AMG is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz that transforms mainstream models into super performing beasts. As such it has never been known as a champion of efficiency, but this is about to change. AMG chief Volker Mornhinweg recently spoke to Britain's CAR about future products that are being developed or considered. AMG has clearly demonstrated that it knows how to extract extraordinary amounts of power form Mercedes engines. Given the reality of fuel prices and emissions requirements, ever increasing power is no longer a suitable path. However, AMG wouldn't be what it is without performance so the engineers will seek new directions that require less power and consumption. That means lighter weight materials for new models so that smaller engines can be used. The AMG engineers will also move beyond straight gasoline internal combustion power. In the next few years, AMG will introduce a model using the new mild hybrid system that debuts in the S400 BlueHybrid next year. That model should beat the current AMG 6.2L V8 by 30 percent in fuel economy but have similar performance. Diesel will also be part of the picture although the focus for AMG will be higher performance diesels than Mercedes currently sells. A twin turbocharged version of the 3.0L V6 diesel used through much of the current lineup could rival the BMW dual turbo six that is used in the 335d and 535d.

[Source: CAR]

Honda has launched a new mini-site - oh, excuse me, a mini-insight - that displays information about its hybrid vehicle lineup in all sorts of flashy goodness. Of course, the star of the show is the new Honda Insight, which was unveiled in Paris last week. On top of that, the dedicated site has information on the old Insight, the Accord hybrid, the Civic hybrid, the CR-Z and the Jazz hybrid, along with press releases from 2007 and 2008 about the latest models. To visit the site, go here and click on the "launch" button.

This is Honda's second major online development that features the Insight. The first is the Insight blog, "a Honda blog that follows the journey of our latest hybrid." Whether you prefer the chatty nature of the Honda blog or the more straightforward minisite, Honda wants you to know that their Prius-fighter has arrived online. We've noticed, but we're really waiting for the car to show up in dealer lots.

[Source: Honda]

A week after Mercedes-Benz announced details of its first hybrid, battery supplier Continental Automotive has launched production of the battery packs. Mercedes will be the first manufacturer to mass produce a hybrid vehicles with lithium ion batteries. Continental spent €3 million to build the battery manufacturing facility in Nuremberg. The first batteries that being produced weigh 55 lbs and have a volume of just under 0.5 cu. ft. When the Mercedes S400 BlueHybrid launches in mid-2009 with this 120V battery pack it will be installed in the engine compartment in place of the standard 12V lead acid battery.

Since this is the first mass market automotive application of a lithium battery, Mercedes and Continental are being extra careful. The battery is designed to last a minimum of 10 years and 100,000-150,000 miles so Continental has developed a sophisticated monitoring system to make sure that it operates within normal operating parameters. Each individual cell is monitored to keeps loads balanced and ensure even charging and discharging. Continental had to develop special processes to weld the copper bus bars that act as cell interconnects. The whole battery is enclosed inside of a laser-welded stainless steel case. The initial production capacity of the factory is 15,000 units a year and that can easily be doubled.

[Source: Continental]

As we gathered sleepily in the conference rooms early in the morning, host John Hanson said that Toyota's hope with this one-day seminar was to present the complexity of the sustainability mobility situation and to highlight the challenges that the world is dealing with. The solution is not just the cleaner-than-they-used-to-be four-wheeled vehicles that Toyota is building, but also its partnerships and transportation alternatives, a reduction in how much energy and resource we use, better regulations, and so on and so on and so on. Seriously. By 3 p.m., our heads were swimming but still, Toyota succeeded in Hanson's stated goal. The six or so hours of presentations and Q&A sessions provided a lot of answers and raised a few questions about just what we're going to do in the coming decades. If nothing else, we learned that Toyota is thinking about the problem.

Follow us past the jump for the full story.

We've reported on hybrid taxis in NYC, Sydney and Dubai, but the trend isn't limited to places that also happen to be tourist hot spots. On my way to the airport yesterday, I tried a new taxi service in Lansing that exclusively uses hybrids in their fleet. OK, make that a hybrid in the fleet of one. Woodrow Campbel, the owner/dispatcher/driver, said that people don't call him because he's the green taxi in town, but he's pretty sure that his reputation will grow. In the meantime, weekend bar traffic is enough to keep his new business running; he started just two weeks ago and the money he makes taking the drunk college kids home is enough to make cleaning their vomit worth it.

Another example of hybrids in hired car action comes from Iowa City, where the Black & Gold Cab company just added a second Toyota Prius to the fleet. Owner Chris Griffin sent a note in to AutoblogGreen saying that, "To our knowledge, we have the first two hybrid taxis in the state of Iowa." Neither of these two business will be saving the planet singlehandedly, but every little bit helps.

