, yes, Bill Ford sat in on negotiations, but really, it was all Alan Mulally. And so it goes.
It has been a while since I've dashed off anything for this space, so here are a few odds and ends, perhaps connected. Perhaps not.
Our European Editor, Paul Horrell, sent me an email the other day with a succinct description of the European Union's answer to our Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. The EU is tackling fuel economy from the C02 emissions side. Horrell says the EU wants automakers to reach an average of 130 grams per kilometer by 2012. In a gasoline car, he says, that equates to 43 mpg U.S., and it's 48 mpg for a diesel. In four years. If you think only the Big Three American automakers have put the brakes on some product plans in light of CAFE standards that could reach 35 mpg for cars and trucks by 2020, consider what Porsche, Mercedes, BMW and really, just about everybody else, will have to do to reach those numbers. In four years.
I was a bit blindsided a few months ago, when some motoring websites broke news that Honda would show "a new CRX" at October's Tokyo show. I didn't think it would happen. As a onetime CRX owner, I'd learned to dismiss rumors of upcoming CRX concepts since the bad old days of the Del Sol. One source told me that some enthusiasts at Honda have wanted to do one for years, but the corporate will wasn't there. Then the CR-Z appeared at Tokyo, and it was obvious a production model would soon be on the boards. There is one catch, though. It's likely to be marketed as a hybrid-powered car. That means it won't be simple and high revving, like the original. And the last hybrid I can think of that was even available with a stick shift was the Honda Insight, which in a way, was the first reincarnation of the CRX. At least, it kind of looked like one. I hope Honda builds a line of CR-Zs, kind of like the Mini Cooper, most with hybrid power but some with high-revving 2.0-liter engines. That would be a real CRX reincarnation.
*******
There were also rumors of a Toyota-Subaru sports car concept for Tokyo, which was, yeah I know, ages ago. The car never showed up. So where did the rumor come from? You'll remember that GM dumped its 10-percent interest in Subaru some time ago. Toyota picked up that interest, but not to get into the horizontally opposed engine business. Rather it bought interest in Subie to keep that company reasonably well-capitalized. Now it has to figure out what it can get out of the investment. As we learned at Tokyo, a Toybaru sports car isn't it.
*******
The way the United Auto Workers dealt with each of the Detroit Three seems appropriate for each individual automaker. The UAW gave GM a two-day strike, then signed a deal to take over its health care insurance for a huge capital payout. GM seems very happy about paying a ton of money to get the benefits off its hands. Chrysler's deal is what you'd expect for a secretive, private company. The strike there lasted about six hours. We didn't get a great deal of details about the contract, which the rank-and-file barely passed. And then, Chrysler announced a bunch of new layoffs, cancelled models and cut shifts. And Ford, or "Ford's," as the locals call it, pulled off a contract without a strike. A couple of Ford UAW workers told the Detroit Free Press that they got a much better deal than they had expected, given Ford's poor health. Later, The New York Times ran a story suggesting William Clay Ford, Jr., had a lot to do with negotiations. Read past the first paragraph though and you'd find someone from Ford public relations saying, well, yes, Bill Ford sat in on negotiations, but really, it was all Alan Mulally. And so it goes.
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