It began innocuously enough: a brainstorm by General Motors’ car czar, Bob Lutz, in February 2006, set folks at the automaker’s design studios scrambling to come up with a “car of the future.” Initially dubbed iCar, the early sketches gave it wings, and took away its wheels. But what Lutz actually had in mind was a bit more down-to-earth, if equally difficult to achieve.

What the septuagenarian executives actually envisioned was an electric vehicle, one that could handle a typical motorist’s daily commute purely on battery power, but switch on a gasoline engine for longer trips. That would eliminate the fundamental problem of previous EVs: limited range.

Within months, things were falling into place, and in January 2007, GM stole the annual Detroit Auto Show when it unveiled what had been renamed the Chevrolet Volt. Initially presented as a pure concept vehicle, GM officials changed directions, a few months later, announcing plans to put the “extended-range electric vehicle” into production sometime in 2010.

In the slow-moving automotive world, that’s lightning fast, taking Volt from concept to production in barely four years – all the more amazing when you consider the amount of invention required to make the original prototype viable. True, there are plenty of hybrid-electric vehicles on the road today, but a production Volt will spend much, perhaps the majority of its time, running solely on electric power. And it will rely on advanced lithium-ion batteries that have never been scaled up for such large applications – nor put to the test under the wide range of conditions the typical automobile faces.

A day-long tour of the various Volt labs and studios, at the General Motors Technical Center, in Warren, Michigan, reveals a bee-hive’s level of activity, hundreds of designers and engineers pushing prototype lithium batteries to their limits; driving “mules,” or prototype vehicles, to see how they handle in real-world situations; and completing the final details on the production Volt’s interior and exterior design.

As The Car Connection previously reported, there’ll be some significant changes in the design of the 2010 Volt, though, chief designer Bob Boniface insists “It (has) to be true to the show car.”

The problem is that the show car performed better in wind tunnel testing, according to Lutz, running backwards. That’s bad news, because just modest problems with aerodynamics can have a big impact on the range of a battery car, and even in slower, around-town driving.

Carefully lifting the covers to show the front and rear corners of a near production-ready Volt, some changes are obvious, and in fact, some of the show car’s design features have been flip-flopped. The angular front fenders have been rounded off, so air will flow smoothly along the body. The rounded rear of the concept Volt, on the other hand, is now angular and hard-edged, also to improve wind flow.

While much of the car remained under cover, it was apparent that the latest remake of the Volt features a slightly shorter hood, and there’s a bit more wedge to the overall stance. More subtle details, such as mirrors and grille have also been tweaked for aerodynamic improvement.

What will it all mean? While GM officials were cautious about specifics, they suggested that cheating the wind more effectively could boost Volt’s City-cycle range from 40 to as much as 44 miles, solely on battery power. On the EPA highway cycle testing, EV-only range would jump from 37 to 43 miles.

Notably, Volt would still have unlimited mileage once its internal combustion engine would kick in. The vehicle will be a so-called serial hybrid. Current hybrid-electric vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius, use parallel powertrains, where the wheels can be driven by their electric motors, internal combustion engines or both, together. Volt’s IC engine will only be used as a generator. When the batteries are low, it will automatically start up, helping recharge the batteries and, if needed, also providing additional electric power to the plug-in hybrid’s battery pack.

That battery pack is the heart of the Volt, and the most worrisome part of the project. GM chose lithium-ion because of its high energy density; it stores about four times as much power per liter as the lead-acid cells used in the old EV1 electric vehicle. Higher-density batteries mean less weight – 375 pounds versus EV1’s 1200 – and a smaller footprint, so Volt will feature comfortable space for four rather than EV1’s cramped two-seater configuration.

Initially, GM planners explored more than 30 battery systems, settling on two suppliers, CPI and A123. The latter maker’s technology is already in widespread use – among other things on portable Black & Decker tools – but ramping up from handheld devices to Volt’s T-shaped pack is a daunting challenge.

