Lee Iacocca Talks Hybrids, Fuel Cells, and Oil

Green Car Journal ^ | 1-5-04 | Ron Cogan

[doug from upland]

Lee Iacocca Talks Hybrids, Fuel Cells, and Oil in Green Car Journal's Spring 2004 Issue

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., Jan. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Lee Iacocca, Detroit had better get going or it risks losing the hybrid market to Japan, China is aiming to leapfrog ahead of America with hybrids and other clean cars, and automakers are betting the farm on fuel cell vehicles even though the lack of a hydrogen infrastructure could stop them in their tracks.

Where can you find must-read perspectives from automotive icons like Lee Iacocca and Carroll Shelby alongside those of environmental leaders like the Sierra Club's executive director Carl Pope and the Natural Resources Defense Council's president John Adams?

Only on the pages of the Green Car Journal quarterly magazine, a new type of auto enthusiast publication that takes environmental performance into account.

"Automobiles and the environment need not be mutually exclusive," says Green Car Journal editor and publisher Ron Cogan, a former Motor Trend feature editor. "When armed with the right information, drivers can, and increasingly will, choose vehicles offering the function and features they desire that also happen to have a lesser environmental impact."

Green Car Journal magazine has just launched its all-new online site -- greencar.com -- concurrent with the release of its Spring 2004 issue.

Coinciding with Detroit's North American International Auto Show and the Greater L.A. Auto Show, this second issue signals the publication's increase to a quarterly frequency and the debut of a new subscription program.

The Green Car Journal magazine was recently honored with seven International Automotive Media Awards, including silver for Best Magazine Design and bronze for Best Single Issue.

Launched in May 2003, the Green Car Journal consumer magazine is a natural follow-on to the monthly Green Car newsletter, which continues to serve the auto industry as a leading resource for business news and analysis. The Green Car newsletter, which was just awarded gold for Best Newsletter by IAMA, began publication in January 1992. Both publications focus on hybrid, electric, and fuel cell vehicles; hydrogen, ethanol, natural gas, LPG, and low sulfur hydrocarbon fuels; and technologies such as electric and fuel cell powerplants, advanced gasoline engines, and clean diesel.

Among the colorful features in the magazine's Spring 2004 issue are stories on the hydrogen-powered Mazda RX-8 RE, a ranking of the Top 25 Green SUVs for 2004, and discussion of how hybrids are finally making an impact on Main Street USA. New car buyers are also provided guidance on the many gasoline partial zero emission vehicles available in showrooms today.

[doug from upland]

Note: this is my brother's publication. He is one of this nation's finest journalists in this area and was recently designated the go-to guy for media enquiries by those who ran the L.A. Auto Show. I tried to take out parts of the article that would make this look like a shameless commercial. It really does have good info here. Argue all you want about global warming and hydrogen fuel cells, etc., but this is the future and this nation had better stay on top of this technology and not lose the market to Japan and China.

[Desron13]

Why worry? As soon as production starts they will just outsource all the manufacturing to China anyway.

[GungaLaGunga]

I admire Lee and have met him, but this guy hasn't done it in the auto business since the minivan and K-car craze of 20 years ago. I agree about developing the technology, but I believe that GM and ford have the right ideas about developing it for the product that Americans drive......SUVs and trucks.

[timpad]

Thanks for the post. I'd never visited this site, but I'll be back often. Also an interesting interview with Carroll Shelby linked on the homepage.

FReeper full disclosure: I drive a Toyota Prius, a fuel-electric hybrid. It's a great little car, saves me a ton on gas and a nice one-time $2,000 tax deduction. The downside? I get some VERY interesting marketing mail from some hard-core Lefties. I did enjoy the affinity credit card solicitation from GLAAD. That was a real hoot!

[bmwcyle]

They lost the small car market years ago. This problem is bigger than just new tech.

[Viva Le Dissention]

I always find it funny to see how many people are openly hostile to the idea of increasing fuel economy on cars or developing hybrids or whatnot, even from people on here.

