Chrysler to launch electric Fiat 500 minicar

Fiat 500 Electric minicar

Chrysler Group said today that it plans to build an electric version of the Fiat 500 minicar for sale in the United States beginning in 2012.

Chrysler said the electric 500 will use an "advanced" lithium ion battery pack but did not give any technical specifications of the car, which will be sold as a Fiat model.

The company said the car's pricing will be announced closer to launch and will be competitive with similar electric vehicles in the market.

At the Detroit auto show in January, where a concept of an electric Fiat 500 was unveiled, Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said the concept would sell for about $32,000 if it went on the market, of which $16,000 covered the cost of the batteries.

Chrysler did not announce a production target for the 500EV. Marchionne said in November that Chrysler plans to produce about 56,000 electric vehicles annually by 2014.

Chrysler said all powertrain engineering and vehicle development for the 500EV will take place at the company headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Chrysler is the vehicle electrification center of competence for both Chrysler Group and Fiat Group.

Scott Kunselman, Chrysler's senior vice president of engineering, said the alliance with Fiat presented opportunities to merge Chrysler engineering knowledge with new platforms from Fiat.

“The Fiat 500EV is an outstanding example of our efforts: the Fiat 500 is a small, lightweight platform perfect for integrating electric-vehicle technology,” Kunselman said in a statement.

Chrysler will launch U.S. sales of the Fiat 500 powered by a 1.4-liter gasoline engine in December. The car will be built in Mexico for the North American market. In Europe, Fiat revived the 500, an iconic car of the post-war years, in 2007.

Fiat S.p.A., which owns 20 percent of Chrysler, said, “We are currently evaluating the commercial potential of this electric car for Europe.”

Fiat's rivals in Europe, Peugeot and Citroen, will begin selling electric cars in European markets by the end of the year. Renault will follow in 2011 and Volkswagen in 2013.

'96 Tahoe DRL

My '96 Tahoe Daytime Running Lights quit. The indicator lamp on the dash is on and goes out when I press the parking brake and comes back on when I release it.


The headlight work and the manual says the DRL uses the headlights at a reduced level.
I checked the fuse to the DRL relay and it's OK. Can't find the relay though. The manual shows the fuses and relays for other things but not the DRL relay.

Anyone have a suggestion ?

Response:

Pushing on the parking brake is supposed to shut off the DRL, so you don't have to sit with your lights on when you are parked with the motor running as in winter (heat) or summer (a/c). I've had the DRL go out on my '99 Savana only to return later. I'm usually unaware if they're working or not because it's daytime and I'm not a big fan of DRL except on motorcycles where I believe they're necessary.

March Car Sales rise as U.S. industry turns to incentive 'drugs'

Auto sales gained strength in early March as automakers offered big incentives and melting February snows made it easier for buyers to reach showrooms.

Edmunds.com Inc. forecasts a seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate of 13.2 million for the month. Except for a 13.7 million spike in August 2009 during cash for clunkers, that would be the highest monthly SAAR since August 2008.

J.D. Power and Associates predicts a 12.1 million SAAR in March, with 1,092,000 vehicles sold. That would be 27 percent higher than March 2009.

“The industry has been recharged by incentive offers from Toyota and other automakers,” said Edmunds.com analyst Jessica Caldwell. “There’s a lot of money in the marketplace right now, and people are responding.”

Edmunds.com projects industry spending on spiffs this month will approach $3,000 per vehicle. That’s close to the industry’s record of $3,165 set in March 2009.

When that record was set, manufacturers were reeling from a February that included the lowest SAAR in decades and record high U.S. inventory levels.

What about Toyota?

“There is some risk that the incentives offered by Toyota could spark an incentive war,” Power’s forecaster Jeff Schuster warned. “While that may lead to a temporary increase in sales momentum, it could also potentially slow the pace of long-term recovery.”