That’s why GM engineers are putting bother CPI and A123 batteries through torture testing, both on the road and in a variety of lab settings designed to simulate the worst a consumer – and the weather – might through at the Volt. So far, a Malibu equipped with a prototype Volt drivetrain is living up to the challenge.

“On Day One, the vehicle started and it hasn’t been down since,” boasts Micky Bly, who oversees battery and control systems on the Volt project.

But there’s a lot more testing to do. By the time the plug-in hybrid is ready for production, GM needs to be absolutely certain each battery pack will be able to last for a grueling 150,000 miles or 10 years on the road.

We’ll have more behind-the-scenes news on the Volt tomorrow.

You’ll likely still recognize the basic shape, but expect “significant” changes in design when the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle comes to market in 2009, revealed General Motors’s design director, Ed Welburn, in an exclusive interview with TheCarConnection.com, at the 2008 New York Auto Show.

The Chevy Volt proved the star of the 2007 Detroit Auto Show, promising to allow buyers to commute purely on electric power, but offering a small gasoline engine for handling longer trips. Months later, GM’s “car czar,” Bob Lutz, confirmed that the prototype would come to market once the automaker was able to work out problems with the lithium-ion batteries needed to deliver maximum range.

The sports car-like styling might have been an eye-catcher, but the shape proved anything but efficient, Welburn revealed, even at the relatively slow speeds seen during morning commutes in cities like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. So, GM designers began tweaking the shape, and “what we did in the wind tunnel will improve (the car’s) overall aerodynamic efficiency by 30 percent,” Welburn noted.

Company insiders say GM is getting closer and closer to production-ready with its lithium-ion technology, which suggests Volt will meet its target of reaching showrooms sometime in calendar-year 2009. But work continues, both on the technical level, and in GM’s design studios. The critical, aerodynamic work is largely over, but Welburn said that minor tweaking will continue, in large part, to improve the manufacturability of the so-called “extended-range electric vehicle.”

In fits and starts, the Ford Motor Co. is pushing to revive the Lincoln Brand with a range of new models that can build on the momentum of the MKZ sedan and MKX crossover. That pair of products has helped Ford's erstwhile luxury nameplate reverse a long slide in sales. However, keeping the product renaissance moving forward is proving difficult. Plans for Lincoln MKT, which would be based off the same underpinnings as the new Ford Flex, are currently under review inside the Ford bureaucracy but still haven't gotten the final sign off from the company's top executives, sources inside the company said last week.

Given the slowdown in sales and the new worries about credit and recession sweeping through the economy, the issue, not surprisingly is money. Ford's product planners and executives are not sure they can justify the new investment required to bring the Lincoln MKT to market, sources said. Estimates put the project’s cost close to $1 billion, even though the hard tooling for the Flex – upon which the MKT is based – is already in place. Ford also is in the midst of a huge push to bring more small vehicles to market and the debate centers on what's the most practical investment at this point - small cars for the Blue Oval brand or another luxury model for Lincoln.

The debate is far from one-sided; the Lincoln MKT Concept, unveiled in January at the North American International Auto Show, has a lot of partisans inside the company. "Everybody loved that interior," noted one Ford official. In fact, Ford thought so much of the concept vehicle, the automaker also showed it off earlier this month during the Architectural Digest magazine's Home Design Show in New York, which always attracts the kind of affluent consumers usually partial to Japanese and German Luxury cars.

Not everything in the concept MKT would make into a production vehicle, most notably the “business jet” interior, but Ford has been growing more adept at turning out pleasing interiors and many of the features such as executive-style, first-class chairs with rear seat footrests, soothing tone-on-colors, ambient lighting and flexible storage. The sculpted door handles and crystal-inspired center console that runs the entire length of the vehicle's interior might become problematic if Ford decided to move ahead with the project under a tight budget.

