Intel Inside (Your Electric Car)?

Intel's former chairman Andrew Grove is exerting considerable pressure on the company to explore the world of car battery production. Grove feels that the promising industry will bloom into a huge profit center, and as such is pushing Intel hard in this direction.

Currently, the most promising (and capable) suppliers for electric, E-REV, and hybrid vehicle batteries are located in Japan. There are a few American upstarts, such as firm A123 Systems who is helping GM with development of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, but they represent a very small portion of the total of electric battery production capacity.

The current economic crisis poses a considerable challenge to Intel if it wants to join the electric battery fray; the firm's sales have dropped 12 percent from the third to the fourth quarter of 2008. But if electric, E-REV, and gas/electric hybrid vehicle sales take off in the U.S., Grove's gamble might prove extremely profitable.--Colin Mathews


[source: Kicking Tires via The Wall Street Journal]
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Volvo planning mild-hybrid for 2011 and full-hybrid for 2012

Even though Volvo’s future with Ford is uncertain, the Swedish automaker’s product development department is still thinking of what to come out with next. Besides the new DRIVe versions of the C30, S40 and V50, Volvo is planning a micro-hybrid and a full-hybrid.

The micro-hybrid is expected to join the lineup in 2011 and will be available with both a gasoline and diesel unit along with manual and automatic transmissions. A Start/stop system and brake energy regeneration will play a major part in the overall fuel-savings of up to 5 percent.

The full-hybrid is expected to arrive in 2012 and will be available with the D5 diesel engine allowing fuel-savings of up to 15 percent.

Is that it? Nope. Volvo is reportedly working on a production version of the ReCharge concept that will be able to travel on 60 miles on batter power alone.

Source: Channel4 (via AutoblogGreen)

Nissan Leads in Japan Spending Cuts, Report Says

Nissan is among Japan's leaders in capital spending spending cutbacks, the Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported Monday. Nissan said its capital spending will total $4.4 billion in the year ending March 31, 2009. That's 50 billion yen, or 11 percent, less than the forecast Nisan announced on May 13.

Toyota did not revise its 1.4 trillion yen capital-spending plan when it released earnings on Nov. 6.

Pelosi to Big Three: Show Us A Plan, We’ll Show You The Money

If you hadn't heard already, the Big Three's pleas
to Congress fell on deaf ears today. Pelosi, Reid, and seven other Democratic Congressional leaders upstaged a meeting between the Big Three and a bipartisan group of senators to discuss a compromise surrounding the already-approved $25 billion in Federal aid. The Democrats' message, as voiced by Nancy Pelosi: "Until they show us a plan, we can't show them the money."

Specifically, Pelosi and other Democratic leaders want to see viability plans from the Big Three that ensure good stewardship of taxpayer money, and clear, concise plans towards corporate health and intelligent re-structuring. The bipartisan group of senators and the Big Three had hoped to redirect the $25 billion in low-interest loans towards simply bridging their current cash crises and remaining solvent for the time being.

In blocking immediate emergency Federal loans to the Big Three, Democrats have forced the domestics to show just how they would use the aid. Hearings on their plans are scheduled for December 2, and a vote by Congress is scheduled on or around December 8 when Congress returns to consider aid to the struggling Big Three.--Colin Mathews
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Eleven Ways The UAW Is Like Congress

So we're sitting here in the press room of the LA Auto Show thinking about Carpocalypse Now, the fight for loans from Congress and thinking to ourselves — you know the UAW and Congress? They're really not so different from each other. It's almost like looking in a mirror. A freaky state fair carnival mirror, but a mirror nonetheless. Here's our list of the top eleven similarities between these two seemingly disparate groups.

1.) Both carry a bunch of signs at all their get-togethers. UAW workers, picket signs. Congressmen, re-election signs.
2.) Both have exorbitant pensions and will receive health care for life upon retirement.
3.) Both have work stoppages for months at a time during summer, winter and around all federal holidays.
4.) Both take credit for creating the middle class.
5.) Both have a historical reputation for shoddy quality of work product.
6.) Both like pork. One likes it in "rind" form, the other in "spending" form.
7.) Both live well beyond their means. UAW workers with boats on Lake Superior. Congress gets junkets and fact-finding     trips to the Cayman Islands.
8.) Both are paid the same regardless of how much work they do.
9.) Both have a national approval rating of under 10%.
10.) Both are seemingly out-classed by their foreign counterparts.
11.) Both get to take election day off.

See, there you have it, they're like ebony and ivory — and really, they've got to figure out a way to live together in perfect harmony.

Nardelli says he’ll accept a $1 annual salary

While Bob Nardelli certainly isn’t anywhere close to the turnaround man for Chrysler as Lee Iacocca was, he is offering to follow in his footsteps if it helps Chrysler get a $7 billion of the $25 billion automaker rescue package. In a response to Senator Jon Tester, D-Mont., Nardelli said that he would accept $1 per year in salary if it that’s what it took for Chrysler to get aid.
A similar sacrifice was made by Iacocca in 1979 which helped Chrysler get a $1.5 billion loan guarantee.


According to Automotive News, GM’s Rick Wagoner said that he would cut his salary by 50 percent while FoMoCo’s CEO Alan Mulally said that he was concerned that cutting bonuses and compensation may cause Ford to lose top executives. Mulally earned $21 million last year.

We’re still wondering if Chrysler is going to go ahead and hand out $30 million to keep top execs with the automaker.

VW Delays Roadster Concept Launch

Say it ain't so! Apparently even Volkswagen is feeling the pinch in the auto market at present, despite its worldwide sales increase of 15 percent for the third quarter. As such it has decided not to release the mid-engined Roadster concept at the LA Auto Show next week, according to the U.K.'s AutoCar. The earliest we might see the Roadster would be in January at Detroit's NAIAS.

Volkswagen sources claim the delay is simply because they feel the Roadster will resonate better with showgoers in Detroit. But speculation says it's the economy.

The Roadster is expected to use a fuel-efficient four-cylinder along the lines of VW/Audi's 2.0-liter TFSI engine found in products like the GTI, Tiguan, A3, and A4. We'd love to see VW's excellent 1.4-liter twincharger (turbo- and super-charged) engine make its way into this little Roadster, especially as sources claim the Roadster will be very lightweight and feature an aluminum-intensive suspension and body. VW's EcoRoadster concept used a turbodiesel for torquey performance and stellar economy, another concept we really like. Either the twincharger or a turbodiesel in a light chassis would easily yield real world economy of 30+ mpg combined (probably 40+ for the diesel). Who said the spirit of the MR2 was dead?--Colin Mathews