bailout
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It's a magic number, 40 mpg, a nice big round figure to tout in big print every time gasoline prices go up. Most makers have at least one car that achieves 40 mpg, but for the new 2013 Dodge Dart, it's not an option--there has to be one model of the Dart that's rated by the EPA at 40 mpg or better on the highway cycle. Why? Because that's the hurdle set by the auto task force during the Chrysler bailout for Fiat to take control of the last 5 percent of Chrysler that it doesn't own. The EPA could issue its ratings for the Dart as early as the end of this month. Fiat was given 20 percent of...
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DoE's Chu Hopes Chrysler Can Play With Big Kids, Get Loans At LastWell, looks like Chrysler is getting closer to playing with the big kids at last. The back-from-bankruptcy third U.S. automaker, now effectively controlled by Italy's Fiat, is putting together a financial package that will allow it to pay off all the money invested in it by the Obama Administration...
John Voelcker -
GM Says More Government Money Not Needed--Though Rivals Took It
Well, give them credit for resolve, anyway. General Motors said today it was withdrawing its applications to the U.S. Department of Energy for $14.4 billion of low-interest loans under the DoE's advanced technology vehicle manufacturing program. That's the program that so far has granted loans to...
John Voelcker -
GM Confirms, Yes, We're Losing Money on Every Volt We Build
Doug Parks, vehicle line executive for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, GM's range-extended electric vehicle, confirmed Tuesday that the company loses money on every Volt it sells. This should hardly be a surprise. It's called R&D, folks Every major automaker spends billions of dollars a year on...
John Voelcker -
The Volt Song: What Happened, and What It Could Have Been
And we thought our piece on the LA Auto Show's Volt dance was pointed. Hah! Look here. Or here, followed by here. Or here. Ouch. Like a good journalist, we wanted to know more. So we asked for an interview with Maria Rohrer, Director of Global Volt Marketing Operations at Chevrolet, to understand...
John Voelcker -
2011 Chevy Volt Dance: Hey GM, We Want Our Bailout Back, Now
We don't use a lot of profanity here at the global GreenCarReports.com headquarters. But there were a whole bunch of horrified OMFGs floating around once we finally got to see the notorious Volt Dance that was unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show. We write about the 2011 Chevrolet Volt...
John Voelcker -
President Barack Obama has come under fire for using taxpayer funds to rescue the auto industry; we beg to differ
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Celgard Wins Battery Development Contract
The United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) and the U.S. Department of Energy have awarded Celgard, LLC. with a contract to improve lithium-ion battery separator technology. Battery separators are electronic insulating layers that prevent batteries from overheating, which improves their...
Robert Scardino
