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GM's New Year Cheer?
Detroit's former giant uses product to get back in the game.
ByLawrence Ulrich[/align]
[/align]View pictures [/align]
Cadillac's new CTS, a great improvement over the past generation, is one of several impressive new products from General Motors.[/align][/align]
Oh, the weather outside is frightful, especially if you're a Detroit automaker. Industry sales are down, and next year is looking worse. It's hard to dream about a new car when you're struggling to make the mortgage payment.
After chipping away at Motown's foundation business for four decades, import automakers sold nearly half the new cars in the U.S., their highest share in history. For Toyota, it's been business as usual — another year, another step toward world domination.
But one Detroit car maker especially can see some bright spots through the blizzard of bad news: General Motors. What's that, you say? Is this the same GM that lost a net $10 billion in 2005, and $2 billion more last year? Yep, that's them.
From the way they design and build cars, to the way they run their global business, GM is making the necessary moves to ensure its survival — maybe even its long-term success. Those moves may also give GM a competitive edge against its hometown rivals Ford and Chrysler.
GM has been steadily shoring up its financial house, including a $30-billion primer to start a voluntary employee benefit plan (think of it as a massive IRA), that will leave retirees largely responsible for their own health care. This allows GM to largely shed the benefit burden that was killing it versus foreign rivals, whose governments generously pick up the tab for employees' medical bills.
GM was spending more than $1,500 on employee health care for every car and truck it makes, compared to $300 for Toyota. It's hard enough to compete against the Japanese juggernaut without such a back-breaking cost disadvantage.
But as ever, the only thing that really sparks and sustains a turnaround is the product. And in recent months, GM has delivered three new models that constitute a serious winning streak (actually five, but I'm counting its largely similar crossover SUVs from Saturn, GMC and Buick as one).
First is the Cadillac CTS sport sedan. This past summer I tested the CTS at Germany's legendary Nürburgring race and development track, where virtually every top German model goes to earn its wings. Later, on a no-limit stretch of the Autobahn, I zinged the Caddy to a steady 130-mph cruise without it breaking a sweat.
[b]The CTS was impressive for more than its gutsy looks and

 

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North American Int'l Auto Show Preview[/b]

North America's most important show will host dozens of production and concept debuts. See Preview








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Fuel Cells Becoming Reality
Benefits such as zero emissions and high mpg make hydrogen fuel cells attractive, but will drivers ever be able to get it?
By KEVIN RANSOM, AOL AUTOS[/align]

Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell[/align][/align]

How green can the auto industry get? Well, that's hard to say at present, but most of the major players in the industry are hard at work developing green-minded technologies that are designed to 1) Clean up the environment by reducing carbon emissions, and 2) Decrease America's dependence on foreign oil.

One of the more intriguing green efforts is fuel-cell technology, and several automakers already have small numbers of fuel-cell-powered vehicles on the road in order to glean driver feedback -- and to see how they operate in longer-term, real-world driving conditions.

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that combines hydrogen ions with oxygen ions in a controlled manner to generate electrical power. It produces electricity by separating the fuel (generally hydrogen gas) via a catalyst. When pure hydrogen and oxygen are supplied to the fuel cell, it produces electrical energy.

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10 Most Fuel Efficient[/align]
[/align][/align][/align][/align][/align]One benefit of the fuel cell is that it can operate at efficiencies two to three times that of the internal combustion engine, according to the Society of Automotive Engineers. Plus, it requires no moving parts. Since it converts hydrogen and oxygen directly to electrical energy, the only by-products are heat and water. And because combustion does not occur, fuel cells are virtually pollution-free, engineers say. While hydrogen is most frequently used to power a fuel cell, some companies are also in the early stages of developing a type of fuel cell that operates using methanol and oxygen.

At present, fuel-cell-powered vehicles are not in mass production, because while much progress has been made, there are still some hurdles that need to be cleared before they can be produced on a wider basis.

To address some of those hurdles, Daimler AG and Ford Motor Co recently announced a new joint venture, Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation, that will focus on developing fuel cell technology. With a share of 50.1 percent, Daimler AG will be the majority stakeholder, while Ford will hold a 30-percent stake and Ballard Power Systems will control the remaining of 19.9 percent.

General Motors currently has 100 fuel-cell-operated vehicles on the road, as part of its "Project Driveway" program launched in October. The program put Chevy Equinox crossover vehicles in the hands of 100 drivers in Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C. GM is touting the program as the first large-scale market test of fuel cell electric vehicles anywhere.

First Drive: Hydrogen Powered Chevy Equinox

First Drive: Honda FCX Clarity

The drivers will have free use of the Equinox fleet and the hydrogen fuel it needs to produce the electricity onboard. The average family will get one of the vehicles for three months and be required to report their experience to Chevrolet.

"We're looking forward to the feedback from these folks," said Dan O'Connell, GM's Director of Global Fuel Cell Service, Support and Infrastructure.

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Fuel Cell Propulsion System[/align][/align][b]"These vehicles have all been certified as perfectly safe -- they've all been crash-tested and had the tank tested for safety. I would put my own kids in the back seat on top of tank."

"After the three months in those cities, we hope

 

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