Sort of..? I'll list off the ones I know of:

$9455 Chev Aveo: 1.6l, 103hp, 27/35mpg
$17130 Pont Vibe: 1.8l, 130hp, 30/36mpg
$21400 Chev Cobolt SS: 2.0l, 205hp, 23/29mpg

Note the Aveo is really a Daewoo.
Note the Vibe is really a Toyota.
Note the Cobolt is supercharged, and has a sister car, the Saturn Ion Redline.

I will point out that the GM seems to do better the more powerful the engine. Their V6's typically have very good highway numbers and the Cobolt is impressive because it's 23/29 rating fares quite well against the 197hp Honda Civic Si's 22/31 - the Cobolt even has more torque thanks to it's supercharger!

Still, the fact remains that GM does not have any 40mpg vehicles at all and most competing import brands have models that will do at least 40mpg highway.

 

AZCivic,

Thanks for pulling out that info. Even though the Aveo is a Daewoo, consider that GM owns controlling interest in Daewoo, so it is in the GM family of vehicles and engines. The only other info I would add is that GM has a variety of gas and diesel engines at 2.0 and under in Europe and in Latin America. For the most part they are not calibrated or emissions certified for US use, at least not at this current time.

Peace,

Martin

 

Martin are you saying that Europe has emission standards below the US or just not tested for the US emissions? Kevin

 

If this is any indication of the complexity of the GM full hybrid system, I'd be more concerned about it's reliability than the HSD system with no clutches. Also seems like it would be more expensive, but if it's going into large vehicles then I guess the costs will be absorbed better by the profit margin.

 

It's a little bit of both. Emissions standards vary from country to country and from year to year and product to product. Europe as a "whole" is currently operating under Euro IV, and beginning to Euro V. Certification requires specific testing and, where required, calibration of fuel systems and after-treatment hardware to achieve the specific standards. Euro IV is not as stringent as US ULEV, but Euro V is probably more stringent. ULEV2 is probably more stringent than Euro V. I say probably, because I'm not well versed in exactly what the requirements are for Euro 5.

The US has a hodge podge of emissions requirements. There's the Federal Standards, then there's the California Air Resource Board (CARB) requirements. Some of the CARB requirements are adopted by other states. In all cases they have phase in timing. So, today, there are standards that vary from LEV (Low Emissions Vehicle) to LEV2 to ULEV (Ultra Low) to SULEV (Super Ultra Low) to ZEV (Zero) to PZEV (Partial Zero) to ATPZEV (Advanced Technology Partial Zero). You'll find vehicles in commerce that are developed to any of these specific levels. There are also different "Bin" levels within each of the Emissions standards. I don't even pretend to understand them all. Suffice it to say, the lower the Bin #, the cleaner the vehicle.

Peace,

Martin

 

Hi Texashchman:

___I do not know about GM’s gassers overseas (there FE isn’t much to speak about anyway ) but the Diesel’s as well as every other manufacturer are not even close to making Tier II/Bin5 here in the states. Not even the mighty Toyota Avensis D-4D w/ a D-CAT that easily covers Euro IV can come close to hitting Tier II/Bin 5’s NOx spec.

Corolla Verso to receive Toyota’s Clean Power Diesel



___Look at the graph embedded. Although they have highlighted SULEV-II’s PM and NOx specs, Tier II/Bin5 NOx spec is as follows:

Max NOx @ 120K:
0.07 g/mi
0.043 g/km

Avensis NOx emission per the graph:
.11 g/km

___Not even close at > 250% above maximum spec right off the lot

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

Please keep in mind that everything in the bracket is housed in one transmission case. Any automatic transmission is incredibly more sophisticated / complicated than the schematic shown. For grins, someone could easily "bracket" the ICE and show how camshafts and valve timers and plenums and cam phasers are depicted. It doesn't add anything to the story, though, so it's appropriate to show it as a "box". Likewise, everything from INPUT SHAFT to OUTPUT SHAFT could be shown as one box, 'cause that's how the vehicle assembly plant is gonna see it. This just attemps to show a very much simplified power flow diagram of the hybrid workings within the transmission.

Peace,

James

 

Wayne,

Once again, you are correct. Nobody has the Tier II Bin 5 diesel emissions figured out at this point. It requires new invention and potentially cost prohibitive hardware & precious metal after-treatment schemes (think catalytic converters on steroids). That is probably the single issue preventing a head-to-head f/e battle (hybrids v modern diesels) in the US. The fact that CURRENTLY Euro IV specs aren't as stringent has lead to a roughly 50% penetration of diesel CARS in Europe, and only a very minor presence of hybrids. There is work in progress amongst several manufacturers to develop diesel hybrids for Europe & SE Asia.

Peace,

Martin

 

Hi Schwa:

___I am not even going to pretend to guess as to the P 1/2’s reliability but by comparison to HSD, GM has placed everything into the transmission housing other then the pack itself in the mockup that I saw. That includes the Planetary’s, MGSets, clutches, and input/output shafts of course. Although the pic below is a simple mockup, the small size of the entire transmission unit was quite impressive knowing that it is going to be the power the next gen of larger SUV’s with full hybridization built in …



___Do not forget that HSD has that small problem of MGSet protection above 41 mph where the ICE has to be spun up via the electronics even if it isn’t providing propulsion to maintain MG1 (I think its MG1?) < 10,000 RPM. This is Motor RPM, not ICE RPM. Because of that one small misstep, everybody including GM, Honda, Ford, DCC, BMW, whoever still has a small window before Toyota’s glaring mistake disappears. This mistake shows up with real world lower highway FE for the HSD equipped automobiles vs. everybody else’s hopefully higher FE for a given size drivetrain/vehicle weight/size etc. You can bet your bottom dollar that Toyota has this fixed in there labs with a clutch as well and if it makes it into an 07 Camry w/ HSD using the expected 2.0 out of the Alphard, look out because a 45 - 50/45 - 50 EPA city/highway and a 0-60 time of 9.0 seconds may be in the offing …

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

Hi Martinjlm:

___Sorry for over running your previous post …

___There are relatively inexpensive solutions for diesels to meet Tier II/Bin5 but the EPA may or may not be allowing them here in the states due to end user input before 120K miles? I say relatively because they are supposedly as expensive as a regular PZEV based MAF/specialty CAT/O2 sensor (s) arrangement. Ford and MB have it somewhat locked up in patents (Urea Injection into an SCR based CAT). The problem? The Urea injection tank can only hold enough for ~ 10,000 miles of driving. MB may have been allowed a waiver for the 07/08 MY with an ICE disabling device if that small tank falls below such and such a level. You will receive multiple warnings long before that level is reached of course but I believe that is how MB was allowed to continue planning a 320D release here in the states after next year. All states in fact since Tier II/Bin5 is an honest to goodness nation wide emissions spec, not just LEV-II or below per CARB. ULSD will be required but we are headed toward that by late this year/early next anyway. Unless Katrina is still affecting Fuel supplies/refining cap which still could be the case?

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net