Another one that really gets me is people that brag or boast about getting terrible gas economy? I don't understand.

Whether you want to buy into global warming or not (I personally do--the greenhouse effect is a proven fact), I think anyone can agree that pollution is bad (who really wants to live in smog-filled cities?), and the more we can do to limit it is a good thing.

I agree with Iacocca here. Detroit ought to get its butt in gear. Of course, Japan kicks Detroit's ass in everything but trucks and SUVs, so why should this be any different?

[doug from upland]

I asked President Bush two years ago at the Townhall meeting in Ontario about our dependence on foreign oil.

It is in our national interest to drill in Alaska, be less dependent on Mideast oil, make better deals with Russia, and improve gas mileage. This nation needs to be at the forefront of this technology.

[doug from upland]

New Lexus hybrid SUV --- 35 mpg and no loss of power. I think it is available late this year, probably in testing and fleets. Just think, if businesses can get better fuel economy from their fleet of cars, perhaps they can higher more people and create more jobs.

[MarkeyD]

Ford Escape hybrid coming out too, but I haven't seen any numbers on mileage.

[MarkeyD]

Never mind, from the Escape Hybrid website:

We are targeting 35-40 mpg for the EPA city drive cycle for a front wheel drive configuration. Fuel economy for a 4WD configuration will be slightly lower.

[Praxeologue]

By the time automobile fuel cells are commercialized, say ten years, what will be the state of hybrid technology? By that time will the industry have doubled the gas mileage, doubled the car size and doubled the battery life? Will fuel cell technology offer little or no additional benefit? What is your and your brother's prognostication? If so, should federal government fuel cell research be canceled?

[Orbiting_Rosie's_Head]

Another one that really gets me is people that brag or boast about getting terrible gas economy? I don't understand.

Whether you want to buy into global warming or not (I personally do--the greenhouse effect is a proven fact), I think anyone can agree that pollution is bad (who really wants to live in smog-filled cities?), and the more we can do to limit it is a good thing.

I agree, but how the other reason: the old-fashioned idea of saving money on gas?

[Orbiting_Rosie's_Head]

Another one that really gets me is people that brag or boast about getting terrible gas economy? I don't understand.

Whether you want to buy into global warming or not (I personally do--the greenhouse effect is a proven fact), I think anyone can agree that pollution is bad (who really wants to live in smog-filled cities?), and the more we can do to limit it is a good thing.

I agree, but how the other reason: the old-fashioned idea of saving money on gas?

[Orbiting_Rosie's_Head]

Another one that really gets me is people that brag or boast about getting terrible gas economy? I don't understand.

Whether you want to buy into global warming or not (I personally do--the greenhouse effect is a proven fact), I think anyone can agree that pollution is bad (who really wants to live in smog-filled cities?), and the more we can do to limit it is a good thing.

I agree, but how the other reason: the old-fashioned idea of saving money on gas?

[Orbiting_Rosie's_Head]

sorry about triple post. What's with the internal server errors today?

[Viva Le Dissention]

I'm getting all of those, too. Weird.

[kaktuskid]

The future is turbocharged diesel engines...not screwball hybrids with batteries costing a few though to replace (and the will have to)

[kaktuskid]

I mean a few Thousand $

[N. Theknow]

Have never thought very much of Iacocca and think even less of him after reading his autobiography.

He is/was part of the problem with American automobiles and not the solution. Everything he has touched has been under-sized, over-priced and unsafe.

[q_an_a]

except for trucks and SUV's...take a look at the small pick up and tell me who sells more, Nissan, Ford, Toyota, GM or Dodge (oh they don't make one.) My guess is that after the Ford Ranger, they are all japanese trucks.

When it comes to SUV's if Detroit had not gotten BushI and congress to impose a duty on minivans, they would be getting killed there too.

If Toyota, instead of mercedes, had bought Dodge, GM would be history in 30 years. But they may be anyhow. Except at NASCAR nobody thinks a Chevy is worth buying.