“The typical American male devotes more than 1,000 hours a year to his car”, so wrote the Austrian philosopher Ivan Illich way back in 1974.
SUVs
What Climate Crisis? Sales of SUVs Booming in Europe
If you thought that growing awareness about climate change, coupled with years of austerity and recession, would mean that European drivers would be buying small fuel efficient cars, you would be wrong.
Falling Gas Prices: Buy an EV Not SUV
It is pretty hard nowadays to pass a gas station and not notice the plummeting price. Fuel prices have been falling so persistently that it appears that Americans have rediscovered their taste for gas guzzlers.
The $50 Billion Bail-Out
I wonder how Main-Street feels about this one. Even though millions of Americans are already outraged over bailing out Wall Street, they are now being asked to bail out Detroit too. Later this morning expect dismal third-quarter results from GM and Ford, estimated at $2 billion each, which will probably plunge the markets even deeper … Read More
RIP the SUV …
Are the days of the SUV and large gas-guzzlers over? The New York Times reports how “Soaring gas prices have turned the steady migration by Americans to smaller cars into a stampede.” According to the Times: “In what industry analysts are calling a first, about one in five vehicles sold in the United States was … Read More
A “Green Hummer” – you are having a laugh…
Now its getting silly. The American motor industry’s rush to greenwash its products has now even affected the Hummer, with GM announcing yesterday an ethanol-powered version of the military-style vehicle. General Motors kicked off the Detroit motor show by revealing biofuel-propelled prototypes of a Hummer, even though the car does just 16 litres per 100km … Read More
GM to Test-Drive Fuel-Cell Cars
General Motors is to give drivers the chance to try out hydrogen-powered vehicles, although it will help if you are a celebrity. As part of “Project Driveway“, GM will put more than 100 fuel-cell vehicles in the hands of customers before the end of the year. Ironically, the cars will be based on the Chevrolet … Read More
London Aims 60 per Cent Cut in Carbon Emissions
London’s Mayor, Ken Livinstone will announce radical plans to slash London’s carbon emissions by 60% within 20 years. Livingstone wants a quarter of London’s electricity supply to be shifted from the national grid to local combined heat-and-power systems by 2025.
EU Targets Gas Guzzlers
Gas-guzzling SUVs or sports cars as well as people carriers could be “priced off the road within five years”, according to the Daily Telegraph after a crackdown on carbon emissions to be announced by the European Commission. The average new car in 2012 will have to emit no more than 120 grams of carbon per … Read More
Chelsea Tractors in Decline
Gas-guzzling “Chelsea Tractors” or SUVs have suffered a sudden decline in sales after a succession of threatened tax rises, The Times reports today. Existing owners of 4x4s are facing substantial losses because the second-hand value of the vehicles has also dropped significantly. Sales of new 4x4s fell by more than 15 per cent last month … Read More
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