Schuster is keeping his 2010 full-year forecast unchanged at 11.7 million units, with retail sales accounting for 9.6 million of that. U.S. sales totaled 10.4 million in 2009 after topping 16 million annually this decade through 2007.

A key question is how long Toyota will continue its high incentives.

Analyst Himanshu Patel of J.P. Morgan Securities thinks most other manufacturers “will feel the need to match Toyota aggressively,” without speculating how long the higher spiffs would last.

Addiction continues

George Magliano, director of North American auto research for IHS Global Insight, says the industry “is back on drugs” until the general U.S. economy starts a general recovery, which he considers unlikely before the second half of the year.

Patel noted that March sales are helped by better weather. Heavy snow in much of country slowed retail traffic in February.

Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl thinks the sales flurry will begin to moderate later this month.

“We shouldn’t view this as a sign that the economy is recovering. This sales bounce is driven by incentives,” he said. “Take away the incentives and the sales will slow dramatically.”

2006 Chevy 3500 High RPM Engine Code P0507

Customers Vehicle: 2006 Chevy G3500 Express (Box Truck)
Engine Size: 6.0L
Complaint: High Engine RPM and Check Engine Light On
Previous Work: New Map Sensor, TPS and Both Upstream O2 Sensors
Problem: Engine is idling at 3,300 rpm and will not idle down

Shop Work Performed:
1) Computer Diagnostics and Scan for Codes
    Code P0507 - Idle Air Control System RPM Higher Than Expected

Possible causes:
A vacuum leak : Leaking air intake after the throttle body, EGR valve leaking vacuum, A faulty positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) valve

Damaged/failed/dirty throttle body

Failed EVAP system

Failed IAC (idle air controller) or faulty IAC circuit
 
We used Brake Wash (flammable) to spray around potential vacuum leak areas and came up empty.  We hooked up a smoke machine to confirm there were no vacuum leaks and test was positive for no vacuum leaks.
 
We removed the throttle body and inspected and found an extremely clean throttle body. While it was of we cycled the key and watched the IAC valve to see if it was stuck. It looked like it wasn't moving as it should... but did move some. With our Scan tool attached, we could see the IAC circuit was not functioning as it should.
 
THE PROBLEM FOUND AND FIXED
 
We then Isolated the IAC wiring from the IAC valve and the pcm and checked continuity and found two wires had none going and if we wiggled the harness, sometimes it would. We found the two wires had broken inside less than an inch form the plug in at the IAC valve, We repaired the wiring by soldering them and tested.  FIXED!!!  Runs great and customer is happy....
 

Chevrolet goes digital at Texas tech-fest

Chevrolet has affixed QR codes on the hoods of cars that, when photographed with a camera phone, will launch microsites with features info.

Chevrolet is making a big splash at the South by Southwest Interactive conference now taking place in Austin, Texas, and it's just the beginning of the GM brand's planned 30 percent commitment to digital this year.

"This is not a nine-day one-off," said Christopher Barger, General Motor Co.'s director of social media. "Everything we're doing here needs to have applications we can build on beyond Austin."

This program is one of the first major social-media and technology campaigns from a Detroit Three automaker other than Ford Motor Co. since the industry took a nosedive in 2008.

But Barger said Chevy's social-media, augmented reality and mobile programs at the conference are not intended to steal the digital-savvy spotlight from Ford. Instead, they're test pilots for Chevrolet, which Barger said plans to commit about 30 percent of its marketing money to digital this year.

Chevrolet is launching an extensive digital campaign at the music, film and interactive festival, including a tie-in with Austin-based Gowalla, where users check in from their phones around the city to get messages and offers from the GM brand. For example, those flying into Austin can check in at the airport for a free ride downtown in a Chevrolet Equinox.

"The reason we're doing this here is so really smart tech people can make suggestions," Barger said of the swarms of digital agency and technology people that descend on Austin every March. "This is a place for us to learn. How do we apply this to the rest of the marketing we'll be doing moving forward?"

