Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Ford Pushing Hybrid Technology: Can US Automakers Make It All The Way Back?

Ford seems to be the US automaker looking to compete with Honda and Toyota in hybrid vehicle production.

GM claims it will have its electric Volt Chevies in the showrooms by 2010, leaving Chrysler farther behind - - though the deal it announced Tuesday with Fiat will at least give Chrysler access to some smaller, efficient vehicles.

There are a lot of consumers, like me, who were burned by American cars, and have found it hard to go back. I lost thousands of dollars and endless days to repairs on clunkers like a Dodge Dart and Pontiac Phoenix, to name but a couple.

But I'd look to these new American cars when it comes time to replace our 2006 Honda Civic hybrid.

1 comment:

Jim Bouman said...

By the time your 2 yr old Honda wears out, we'll be at the point where automobile travel is a thing of the past. Anybody with sense will ride the rails, because the highway system will have gone to complete ruin, pounded into gravel by overloaded trucks after basic road maintenance is allowed to further slip. This is my prediction.

Pontiac Phoenix? What a shame that you actually paid money for a PP? By the time the first dozen were off the assembly line, this auto's flaws (deeply, deeply flawed) were well publicized by Consumer Reports, Edmund's and numerous independent car critics.

For less money you could have had one of the best cars available during the Phoenix era, the Honda Civic CVCC. It delivered gasoline mileage almost as good as the one you have now. Acclaimed in some quarters as the best automobile of the 20th Century.