Green in Frankfurt / Diesels & Others
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/automobiles/16SHOW.html
"TURN out the lights, the party’s over,” Willie Nelson sings. “They say that all good things must end.” If this year’s Frankfurt motor show, which opened to the public here on Saturday, is any indication, the horsepower party that automakers have been reveling in the last few years seems to be coming to an end. The hangover may be about to begin.
The industry seems chastised, genuinely repentant, and ready to take some responsibility — environmental responsibility — for its profligate ways. The European auto industry in particular has been stung by criticisms from environmentalists and government regulators that it has been wasting precious resources and has lost the edge in environmental leadership to the Japanese. So, the 2007 Frankfurt show aims to prove just how “green” European carmakers can be.
The biennial show, the 62nd Internationalen Automobil-Ausstellungen Cars, continues at the mammoth CongressCenter Messe Frankfurt convention center through Sept. 23.
Organizers boasted that the show was “the leading international fair for sustainable mobility,” and millions of euros have been spent on lavish displays promoting environmentally responsible motoring. The show, spread throughout 2.5 million square feet of exhibition area, features 88 world premieres, most of which focus on some aspect of clean diesel, zero emissions or hybrid technology. In this context, one of the few high-horsepower offerings revealed here, Lamborghini’s $1.4 million Reventón, seemed almost profane.
The stars of the show, not surprisingly considering the host country, are the German automakers. Mercedes-Benz alone unveiled 18 new products here. The showpiece for the newly emancipated DaimlerMinusChrysler is the F700 design study. It is about the same size as the top-of-the-line Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan, but it is powered by just a 1.8-liter 4-cylinder engine — about half the size of the current S-Class base motor. Called the DiesOtto, this 238-horsepower engine uses turbocharging, direct fuel injection and extremely precise control of the combustion process to achieve V-6 levels of power with 4-cylinder economy — about 44 miles per gallon.
BMW has taken the wraps off a new X6 crossover, an X5-based utility wagon. One version will be powered by a two-mode gasoline-electric hybrid engine. The technology, developed in a partnership with
General Motors and
DaimlerChrysler, is capable of improving fuel economy by about 20 percent. Of particular interest here was the much-anticipated 1 Series coupe, a throwback to the nimble, quick, shoebox-shape BMWs of 40 years ago. Even equipped with the same 300-horsepower turbo engine that is in some 3 and 5 Series models, BMW said the 1 Series can get more than 30 miles a gallon because of its compact size and relatively light weight. A model equipped with a small diesel engine (not likely to be offered in the United States) got better than 60 m.p.g. in testing, the company said.
BMW said all the diesel vehicles it showed here emit significantly less carbon dioxide than current models.
Audi is displaying a new line of diesel engines that employ what the company said was the “cleanest diesel technology in the world.” The turbodiesel powerplants have a fuel-saving hybridlike stop-start system and a chemical injection system to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides, the company said. Among a host of new models, Audi introduced its bread-and-butter A4 sedan.
Another important newcomer is the Volkswagen Up concept, a rear-engine subcompact that the company said could be its most important vehicle since the New Beetle. The Up has registered better than 60 m.p.g. in testing, with a variety of small gasoline and diesel engines. Martin Winterkorn, VW’s chief executive, said the company’s goal is to improve fuel economy by another 10 to 15 m.p.g. by the time the vehicle is offered to the public in about 2010.
The German manufacturers emphasized that the diesel models they were introducing here would be clean enough to be legal in all 50 states by 2008.
Even Porsche is flexing its newly green muscles with a gasoline-electric hybrid version of its Cayenne S.U.V., called the GTS concept. Just in case that is too much of a shock to Porsche performance addicts, also on tap is the new 911 GT2, the most powerful street-legal 911 ever.
G.M.’s Opel division, whose headquarters are near Frankfurt, introduced the FlexTreme. It uses a variation of the E-Flex propulsion system, the plug-in hybrid technology first shown on the Chevrolet Volt concept at the 2007 Detroit auto show. The Opel Astra-like vehicle is equipped with a small turbodiesel engine to recharge the batteries. A special wrinkle in the FlexTreme is a compartment at the rear in which two Segway electric scooters can be stowed and charged.
Volvo showed a variation of its C30 compact equipped with similar hybrid technology. Like the FlexTreme, the ReCharge would be capable of traveling about 60 miles on electric power alone before needing its electric motors recharged — either by the small diesel engine onboard or by standard household electric current.
It was unclear whether either the FlexTreme or ReCharge was actually capable of operating with the propulsion systems envisioned. The battery technology needed before such vehicles can be mass-produced has yet to be invented, much less implemented.
Rick Wagoner, the G.M. chief executive, said at a news conference to show the new models, “By 2008, we will sell eight hybrids in the United States.”
American manufacturers have increased their presence here at Europe’s premier auto show. G.M. is expanding its Euro-only Cadillac BLS line with an “estate” wagon version of the sedan. G.M. said it was the first station wagon in Cadillac’s history, although someone must have been forgetting the hearses.
Dodge continued to expand its offerings here with a new Journey crossover, built on a stretched Avenger platform, which it will sell only in Europe.
Ford is showing two new concepts. The Verve is a sneak preview of the coming Fiesta subcompact, due in Europe next year and North America and Asia a year or two later. The Kuga concept is a Focus-based crossover that is nearing production form.
Jaguar, which Ford has on the block, is showing the latest vehicle that is supposed to save the company (after previous models didn’t): the new XF sedan. Aston Martin is showing that there is indeed life after its sale by Ford, with the unveiling of its DBS flagship and two high-horsepower editions of current models.
Another British brand, Mini, owned by BMW, is displaying the Clubman, which is 10 inches longer than the standard Mini.
Asian manufacturers introduced a new Mazda 6, Mitsubishi’s Concept-cX hybrid,
Toyota’s iQ minicar, Nissan’s Mixim electric concept car and Honda’s Accord-based Tourer wagon. Hyundai is showing the i-Blue concept vehicle, a test bed for the fuel-cell technology the company is developing.
The show was not without controversy. Shuanghuan Automobile, one of three Chinese automakers selling cars in Europe, withdrew its Noble model from its display because Mercedes-Benz said it was a clone of its Smart car. But Shuanghuan showed its CEO model, even though BMW accused the company of copying its X5 S.U.V.