Mercedes, logically, slowly and methodically, is getting into the green game more and more. Check out the latest example, the S-Class S 400 Hybrid. The boys from Stuttgart aren’t doing things half way, they’re not trying things out on lower range models, and then moving things up the corporate food chain. Nope, Mercedes is starting right at the top, with the S-Class.
Here’s some interesting, and long rumored news that turns out to be true: Ferrari, makers of the best cars in the world, is going green, instituting a host of enviro-friendly initiatives and green products in the near future.
Ferrari chief executive Amadeo Felisa confirmed that the Maranello-based company is looking into two approaches to make their products greener and more environmentally friendly. Specifically, Ferrari is looking into turbocharging as route to maintain power outputs and E85 bio-ethanol as a fuel. Chief executive Felisa states that Ferrari will throw the full weight of its technical know-how into ensuring that turbocharged engines retain Ferrari’s trademark high-revving feel, as well as delivering that all important power and torque to the tarmac, as expected by Ferrari customers. Felisa also revealed that the ECU on the company’s latest model, the California, is already ready set up to burn E85.
Probably, the Toyota Prius is the most talked about car currently on the road. Toyota essentially re-wrote the book about what an eco-conscious car is with this thing. Sure, it’s not without its negatives (weight, battery recycling, highway fuel mileage etc.) but overall, if you want to show the world your green cred while tooling around the Toyota Prius is pretty much THE way to do it. Just ask Honda, who’s going pretty much goofy trying to get people into their Insight hybrid. At the rate Toyota sells these things, pretty soon, saying “hybrid” to a person will give them a mental picture that equals “Prius”. Unless there are more alternatives out there for sale, Prius will be to hybrid what Kleenex is to wiping your nose. The name will simply become the product.
Speaking of selling, Toyota, who just rolled out the latest generation of Prius, has finally gotten around to announcing prices.
No, it’s no joke, and no, I’m not kidding, someone is really making a Hummer Hybrid. And seriously, my first thought was, “I bet Schwarzenegger just LOVES this.” See, the Governator has a penchant for big SUVs, but he’s also more than a little bit green. For example, he has FOUR Mercedes G-wagens, but he’s converted them to run on bio-D. So when a hybrid Hummer started popping up on the web, my first thought was that Ahnuld would buy one. My second thought was a bit more bloody-minded. More along the lines of, “Great, tell the American public we can have our cake and eat it too, and we’re well on the road to ending up like the people on Wall-E.”
So what gives? Are they serious about this, or is it just some shade tree project.
Mercedes has always had an interesting relationship with the New York International Auto Show, having chosen to use that venue many times to roll out cars that would prove to be highly significant for the German marque. This year’s NYIAS will prove to be no different when the three-pointed star will roll out a whole range of hybrid models, including a hybrid version of its ML SUV.
Or at least that’s what AutoBlogGreen recently asked, vis-à-vis the impact of electric cars on manufacturing jobs, and car repair facilities everywhere. It’s a good question to be sure, but they seem to be off in a few respects. For starters, they say ” … the thousand of individuals that make their livings devising and repairing the inner-workings of the automobile are reportedly worried about their job prospects.”
First off, the people that assemble cars are not machinists. People that work in assembly plants are skilled laborers, but they don’t have the training or skill of a machinist. It’s a totally different thing. Neither are people that work in garages machinists. I have nothing but respect for people that car remove a tranny, send it out for a rebuild and put it back in and have it run flawlessly. I can’t do that. But doing a tranny R&R is not nearly the same has having someone hand you some dimensional drawings and a piece on Inconel stock and saying they need it by closing time.
There, now that we gotten that out of the way, what about electric cars and service jobs?
