Wow! Sounds awesome, but pricey. I'm eager for riding reviews.

This is a smart strategy. Different, appropriate technologies used where they have the most advantage. There is no one solution but many different ones.

Why doesn't Chevy offer a Malibu with Volt drivetrain (much bigger battery for all-electric driving)? Good question ! I don't have a good answer. They should. They should also offer a CUV-based Volt. It's the OBVIOUS next step. It is a mystery why they haven't. It's the hot sales area and others are clearly catching up with GM's technology lead while they dither.

DaveR, Malibu Hybrid and Volt are optimized differently, for different driving needs. Simple as that . Volt goes 53 miles all-electric before using any gas. 42 miles combined mpg on gas. If you need more room, don't have a plug at home, do LOTS more highway driving get a Malibu Hybrid. Otherwise, a Volt maybe for you. YMMV.

Nothing to see here....Move along !

Who knew conventional refrigeration units had this bad of emissions? Sort of like gas lawn mowers... Sounds like an innovative, no emissions solution. I am guessing fleet use first due to the need to store and dispense liquid air or nitrogen which is probably not available at the average truck stop like diesel fuel.

Who else in VW management had prior knowledge? Past chairmen perhaps? Nobody who follows VW believes that anything significant (especially this deliberate, planned and widespread) happens without full knowledge and backing of the most senior management. This is only the beginning.

Who else in VW management had prior knowledge? Past chairmen perhaps? Nobody who follows VW believes that anything significant (especially this deliberate, planned and widespread) happens without full knowledge and backing of the most senior management. This is only the beginning.

Oh the humanity ! This isn't a case of accidentally inserting a fudge factor. It is a cynical, deliberate deception....most likely fully sanctioned by VW upper management. Aging hippies and europhiles are stunned. A german automobile company lying? Now if it was GM, they would say, we could understand and even expect it ! Teutonic hubris strikes again !

I don't think conservatives were mentioned, just political parties. Which seems unnecessary....

An interesting way to convert natural gas to liquids and remove the need to cryogenically liquefy and store or compress NG to use it as a transportation fuel. I assume even though it is a bioconversion it would not truly be a biofuel since it uses a fossil fuel as a starting material? So, no subsidies? Using less imported oil and exporting fewer dollars is a good thing. I hope it scales up.

I am for all the above and continued technology development. BEV, PHEV, EREV, strong hybrids, open fuel standards (E85, Methanol), NG, fuel cells - all contribute to less oil and C02. Cellulosic ethanol, increased efficiency corn ethanol, ethanol from cane sugar, sugar beets and sorghum, methanol from NG and MSW and biomass. The future is bright. Combined with electrification these technologies all can contribute. There is no silver bullet.

Plenty of MSW just rotting away in landfills. Jet fuel would be a great alternative. Congratulations Fulcrum and United.

Ahah! The new Cruze 1.4L is essentially the Opel engine design previously announced. Built in the USA and Mexico for the USA market.

Either Prius or Leaf reduce oil consumption and that is what matters to me. They both work. If I had to choose between just these two models it wouldn't be on CO2 considerations. It would be range needed, whether or not I could home charge, etc....

With the continuous, incremental improvements in cell performance I would be worried that by 2030 when the supply of PEV batteries reaches "critical mass" there may not be a market for earlier generation, used, degraded cells. The 2030 battery performance may be so good and the price so cheap that people may say "why bother?" Utilities would get a 10 or more year guarantee from new batteries at a low cost vs. maybe 10 years from a questionable re-used cell. Imagine all those perfectly usable CRT monitors that were thrown out in the trash when cheap flat screen monitors became mainstream....

Sounds like lots of improvements including fuel efficiency. Just curious, is this new Chevy 1.4L Ecotec the same as the recently announced GM Opel 1.4L? The hp rating is just slightly higher at 153 vs. 148 for the Opel. I would guess so... The new Ecotec engines are stated to run on regular unleaded gasoline. Is that E10 or E15? What about E85? If not, why not? I would think a new engine in a high volume model like the Cruze would be a great place to deploy the FFV technology, not just pickups and SUVs.

Which 90 countries are they to be introduced into first? I only see mention of Thailand and Japan. What about timing for the U.S., Europe?

The chart says it all. Good job GM engineers ! From bottom of class to top of class in curb weight from so many sources (powertrain, structures, even seats!) is impressive.

Let's hope GM brings these Opel engines to the U.S. to replace the current U.S. Cruze and Sonic engines. They sound like a step up in power, efficiency and NVH.

Sounds good. Full speed ahead !

Congratulations Tesla. -Attractive design and price points for the launch products in a product line. -Modular and expandable. -Until the gigafactory is producing them they won't be making many of them anyway. -Tesla star power is bringing tons of free, positive publicity to a behind the scenes technology. -It will only get cheaper from here as competition, scale and technology improvements lower the cost, add improvements. -Works now for high cost areas (Hawaii, California, etc...) with high cost power and subsidies for grid batteries. -American designed and assembled, made with American materials (at least in the first gigafactory). So, it doesn't work for everybody right now...it does for some and that is great!