!!URGENT!!! Ask Questions to a GM Bigwig!!
09-12-2008 | 06:38 PM
#41
Senior Member
Joined: 06-21-2008
Posts: 332
From: Dallas, Texas
It's just a site I googled that supported my theory. 
It's a UK company that sells extended warranties and the data is taken from claims they've had. Take from it what you will.
It's a UK company that sells extended warranties and the data is taken from claims they've had. Take from it what you will.
Code:
Reliabilty Index The American Index has been researched from over 450,000 vehicle records. Unlike our UK analysis, repair costs are not included in this analysis and the index reflects solely the incidence of failure as a percentage - the higher the percentage, the higher the risk of failure.
09-14-2008 | 01:22 PM
#42
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: 07-26-2006
Posts: 903
From: Soon to be Longview, Texas
There was an answer to the following question when it was posed to Troy Clarke at the Q&A session on Friday.
Okay, here's the answer to your question. The simplest answer on this is both in regards to emissions standards and economics.
On emissions: the European Union has a lower emissions standard than even the federal CAFE standard for diesel emissions, and as such a lot of the "currently available" diesel technology from Europe is not being produced by U.S. manufacturers because of the costs involved with redesigning said diesels to meet U.S. standards (let alone CARB standards).
On economics: the only reason why Europe produced so many diesels was that the E.U. had a price limit set on the price of diesel, keeping it down to about 1/3 the price of gasoline. Those price limits have since been allowed to expire and not been renewed, and as a result the price of diesel is virtually even with the price of gasoline. An interesting fact that Mr. Clarke mentioned while answering this question is that for model year 2008, sales of gasoline-powered cars in Europe surpassed sales of diesel-powered vehicles because of this price jump.
I also added your comments about CNG because a question was asked about converting to CNG. Mr. Clarke's answer on that was that due to a lack of infrastructure for CNG fueling of cars, going to CNG is currently impractical (and additionally, the owners of fueling stations - the oil companies - are unwilling to invest in a CNG infrastructure due to liability issues involving safe storage: they only agreed to E85 because the storage infrastructure was virtually no different than that for gasoline). Municipalities are currently the only ones who will run CNG because of local agreements with gas suppliers (i.e. natural gas companies like National Fuel).
I heard today that Opec(sp) is going to lower production (output) to keep fuel prices inflated.
Ok, with the above headline in mind. When will GM take the lead with technology thats available today by offering a small diesel that has the capability of 40+mpg in a midsize vehicle.
There are companies building BioDiesel plants now that will offer B5 to B100. Using biodiesel does not loose as much work per gallon as e85 so milage would not be as affected by switching between diesel and biodiesel.
Also Diesels have the capability of running CNG. Our local transit system is using CNG in the diesel buses, and what I have noticed is no diesel smell, no black exhaust smoke and a much quieter engines, no discernable diesel knock.
Ok, with the above headline in mind. When will GM take the lead with technology thats available today by offering a small diesel that has the capability of 40+mpg in a midsize vehicle.
There are companies building BioDiesel plants now that will offer B5 to B100. Using biodiesel does not loose as much work per gallon as e85 so milage would not be as affected by switching between diesel and biodiesel.
Also Diesels have the capability of running CNG. Our local transit system is using CNG in the diesel buses, and what I have noticed is no diesel smell, no black exhaust smoke and a much quieter engines, no discernable diesel knock.
On emissions: the European Union has a lower emissions standard than even the federal CAFE standard for diesel emissions, and as such a lot of the "currently available" diesel technology from Europe is not being produced by U.S. manufacturers because of the costs involved with redesigning said diesels to meet U.S. standards (let alone CARB standards).
On economics: the only reason why Europe produced so many diesels was that the E.U. had a price limit set on the price of diesel, keeping it down to about 1/3 the price of gasoline. Those price limits have since been allowed to expire and not been renewed, and as a result the price of diesel is virtually even with the price of gasoline. An interesting fact that Mr. Clarke mentioned while answering this question is that for model year 2008, sales of gasoline-powered cars in Europe surpassed sales of diesel-powered vehicles because of this price jump.
I also added your comments about CNG because a question was asked about converting to CNG. Mr. Clarke's answer on that was that due to a lack of infrastructure for CNG fueling of cars, going to CNG is currently impractical (and additionally, the owners of fueling stations - the oil companies - are unwilling to invest in a CNG infrastructure due to liability issues involving safe storage: they only agreed to E85 because the storage infrastructure was virtually no different than that for gasoline). Municipalities are currently the only ones who will run CNG because of local agreements with gas suppliers (i.e. natural gas companies like National Fuel).
