Turbocharged Vehicle Sales Expected to Reach 3.2 Million Units in North America this Year

After conquering Europe, turbocharged engines are now picking up steam in North America, mainly thanks to the efforts of Ford Motor Corp. and General Motors that embraced the technology on their mainstream products.

Honeywell, which develops and provides turbochargers for many vehicles including the gasoline-powered Dodge Dart and Fiat 500 Abarth, and the diesel versions of the Chevrolet Silverado and Volkswagen Touareg, estimates that North American sales of turbocharged commercial and passenger vehicles is projected to reach 3.2 million units in 2012, up from 2.2 million in 2011.

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EU: New CO2 Study Reveals That German Carmakers Are Off Course

A new study conducted by the European Federation of Transport and Environment shows that French, Italian and Japanese carmakers have extended their lead over German rivals last year in the race to deliver fuel efficient and low emission vehicles..

From the major car producing countries in Europe (only car groups that sold over 200,000 vehicles in Europe in 2006 were included in the study), in 2006 German groups increased new car emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 0.6% on average compared to 2005 figures. On the other hand, French and Italian carmakers cut emissions by an average of 1.6%. -Continued after the jump

While BMW managed to reduce average emissions by 2.5%, the two largest German groups DaimlerChrysler (now called Daimler) and Volkswagen saw increases of 2.8% and 0.9% respectively.

Japanese car manufactures made significant progress in 2006, achieving 2.8% cuts on average with Toyota making the biggest improvement of any major car manufacturing group in 2006 with the average vehicle sold in 2006 emitting 5% less CO2 than the previous year.

PSA Peugeot Citroën (142 g/km), Fiat SpA (144 g/km) and Renault SA (147 g/km) sold Europe's lowest emitting cars in 2006 on average. Those companies took the top three places when ranked by average emissions of CO2 in grammes per kilometre. Toyota Motor Corp (153 g/km) and Honda Motor Company (154 g/km) took fourth and fifth place. DaimlerChrysler came bottom of the list of major carmakers with average emissions of 188 g/km.

Via: Motorpasion , Pic: Economist

Toyota Prius Loosing Out In the "Green" Game To Conventional Cars - Or They Say

A new study conducted by researchers at Cardiff University and Clifford Thames finds that the Prius isn’t the greenest of them all. But how did they come to this conclusion? Well, Cardiff University and Clifford Thames researchers devised an environmental rating system for vehicles (ERV) which takes into account cars’ overall environmental footprint (including raw materials, production and end-of-life costs - based on their length, width and weight).

According to the study, in terms of high-volume "city" cars, the Citroen C1 and Toyota Aygo are among the best, with ERV scores exceeding that of the Toyota Prius hybrid. Someone might point out that the Prius is a C-segment vehicle so the comparison is unjust. True, but Richard Barber, Clifford Thames Strategy and Business Development director believes that conventional petrol and diesel cars will quickly outpace Toyota’s Prius on environmental friendliness. -Continued after the jump

"While the Prius is presently the best among vehicles its size, we are seeing advances in traditional powertrain technology that will help other vehicles close the gap or even leapfrog existing hybrid solutions", said Barber.

Even though I’m not much of a Prius fan, I’ll have to disagree with Mr. Barber for the simple reason that the Prius uses multiple propulsion systems to provide power. In other words, the Prius combines a gasoline engine and an electric motor. Therefore, all Toyota needs to do is add a more frugal and environmentally friendly gasoline engine, and it will furthermore increase the distance from its competitors

Links: Cardiff University & Clifford Thames