China Daily. Toyota may release diesel and natural gas hybrids, according to Senior Managing Director Hiroyuki Watanabe. Toyota is “developing hybrid systems that can be used for gasoline, diesel, natural gas and fuel-cells, which will be the most fuel-efficient,” Watanabe said in Tokyo. “It's important to consider how advanced automakers... Read more →

Autoweek. About 14,000 people have called, sent e-mail messages or written to the Chrysler group to express interest in the 2005 diesel-powered Jeep Liberty. That’s nearly three times Jeep’s anticipated 2005 production of 5,000 U.S. units, says Jeff Bell, Chrysler group vice president of Chrysler brand and Jeep marketing. The... Read more →

Canada’s Globe and Mail carries an interview with Ford’s Mary Ann Wright, formerly the chief engineer of the Escape Hybrid, now director of sustainable mobility technologies and hybrid vehicle programs for Ford since April, 2004. In that role she is responsible for all present and future hybrid, fuel cell and... Read more →

It’s been a week of contradictory statements about the capabilities of OPEC. What makes it worse: the contradictory statements came from within OPEC, especially from the mouth of the president (right). Here’s a quick timeline. 3 August 2004, OPEC President Purnomo Yusgiantoro: “The oil price is very high, it is... Read more →

In its latest Oil Market Report, released today, the International Energy Agency revised its assessment of global oil demand up to 82.2 million barrels per day. Demand has been running stronger for the last few years than the agency had realized, so this current forecast reflects that baseline adjustment. Demand... Read more →

The Detroit News reports on Ford’s production line for 30 Focus fuel cell vehicles, being built for the DOE-sponsored trials. [Gerhard] Schmidt [Ford vice president of research and advanced engineering] said no one technology will meet all the needs of motorists in the future. “There is not one solution,” he... Read more →

The Detroit Free Press has a piece on what works and what doesn’t in launching a new vehicle into the market, based on Chrysler’s success with the 300 line and failure with the Pacifica. It will be interesting to see if Chrysler applies the lessons in other areas—such as the... Read more →

A non-radioactive steam leak at a nuclear-powered generating plant in central Japan killed four workers and injured seven others. The accident occurred in the Number 3 reactor at the 1,666 megawatt (MW) Mihama plant operated by Kansai Electric, some 200 miles west of Tokyo. The 3-reactor Mihama plant is the... Read more →

In an earlier post, I pointed to some of the issues and discussion surrounding the production of oil sands in Canada. The current version of Alberta’s Oil Sands Technology Roadmap is here. As production of conventional crudes and natural gas decline, and with the right mindset and technology, the oil... Read more →

In a sign that it is confident in the continued growth of the Chinese market (at least the luxury sector), DaimlerChrylser plans to expand its Mercedes Benz dealer network aggressively from from 33 to 217 over the next 8 years, according to yesterday’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. The Mercedes Car Group... Read more →

GM is co-sponsoring a promo for E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gas) in Duluth, Minnesota. From August 10-12, drivers of flexible fuel vehicles (FFV, which can burn either gasoline or the E85 mix) can fill up their tanks all day for 85 cents a gallon at two specified ethanol fueling stations.... Read more →

The Times (UK). A consortium of Dubai-based investors has emerged as the mystery backer of a $10 billion offer to save Yukos, the troubled Russian oil giant. Members of Dubai’s ruling Maktoum family are believed to have joined a bid fronted by Konstantin Kagalovsky, a former associate of Mikhail Khodorkovsky,... Read more →

Along with the excitement and growth around any rapidly developing (and selling!) technology such as hybrid vehicles inevitably comes confusion. New terms applied to new technologies tend to be applied differently, and consumers and manufacturers alike need to get on the same page. Herewith, a short field guide for understanding... Read more →

This post follows up on the “Oil Week Wrap-up” with the production from Total. Total SA (TotalFinaElf), the last of the super majors to report, produced solid but not spectacular results for the second quarter, disappointing analysts and investors who were hoping for more. 2Q net income rose 27% to... Read more →

Toyota Motor Corp. has set a goal of selling 300,000 gas-electric hybrid vehicles worldwide by the end of 2005, but production capacity may be a factor, Toyota president Fujio Cho said Wednesday. “It may be difficult for us to produce (300,000) hybrids by that time, but we have another year... Read more →

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, has started production at two new fields three months ahead of schedule and may delay the shutdown of older wells to help meet increased oil demand, company officials said. The development of the offshore Abu Saafah oil fields and the mostly onshore Qatif... Read more →

Mercosur. Oil prices continue their inexorable climb. From P. Yusgiantoro, current president of OPEC (and Indonesia’s energy minister): “There is no more supply, the oil price is very high, it’s crazy!” Whereupon the price rose even higher. Ali Bakhtiari, head of strategic planning at the Iranian National Oil Company (NIOC),... Read more →

Click on any chart to enlarge. DaimlerChrysler results here represent only the Chrysler Group—not Mercedes or partners. Many in Detroit were hoping for a rebound from the dismal results of June. There was indeed definite improvement on the sales front, and the overall sales picture now looks stronger than last... Read more →

Hybrids in the US posted their second strongest sales month of 2004 with 7,227 units, just shy of May’s record of 7,275. That total, however, is a bit deceptive. Toyota’s Prius was the star in July, racking up a record 5,230 units. That represents an increase of 24% from the... Read more →

In its 2Q earnings call , Toyota announced that it is increasing monthly production of the Prius from approximately 10,000 to 15,000 to meet global demand. The production boost will begin in the first half of 2005. Toyota will continue to build the Prius only in Japan. “When the all-new... Read more →

From the Unocal 2Q earnings announcement. In the past, Unocal has had a goal to provide investors with a forecast amount for future production volumes that had an equal likelihood of being below or above the actual amounts. Because recent actual production levels have often fallen below Unocal’s estimates, the... Read more →

A comparison of two new models of the Ford Mondeo in the UK from carpages.com provides an interesting comparison of the diesel-gasoline tradeoff. The UK-exclusive model, Mondeo ST TDCi has been created to build on the unprecedented popularity of TDCi in the UK, which accounted for 54 per cent of... Read more →

Adweek reports on the coming debuts of hybrid SUVs from GM and Ford. “Everyone is entitled to play to their strengths, and ours is in trucks,” said Ken Stewart, GM’s marketing director for new ventures. “If you want to get a lot of hybrids on the road, you put them... Read more →

Merceds Benz is creating a joint venture in Iran with Iran Khodro Diesel (IKD) for the production of Mercedes passenger cars. The production is due to come on stream by year-end 2005. IKD has a history with Mercedes, as it has been producing Benz trucks and buses. It will be... Read more →