One factor working both for and against the new Lincoln model is the free-fall of the U.S. dollar. The continuing erosion of the U.S. dollar versus both the euro and the yen is setting the stage for an increase in the prices of a lot of German and Japanese luxury vehicles. Such price hikes would play in Lincoln's favor if it had the right mix of vehicles available out in the showroom. At the same time, the cost of renovating the assembly plant, which happens to be in Canada, also is going up. Complicating matters, Ford has to figure out a way to squeeze some Volvo production into one of its American car or crossover plants, so the Swedish automaker can offset the impact of increasingly lopsided exchange rates.

A decision on the MKT is also worth watching for because it could offer a case study of the interaction inside the company's new executive team. Ford recruited Jim Farley as group executive for marketing and sales, to remake both Ford's product line and the company's image – aggressively and quickly. But the Ford family also brought in Alan Mulally, the innately cautious aircraft engineer, to serve as chief executive to make sure the company doesn't get into deeper financial trouble. How they reconcile their natural instincts could provide a good indication of Ford’s future strategy. By Joseph Szczesny

It takes plenty of green to buy a car like the Bentley Arnage. But is the British luxury maker about to go green in an environmentally-friendly way? That’s one of the big questions being asked as the automotive world gathers for the 2008 Geneva Motor Show.

Bentley is planning to gather a select group of media – including TheCarConnection.com, for an opening-day session. What’s on tap, the automaker isn’t saying, an official suggesting only that CEO Franz-Josef Paefgen has some “significant” news.

But the executive may have provided some insight of his own, two months ago, when he told the Bloomberg News Service that there would be a major, environmentally-oriented announcement to be made in Geneva. Christophe Georges, Bentley’s top U.S. executive, dropped a similar hint during an interview with TheCarConnection.com.

So, what could be in store? There’s no question that Bentley has plenty of opportunity to improve what environmentalists like to call its “carbon footprint.” In sharp contrast to its British rival, Aston Martin, Bentley has taken a relatively traditional approach to luxury car design, with big, heavy bodies powered by massive, gas-guzzling engines. It wouldn’t take much to speculate that if, indeed, the automaker plans to go green, it will begin adopting lighter weight designs using newer and more efficient powertrain technology.

Could the latter include diesels? It wouldn’t be entirely out of the realm, considering Audi’s success, both on the track and on the street, with “oil burner” engines. Since both marques are a part of the greater Volkswagen AG family, they could share diesel know-how.

Whatever its strategy, Bentley will need to move fast. Even though the number of potential ultra-luxury buyers is soaring, worldwide, manufacturers are facing a mix of social and legal pressure – including new CO2 rules in Europe and toughened U.S. mileage standards. So to keep the green flowing, Bentley and its high-line competitors clearly have to get greener fast.

Bentley, Rolls-Royce Both Expanding. The reason? Sales are good. by Richard Yarrow (10/24/2007)

As the North American International Auto Show closes in Detroit, conventional wisdom has it that the five Chinese makers who displayed are years away from being a real threat: The cars and light trucks displayed are too crude in design and assembly, their technology is copied too badly from established makers, and there’s no proven ability to certify, service and warranty to western standards. The near incomprehensible press conferences and prevarications of the executives over timing and plans made it easy, all to easy, to hold this view. Proponents say, “Look how long it took the Japanese or the Koreans to become international players in the business.”

Years away does not mean never, though. The Chinese threat to established automakers is now greater than ever. In addition, it is accelerating. And Chinese brand exports are actually the last step of sophisticated central government plan for the automobile business. Saying they won’t be here this year or next, misses the point.

First, consider the protected Chinese market is now the world’s second largest since it passed Japan in 2006. Preliminary numbers for 2007 show it at almost 9 million units. Projections by the Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers have the Chinese market growing to 10 million units in 2008. The U.S. market will contract this year. It is just a question of how much. Chinese makers will continue to grow stronger in their home market, no matter what happens here.