09-14-2008 | 01:24 PM
#43
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: 07-26-2006
Posts: 903
From: Soon to be Longview, Texas
Because of what I mentioned above in regards to infrastructure, this is the furthest from GM's mind, according to Clarke. In fact, GM and ExxonMobil are currently at odds because of GM's commitment to hydrogen fuel cells and EM's dragging of feet in putting a hydrogen infrastructure in place in more than just LA, NYC and DC.
09-14-2008 | 01:30 PM
#44
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: 07-26-2006
Posts: 903
From: Soon to be Longview, Texas
This comes down to a liability issue. They will void the warranty on a PCM tune because if said tune winds up destroying components prematurely which would, under normal PCM tuning, have lasted much longer, GM does not want to absorb the cost of that repair: by the rules of economics, enough of these fixes that GM has to pay for will wind up passing the cost along to the consumer in either higher service rates or increased prices on new vehicles. The manufacturer walks a fine line on computer programming, and as such they have it set to give the most performance possible while preserving the electrical and mechanical components as long as possible. The balance between performance and longevity is why the liability is too high.
09-15-2008 | 08:56 AM
#45
Senior Member
Joined: 01-10-2008
Posts: 681
From: NJ
Because of what I mentioned above in regards to infrastructure, this is the furthest from GM's mind, according to Clarke. In fact, GM and ExxonMobil are currently at odds because of GM's commitment to hydrogen fuel cells and EM's dragging of feet in putting a hydrogen infrastructure in place in more than just LA, NYC and DC.
It's about time a US auto manufacturer stopped playing into the hands of big oil. These industries rely on each other, but aren't sharing in the same types of profits.
09-23-2008 | 08:53 PM
#46
New Member
Joined: 08-17-2006
Posts: 16
From: midwest
thank you
thank you for asking these questions.
I was curious about the cng as I saw the Pickens commercial promoting using cng in diesel trucks over the road vehicles to have cleaner exhaust.
I have read that there are companies building plants for biodiesel, and from what I read it performs closer to diesel in performance than e85 to gas
Okay, here's the answer to your question. The simplest answer on this is both in regards to emissions standards and economics.
On emissions: the European Union has a lower emissions standard than even the federal CAFE standard for diesel emissions, and as such a lot of the "currently available" diesel technology from Europe is not being produced by U.S. manufacturers because of the costs involved with redesigning said diesels to meet U.S. standards (let alone CARB standards).
On economics: the only reason why Europe produced so many diesels was that the E.U. had a price limit set on the price of diesel, keeping it down to about 1/3 the price of gasoline. Those price limits have since been allowed to expire and not been renewed, and as a result the price of diesel is virtually even with the price of gasoline. An interesting fact that Mr. Clarke mentioned while answering this question is that for model year 2008, sales of gasoline-powered cars in Europe surpassed sales of diesel-powered vehicles because of this price jump.
I also added your comments about CNG because a question was asked about converting to CNG. Mr. Clarke's answer on that was that due to a lack of infrastructure for CNG fueling of cars, going to CNG is currently impractical (and additionally, the owners of fueling stations - the oil companies - are unwilling to invest in a CNG infrastructure due to liability issues involving safe storage: they only agreed to E85 because the storage infrastructure was virtually no different than that for gasoline). Municipalities are currently the only ones who will run CNG because of local agreements with gas suppliers (i.e. natural gas companies like National Fuel).
Ok yes UK has less emission standards,
but, nissan is working on a aluminum diesel engine,
Honda has mentioned putting a diesel in the accord engine will mark the debut of Honda's Clean Diesel technology in the US. The engine will be 50 state-legal (unlike many 2007 model year diesels), and unique to Honda, the engine will not require a urea injection as Mercedes and larger VW diesels to remove harmful NOx from the exhaust
I read something about a flat aluminum diesel nissan is working on also.
Bmw is bringing the dual turbo diesel 50 state ok, using urea that the dealer will refill for the customer
Ford has a diesel designed but the cost of building the plant would be very high, but its a small car thats suppose to get 65mpg
So the diesel is not dead yet,
I just feel that gm is behind on the curve.
I also saw a show about the tesla roadster and the question was asked about cost of batteries, it ended up to be 1/3 of the vehicle, which starts about 90 grand, then the problem of the exploding batteries which they think they have solved, but did say something about should one do then it should be protected from the others.
also saw that gm was still having battery problems for the volt,
the debate continues.