[Source: Black & Gold Cab]

The State of Wisconsin will give Johnson Controls-Saft a half-million dollar grant to aid in the development of hybrid battery technology, it was announced yesterday. The grant is part of Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle's Clean Energy Wisconsin Plan, and requires Johnson Controls-Saft to invest $500,000 of its own money - I wouldn't be surprised it it goes into the company's Battery Technology Center in Milwaukee - to get the matching funds from the state. The company says it was given the grant "specifically for the advanced technology R&D and commercialization efforts for lithium-ion hybrid vehicle batteries." Johnson Controls-Saft is also building li-ion batteries in France and got $8.2 million from the "ignorant" federal government.

[Source: Johnson Controls]

NOTE: If you missed them, please start by reading parts one, two and three in Gary's EV1 series.

What was learned, and is being applied today

"As has been stated in comments [to the] previous two posts by Mr. Witzenburg, there are several things which just don't add up, and make him look like a half-wit." – ABG reader Virgil.

Despite your gratuitous insult, Virgil, you raise a couple good points in your comment ... and one not so good. You wrote:

"First, aerodynamics. Anyone who's ever been in a canoe knows that a 17-ft canoe is faster than a 14-ft canoe. They're the same width, same frontal area, but the longer boat allows a more shallow angle of attack and tail-off, so is more hydrodynamic. Making a longer EV1 would improve aerodynamic performance, not decrease."

Really? Based on intuition, without data, I would tend to agree. But vehicle aerodynamic behavior on a solid surface is not always intuitive. Our body engineers said their aero analysis showed a meaningful increase in drag from a longer (and flatter) four-seat body vs. a shorter, teardrop-shaped two-passenger one. I'm no expert, but given that no other practical production vehicle has come close to EV1's astounding 0.19 Cd, I have no reason to disbelieve them.

Read more after the break.

General Motors is finally starting to regularly break out the sales figures for its hybrid vehicles and while the numbers are improving, they still look very weak compared to the competition. August was the company's best month yet for hybrids with a whopping 1,629 units delivered of the six available models. Buyers took home a combined 797 examples of the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon plus a single Escalade hybrid. The Escalade only went on sale in late August so we'll be looking for the September numbers to see if there really is any demand for a $70,000+ luxury hybrid SUV. Over on the mild hybrid side of the tally, the Saturn Vue was the winner with 417 sales, followed by the Malibu at 388 and finally the Aura with a mere 26 sales. These numbers are still pretty weak but at least they are trending upward. Over 12 months the current rate amounts to over 19,500 units, a number that will likely grow significantly when the two-mode Vue goes on sale in a few months. With six hybrids on sale though, that's still pretty tame compared even to Ford, which sells every one of the 25,000 Escape and Mariner hybrids it offers. Ford will likely jump well out ahead in the new year with the Fusion hybrid. Next month, we'll be carefully watching Chrysler's numbers as well, since the first sales of the Durango and Aspen hybrids should be recorded.

Related:

• In the AutoblogGreen Garage: 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid Limited FWD
• In the AutoblogGreen Garage: 2008 Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid
• In the AutoblogGreen Garage: 2008 Chevy Tahoe Two-Mode Hybrid

[Source: General Motors]

While KITT gets the headline from Ford in its announcement of FoMoCo vehicles appearing in fall TV shows, the green-minded among us can find a mention of a hybrid powerplant on the set of Fringe a few paragraphs down - after talk of KITT (it turns into a F-150!) and Desperate Housewifes. Fringe is the latest show from J. J. Abrams (Lost and Alias).

Apparently, a main character in the FOX sci-fi drama Fringe, FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) will track down E.T. or whatever in a 2009 Escape Hybrid. The use of the honkin' hybrid shows just what a greenie Abrams is, said Ross Mackenzie of Ford Global Brand Entertainment in a statement. "J. J. Abrams is a big environmentalist, and he wanted to have a hybrid vehicle on the show. Since Olivia Dunham is the lead character, the Escape Hybrid was a nice fit."

If you want to know how the 2009 Escape Hybrid performs in the real word, check out our review. There's also the Ford release and a video teaser ad for Fringe after the break.


[Source: Ford]

Click the 2009 Escape Hybrid for a high-res gallery

Contrary to the results from many studies conducted over the past, Consumer Reports has found that some hybrid vehicles actually offer a huge cash savings after just one year of driving. As you would imagine, those savings continues to add up year after year in most cases. Out of twelve hybrids tested, half saved money in the first year of ownership, even without calculating in any applicable tax credits. The six winners: Toyota Prius and hybrid versions of the Chevrolet Malibu and (surprise!) Tahoe, Ford Escape, Saturn Vue, and Toyota Camry.