China is also now clearly established as a global automotive force to be reckoned with. All major foreign automakers have been forced by the government to accept joint ventures with Chinese makers as the price of access to the booming market. Conventional “free trade’ wisdom at these carmakers has it that this is good for them because it expands their sales into the lucrative Chinese one and provides a source for inexpensive components they use in their home and other markets. And to be fair, western makers had no choice if they wanted to operate in China. Unlike the U.S., the government controls access to the Chinese market.

Vehicles and components are now being exported from these “foreign” makers in China and their joint venture partners. Some western automakers have sourcing goals of Chinese made components as high 30 percent no matter where their final assembly plants are located. All want their suppliers to match the “China price” where they build. The “foreign” makers in China supply technical expertise, the marketing magic of brand recognition and access to their excellent suppliers.

Rarely spoken of is the other side of this deal with the Chinese dragon that is emerging. Western makers including Toyota, General Motors, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and Honda are teaching the Chinese how to compete against themselves.

China America Cooperative Automotive said at the show that it would import small SUVs and pickups into the North American market by the end of this year. The vehicles will come from Hebei Zhongxing Automobile Company or ZXAuto. ZXAuto is currently exporting these in small volumes from China to 52 countries. While the timing may be suspect, Chamco’s intent is not.

Changfeng Motors showed a small SUV, CS6, its successor, the Liebro CS7 and Kylin, a 5-door hatchback that is on sale in Japan. Both are Mitsubishi based. When Changfeng displayed vehicles last year, they were engineering prototypes. This year all the vehicles on the display are in production and headed for export markets.

Geely showed its FC sedan currently in production in China. FC in size and equipment is a Corolla knock-off, and not as crude as you might think. Originally promised for 2008 here, it will appear in the U.S. sometime during an unspecified year. “It’s tough to say... but not anytime soon,” according to Mr. Li Shufu, chairman of Geely holdings. Geely is already producing its own engines and transmissions in China based on what it says are its own designs. The Chairman’s ambitions seem to be as vast as China. Stated goals by 2015 include a 2.5 percent share of the world market, production of 20 million cars annually, of which 65 percent are for export under the Geely brand.

As audacious in ambition were the claims by BYD Auto Company – for Build Your Dream – that its Camry-sized sedan, the F6DM, will be the world’s first Dual Mode plug-in hybrid when it goes on sale this summer in China for about $28,000. Unlike competing plug-in hybrid entries from Toyota and General Motors that appear to be at least two years away from production, the F6 hybrid does not use lithium Ion batteries, which are thought to be needed to accept the high charging and discharging rates that a plug-in requires. Instead, F6DM uses a new type of rechargeable battery that is based on iron with a stated 60-mile range. Skeptics are laughing, but the parent company is one of the largest producers of cell-phone batteries in the world. And, yes there are export plans but not for a few more years to meet U.S. standards, according to BYD.

This Chinese global export machine now emerging is due to the policies of the Chinese central government that were developed after careful study of the rise of the Japanese automotive industry, and the Koreans. The motivation of the government is simple. In order to survive in power it has to do something about the grinding poverty of 700 million of its 1.3 billion subjects. Economic growth is key. And it has been averaging a staggering 7 percent or better increase in gross domestic product for more than a decade by carefully managing access to the economy.

One of the key industries targeted by the government is automotive with a serious of goals: Meet growing Chinese domestic demand with local production – not imports. Use joint ventures to supply the local market and to make domestic Chinese makers competitive with the best in the world. Consolidate the fragmented local industry so that strong companies survive. Then promote the development of independent Chinese makers with their own technology and expertise and brands. Finally, export globally on massive scales.

It took the Japanese roughly 40 to 50 years to become global players, and the Koreans roughly 25. Both countries did it by restricting access to the home market while building the capabilities of local companies. The Chinese look on track to do it in about 15 or so. When they do start exporting, it will be the last step of a long-term plan. -- Ken Zino