News about VW sport-wagon, Suzuki SUV, GM SUVs, Ford Five Hundred and how to waste less fuel.
SOFT TIRES WASTE FUEL: Canadians could be wasting more than $1.5 billion on gasoline annually because they don't spend enough time maintaining the air pressure in their tires.
That is the most interesting fact to be gleaned from a study by the experts at Dunlop Tires, who make the point that a vehicle's tires only have to be under-inflated by four to five pounds per square inch to cause a vehicle to use -- and waste -- and extra 10 percent of fuel.
Since studies show that about 28 percent of tires are under-inflated, that works out to about $1.5 billion a year in wasted fuel.
Also wasted is the time drivers have to spend in gas stations, which Dunlop calculates is about 30 million additional stops for gas, and we all know how popular stopping for gas is.
Bill Egan, chief engineer of advanced product design for The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (which owns Dunlop), says this waste can be overcome by taking five extra minutes a month at one of the necessary fuel stops.
''Motorists must check tire inflation monthly or before a long trip,'' Egan advises. ''Tires should be inflated to the vehicle manufacturer's recommendation printed on the vehicle's door placard or in the owner's manual.''
Egan explains that "An under-inflated tire consumes more energy and increases rolling resistance, which robs the vehicle of fuel efficiency.''
VW SPORT-WAGON COMING: In an effort to make its vehicles more appealing to current North American tastes, Volkswagen America will launch a Mexican-built, all-wheel-drive sport-wagon in the 2007 model year.
It will be a variation on the new Jetta that's now coming to Canada from the Puebla factory, but sportier than a traditional wagon version of that model would normally be. It will probably carry a unique name, as well, and is meant to appeal to people unhappy with traditional SUVs like the VW Touareg.
It's all part of an effort to end what VW's chairman calls ''a catastrophe'' in the North American market, where the German firm lost US$1.2 billion in 2004.
Because profitability is more important to the German firm that market share, we can probably also expect to see VW America push to sell more expensive versions of its vehicles.
This also means VW's plans to double its sale volumes in Canada and the U.S. within a couple of years have also been put off.
FORD 500 FACELIFT: It looks like Ford has decided to go ahead with an early upgrade to the exterior shape of its Five Hundred mid-size sedan, possibly as soon as late in 2006 as a 2007 model.
Apparently, the company believes that the vehicle's slow sales in the U.S. are primarily the result of a general lack of enthusiasm for its current styling.
Whatever Ford manages to pull off, it almost certainly won't change the basic shape of the sedan or its dimensions, the chief ingredient of which is its height, which is considerably greater than the traditional four-door sedan of that length.
SOFT TIRES WASTE FUEL: Canadians could be wasting more than $1.5 billion on gasoline annually because they don't spend enough time maintaining the air pressure in their tires.
That is the most interesting fact to be gleaned from a study by the experts at Dunlop Tires, who make the point that a vehicle's tires only have to be under-inflated by four to five pounds per square inch to cause a vehicle to use -- and waste -- and extra 10 percent of fuel.
Since studies show that about 28 percent of tires are under-inflated, that works out to about $1.5 billion a year in wasted fuel.
Also wasted is the time drivers have to spend in gas stations, which Dunlop calculates is about 30 million additional stops for gas, and we all know how popular stopping for gas is.
Bill Egan, chief engineer of advanced product design for The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (which owns Dunlop), says this waste can be overcome by taking five extra minutes a month at one of the necessary fuel stops.
''Motorists must check tire inflation monthly or before a long trip,'' Egan advises. ''Tires should be inflated to the vehicle manufacturer's recommendation printed on the vehicle's door placard or in the owner's manual.''
Egan explains that "An under-inflated tire consumes more energy and increases rolling resistance, which robs the vehicle of fuel efficiency.''
VW SPORT-WAGON COMING: In an effort to make its vehicles more appealing to current North American tastes, Volkswagen America will launch a Mexican-built, all-wheel-drive sport-wagon in the 2007 model year.
It will be a variation on the new Jetta that's now coming to Canada from the Puebla factory, but sportier than a traditional wagon version of that model would normally be. It will probably carry a unique name, as well, and is meant to appeal to people unhappy with traditional SUVs like the VW Touareg.
It's all part of an effort to end what VW's chairman calls ''a catastrophe'' in the North American market, where the German firm lost US$1.2 billion in 2004.
Because profitability is more important to the German firm that market share, we can probably also expect to see VW America push to sell more expensive versions of its vehicles.
This also means VW's plans to double its sale volumes in Canada and the U.S. within a couple of years have also been put off.
FORD 500 FACELIFT: It looks like Ford has decided to go ahead with an early upgrade to the exterior shape of its Five Hundred mid-size sedan, possibly as soon as late in 2006 as a 2007 model.
Apparently, the company believes that the vehicle's slow sales in the U.S. are primarily the result of a general lack of enthusiasm for its current styling.
Whatever Ford manages to pull off, it almost certainly won't change the basic shape of the sedan or its dimensions, the chief ingredient of which is its height, which is considerably greater than the traditional four-door sedan of that length.