Chevrolet has also affixed QR codes on the hoods of cars that, when photographed with a camera phone, will launch microsites with features info. Chevy has also released the iReveal app to view three-dimensional, augmented reality models of cars on the streets of Austin. While none of these programs -- save free rides from the airport -- sound revolutionary, the moves mark a start for an automaker that has fallen behind Ford on digital innovation.

Barger said that while GM has kept its eye on Ford like any company does with a competitor, it's not looking to emulate what Ford has done in social or digital media.
"If really all you're doing when building a strategy is looking to what others have done, you're not going to be successful," he said of GM's plans for digital vis-a-vis Ford. "You need to draw attention to your own brand and find something unique to you."

Chevy has also handed out eight cars for teams to road trip to Austin from all corners of the country, while completing missions determined by Twitter followers along the way and tracking their progress through OnStar and Facebook, though the idea to put people in a car and have them document their experience through social media bears some resemblance to Ford's Fiesta Movement.

BMW to make their smaller cars FWD, CEO says

BMW AG is working on a new front-wheel- and four-wheel-drive vehicle architecture that will underpin a new range of entry-level BMW cars as well as next-generation Mini models.

“There will be front-wheel-drive BMWs in the smaller vehicle classes in the future,” BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer (pictured) said at the company's annual financial results press conference here today.

Currently, all BMW models are rear-wheel drive and all Mini variants are front-wheel drive.

BMW development boss Klaus Draeger said the new vehicle architecture will debut in 2014 with the arrival of the third-generation Mini hatchback.

He said the new architecture will enable BMW to produce a range of vehicles that are between 3800mm and 4300mm long. By comparison, Volkswagen's Fox, Polo, Golf, Beetle and Scirocco model lines fit within the same size range, which covers everything from minicars to subcompacts to compacts.

Sources said that at its peak the new architecture will underpin up to 20 different BMW and Mini model variants.

For BMW, the new front-wheel-drive models will fit below its entry-premium 1-series models, which Draeger said would keep their rear-drive architecture.

BMW needs to meet a growing demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. The company also will have to cope with tougher European CO2 emission rules that start to take effect in 2012.

Reithofer said: "We expect the premium small car segment to grow by 4-6 percent annually until 2020," adding that the group would cut its CO2 fleet emissions by at least 25 percent by 2020 versus 2008 levels, when they were 156 grams per km.

The decision to create a new joint architecture is also a sign of the times. Automakers are under increasing pressure to share investments between brands or with partners to save money.

Obama Motors in Russia Doing Well

Opel workers demanded reassurances that its European brand will not be disadvantaged at the expense of sister brand Chevrolet, after Opel lost responsibility for the Russian region to an Asian arm of General Motors Co.

GM transferred responsibility for Russia to GM International Operations (GM IO), based in Shanghai, sparking fears that Opel could lose access to a key growth market that almost overtook Germany by size in 2008, before collapsing last year.

Opel labor representatives will discuss GM's plans on Monday at a meeting of the Opel steering committee.

"General Motors has not given any thought about what negative effects this decision could have on the negotiations of Opel/Vauxhall with the European governments, since Russia plays a decisive role as a market of the future," unions warned in a flyer to staff obtained by Reuters.

Opel workers will "demand a convincing plan for the Russian business of Opel/Vauxhall be presented (that entails) no restrictions to the market and a further expansion of the sales activities," works council members wrote.

A spokesman for Opel said the decision was made to consolidate key sales and manufacturing operations in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States under one managerial roof. The measure would not be to the detriment of Opel, he added.

Nonetheless, German auto workers union IG Metall fears German jobs could be threatened down the line and demanded that GM commit to expanding, rather than limiting, Opel's sales in Russia.

Jilted Opel suitor Magna International Inc. had centered its growth plans for the German carmaker around the Russian market, before GM chose to retain, rather than sell Opel.

Based in Shanghai, GM IO is considered by German unions to be a proxy for the lower priced Korean-built Chevrolets that had earned higher margins than Opel.