There were a few losers too, along with some that just about broke even. The worst payback, not surprisingly, come from the most expensive models: the Lexus GS 450h and RX 400h and the Toyota Highlander Hybrid. So far, CR has not revealed the math behind its findings, other than to say that fuel savings only accounted for about a quarter of overall cost to their owners, but subscribers will know soon enough. Get the whole story in the October 2008 edition of the print mag.


[Source: Consumer Reports]

Following the examples set down by New York and San Francisco, Boston is now requiring that all its taxis be hybrids by the year 2015. The fleet currently boasts about 50 of the gas saving cars but most of the rest of the fleet of 1825 people movers are Crown Victorias. Although the hybrids can save owners $1,000 a month in fuel costs and halve emissions, change is not always welcomed and there is some resistance to switching over. The upfront cost of hybrids approach $30,000 when outfitted with the complete taxi kit while the old rear-wheel drive guzzlers might be less than half of that when picked up second hand from city auctions. Of course, we might argue that brand new Ford Escape hybrids and Priuses would be twice as nice to drive and ride in as previously ragged-out police cars but perhaps we're biased. In any case, the decision has been made and so hybrids it will be...eventually. The seven year grace period is supposed to help out the owner-operators compete with large cab company fleets while the transition is made.

[Source: The Boston Globe]

Apparently, Marty Padgett and Bengt Halvorson over at The Car Connection had a little extra time over the weekend. As part of the political frenzy being created thanks to the national party conventions happening over the next two weeks, the automotive website has taken it upon itself to predict which types of vehicles will become more popular depending on who is president of the U.S. starting in January. Their take? A President Barack Obama would promote diesel pickups, the Honda Accord diesel, the Ford Fiesta and the Chrysler 300C HEMI. On the other side, a President John McCain would mean more Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrids, Toyota Priuses, Honda Civic GXs, Chevrolet Volts and Nissan EVs on the roads. You can read their reason for these choices after the jump, but it basically comes down to which broad automotive policies each candidate has promoted thus far in the race. Still, I thought the Prius was the car of choice for Obamaniacs?

[Source: TheCarConnection.com]

Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid

Last week, Honda officially revealed photos of the 2009 Honda Civic range (which is now on the company website, too), which received a mild facelift as part of its mid-cycle enhancement. As was hinted in the spy shots that came out a short time ago, the grille has been reshaped to fit in with the rest of Honda's vehicle range, the front bumper now incorporates a tri-opening look, and out back, the taillamp lenses are slightly more detailed than before. A chrome strip now spans the area between them on the trunklid as well.

The Civic Hybrid soldiers on with its uniquely-styled wheels and gets standard stability control for 2009. As you can see in the gallery below, leather seating is also now available, along with Bluetooth connectivity and a USB interface for portable media players. The 1.3L four with IMA is unchanged and is rated at the same 40 mpg city/45 mpg highway as last year's car. Overall, yes, the car's changed, but only very slightly. Meanwhile, everyone waits with bated breath for the official unveiling of the big H's hybrid-only Prius fighter.


[Source: Honda]

Earlier this week when Hyundai America product development VP John Krafcik revealed that the company would unveil a hybrid version of the Sonata at the LA Auto Show, some of the PR people in the room seemed to be caught by surprise. Now the Chairman of the Hyundai-Kia Auto group, Mong-Koo Chung has confirmed that and more. Over on the Kia Buzz blog, the chairman has affirmed production of a hybrid version of the Elantra in Korea in 2009 followed by a mid-size hybrid (namely the Sonata) in 2010. Mong seems to think that more environmentally-friendly cars actually make business sense judging from this comment "low-carbon, environmentally friendly cars represent a high value-added industry of the future that will promote sustainable growth." The ability to offer more efficient, less polluting vehicles are expected to actually be a selling point as fuel prices and environmental concerns increase.

Going beyond the hybrids, Hyundai and Kia intend to continue pushing forward with fuel cell technology as well. The group wants to commercialize hydrogen vehicles beyond the 66 vehicles they have running in the field today. The company plans to expand the field test fleet to 500 vehicles by 2010 and begin series production in 2012. Mong hasn't indicated where the company plans to sell these vehicles and how customers will get fuel.

[Source: Kia Buzz]

click on the image above to enlarge

California may just pass Maryland as the first State to require hybrid and electric cars to have a minimum sound level. While the East Coast state has created a task force to study the issue, the Senate in the far-left State has just now approved a bill which would establish its own committee for the same purpose. The bill will now be passed on to The Governator, Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger himself, who has apparently not taken a stance as of yet on the politically-charged issue. Although Cali is just the third-largest State by land area, it is the most populous and has a huge collection of hybrids and electric vehicles due to its strict emissions requirements, and we all know how important California's auto legislation is for setting the stage across the country.

While many may argue over whether or not legislation is really required for cars being too quiet, the technology certainly exists to take care of it. Lotus, for example, has already demo'd its Safe and Sound system.

[Source: AP via San Jose Mercury News]