Thanks again
I was curious about the cng as I saw the Pickens commercial promoting using cng in diesel trucks over the road vehicles to have cleaner exhaust.
I have read that there are companies building plants for biodiesel, and from what I read it performs closer to diesel in performance than e85 to gas
Okay, here's the answer to your question. The simplest answer on this is both in regards to emissions standards and economics.
On emissions: the European Union has a lower emissions standard than even the federal CAFE standard for diesel emissions, and as such a lot of the "currently available" diesel technology from Europe is not being produced by U.S. manufacturers because of the costs involved with redesigning said diesels to meet U.S. standards (let alone CARB standards).
On economics: the only reason why Europe produced so many diesels was that the E.U. had a price limit set on the price of diesel, keeping it down to about 1/3 the price of gasoline. Those price limits have since been allowed to expire and not been renewed, and as a result the price of diesel is virtually even with the price of gasoline. An interesting fact that Mr. Clarke mentioned while answering this question is that for model year 2008, sales of gasoline-powered cars in Europe surpassed sales of diesel-powered vehicles because of this price jump.
I also added your comments about CNG because a question was asked about converting to CNG. Mr. Clarke's answer on that was that due to a lack of infrastructure for CNG fueling of cars, going to CNG is currently impractical (and additionally, the owners of fueling stations - the oil companies - are unwilling to invest in a CNG infrastructure due to liability issues involving safe storage: they only agreed to E85 because the storage infrastructure was virtually no different than that for gasoline). Municipalities are currently the only ones who will run CNG because of local agreements with gas suppliers (i.e. natural gas companies like National Fuel).
but, nissan is working on a aluminum diesel engine,
Honda has mentioned putting a diesel in the accord engine will mark the debut of Honda's Clean Diesel technology in the US. The engine will be 50 state-legal (unlike many 2007 model year diesels), and unique to Honda, the engine will not require a urea injection as Mercedes and larger VW diesels to remove harmful NOx from the exhaust
I read something about a flat aluminum diesel nissan is working on also.
Bmw is bringing the dual turbo diesel 50 state ok, using urea that the dealer will refill for the customer
Ford has a diesel designed but the cost of building the plant would be very high, but its a small car thats suppose to get 65mpg
So the diesel is not dead yet,
I just feel that gm is behind on the curve.
I also saw a show about the tesla roadster and the question was asked about cost of batteries, it ended up to be 1/3 of the vehicle, which starts about 90 grand, then the problem of the exploding batteries which they think they have solved, but did say something about should one do then it should be protected from the others.
also saw that gm was still having battery problems for the volt,
the debate continues.
Thanks again
09-23-2008 | 09:13 PM
#47
Senior Member
Joined: 01-24-2008
Posts: 725
From: USA
There was an excellent artice in Yahoo yesterday about the new Ford that gets 65 mpg in Europe, but it uses diesel. Ford has no intentions of introducing it to the US market, as diesel is charged a high tax, due to it's primary use in commercial trucks. Thus, the mpg saving evaporates. Also, there is a perception in the US that diesel is not clean and until that image goes away, the American market will not accept a diesel car.
They also point out that the diesel engines are produced in Europe and it would be too expensive to bring over here. To produce in Mexico would be too expensive - believe it was 350 million to set up production. With Ford bleeding cash right now, they can't take a chance. Article further points out that Ford could also be missing a golden opportunity for being on the leading edge of clean diesel in the US and they are sort of rolling the dice on this one.
I believe GM would be in the same boat on the above. Point is that diesel is getting cleaner all of the time and it may be an alternative to other methods of getting mileage up.
I'd like to point out that Cummins Engine is located in Jamestown, NY, where I am from and they produce some of the finest diesel engines in the world. Would certainly seem possible for either Ford or GM to produce a good, reliable engine in America - if my memory serves me correctly, it has been done before.........
They also point out that the diesel engines are produced in Europe and it would be too expensive to bring over here. To produce in Mexico would be too expensive - believe it was 350 million to set up production. With Ford bleeding cash right now, they can't take a chance. Article further points out that Ford could also be missing a golden opportunity for being on the leading edge of clean diesel in the US and they are sort of rolling the dice on this one.
I believe GM would be in the same boat on the above. Point is that diesel is getting cleaner all of the time and it may be an alternative to other methods of getting mileage up.
I'd like to point out that Cummins Engine is located in Jamestown, NY, where I am from and they produce some of the finest diesel engines in the world. Would certainly seem possible for either Ford or GM to produce a good, reliable engine in America - if my memory serves me correctly, it has been done before.........
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