A recent decision to build a small SUV in Korea rather than Antwerp, Belgium, was a blow to the Belgian plant, which GM has said will close in the middle of this year to reduce European overcapacity. The Korean plant already makes the Opel Antara mid-sized SUV.

Opel closes 2 key deals

In a separate development, Opel said it reached a deal with unions in Spain over 900 job cuts, a precursor for government aid. The local state of Aragon is expected to provide 200 million euros alone should it approve plans for production in the Zaragoza plant.

Great Britain said on Friday it would provide a 270 million pound loan guarantee to GM, but the U.S. carmaker is still seeking about 1.5 billion euros ($2.07 billion) in state aid from European governments.

"Today marks an important step for the future of Opel/Vauxhall," Opel CEO Nick Reilly said in a statement, thanking the British government for its support.

"I am also grateful for the Spanish government's role in moderating the discussions between management and unions resulting in the important agreement reached early this morning," he added.

Negotiations with Germany remain particularly sluggish, with Berlin's economics ministry saying on Friday GM has yet to update its application for government funding ever since Detroit tripled its commitment to fund Opel's operations.

Electric Modles expected to make up 5% of Audi's Car Sales

Audi A1 e-tron

GENEVA – About 5 percent of Audi's new-car sales could be electric models in 10 years, the brand's technology chief Michael Dick said.

At the Geneva auto show last week, Audi unveiled the A1 e-tron, a nearly production-ready concept developed from its new A1 subcompact.

The A1 e-tron is the third electric car concept from the German brand. Audi unveiled larger e-tron cars at the Detroit auto show in January and in Frankfurt last year.

Audi has already said it will bring an e-tron sports car to market in 2012. A prototype will soon be tested and Audi will head into intensive trials with three to four vehicles by the end of the year, Dick said.

Audi's management board hasn't officially made a decision on the A1 e-tron, but it's very likely that the concept will be built, Dick told Automobilwoche. He expects a three-year development period.

The range of the 102-hp A1 e-tron is about 50km in city traffic. A small single rotor Wankel engine achieves an additional range of 200km. When needed, the engine charges the lithium ion battery like a generator.

Audi is developing components and systems that could also be used in smaller electric cars. For example, the battery cell is the same for both the A1 and a larger e-tron sports car concept.
Dick said that, with its e-tron range, about 5 percent of Audi car sales could be electric models by 2020.

Fiat to pay Brazil $1.5M fine for failing to recall cars hit by alleged hub glitch

Brazil's Justice Ministry has fined Fiat S.p.A. 3 million reais ($1.5 million) for failing to recall thousands of Stilo cars built after 2004 despite an alleged rear-wheel hub problem.

In a statement published on its Web site late on Tuesday, the Justice Ministry said it had decided to impose the highest fine possible under the local consumer law "given that the producer denied the existence of the problem, putting consumers' health and safety at risk."

Fiat said in a statement it would recall the cars to allay consumers' concerns but would appeal against the ministry's decision since it had found no evidence of such a problem in the Stilo vehicles.

Fiat produced 60,000 Stilo cars in Brazil between 2004 and 2008. The Justice Ministry said in the statement the problem appeared not to concern Stilo cars with an anti-lock braking system.

Fiat produces about 700,000 cars a year in Brazil.

injecter cleaners

would it be recommended to run the injection cleaners through the gas tank or should i manually do it

Response 1) I drive a '89 Dakota, purchased new, with 273,000 miles on it. I've added injector cleaner once or twice a year and have never had a problem.

Response 2) I clean my injectors twice a year. However, I know the Complete maintenance history and always use the same brand and grade of fuel. If this is a used car and you have no idea of it's history I recommend that you use a cleaner that goes directly to the Injector/s. These do a much better job than an additive to your fuel. They contain Propane and ARE under pressure. Follow the Directions CAREFULLY! And note, Injectors DO fail. They are an electrical component unless you have a True Diesel. Then they run off a camshaft.