Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) — Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm talks about the “rebound” in her state’s manufacturing jobs.
Granholm, speaking with Matt Miller on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart,” also discusses prospects for electric vehicles. (This report is an excerpt of the full interview. Source: Bloomberg)
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FBNs Robert Gray on the Asian carmaker selling 500 of its battery-powered vehicles to Enterprise Rent-A-Car in January.
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AVSO AND OFFSPRING INTRODUCE THE 2010 FORD FUSION HYBRID
Following their exciting campaign introducing Ford’s new F-150 last fall, New York-based A Very Small Office (AVSO) in collaboration with design and animation studio Offspring has launched a series of three graphically exciting :30s introducing the new Ford Fusion and Fusion Hybrid. The We Speak Car campaign features vibrant landscapes, oversized typography, and bold voiceovers that highlight the features of the dynamic new vehicle that sets it apart from Ford’s established existing lines.
Each of the efforts feature various live action Ford Fusion models bookended in colorful typographic quotation marks, then cascading through a graphical wonderland along a whitewashed backdrop, encountering, altering, and generating simple geometric forms, cities, and gas stations. The stark backdrop highlights the car’s superb styling and design; the onscreen images reinforce its superior technological features; and the car’s relentless drive through the shifting landscape spotlight its strong presence as it drives optimistically toward the future.
“With so much bad news streaming from Detroit lately, we wanted to create a source of optimism, both for Ford and potential buyers,” noted AVSO Director Mikon van Gastel. “We think this car represents a major departure for Ford, representing a whole new way of building vehicles, and we wanted a forward thinking campaign that would surprise and inform people all at once.”
Hybrid, focuses on the unique advantages that the Fusion offers as a Hybrid, such as its 41 miles-per-gallon average in the city. To reinforce the environmental benefits of such efficiency, the graphics surrounding the white backdrop continually morph into tangles of tree leaves and roots as the Fusion zooms effortlessly through cityscapes and wide-open terrain, sometimes streaking a trail of green behind it which were inspired by the innovative eco guide on the digital smart gauge instrument panel, unique to the Fusion Hybrid.
I-4 highlights the Fusion as the most fuel-efficient midsize sedan in North America, as the car whips past – and avoids – a collection of graphical gas stations. Van Gastel comments, “I-4 is about the duality of the car’s personality. Our hero silver car speaks to the model’s fuel efficiency which is impressive for a traditional engine, and the red car delves into the model’s performance power, which is unique for a 4-cylinder…you might not expect it to be fun to drive, but it is!”
In Sync, three individual Ford models painted three different colors, all with distinctive features move from one to the next with seamless elegance. The spot showcases the vehicle’s voice-activated Sync system, through which a driver can place a phone call, activate the sound system, or request directions from a GPS without taking their hands off the wheel. A sequence of arrows and stylized words appear over, inside, and between the speaking Fusion cars to reinforce the power of spoken language to guide the vehicle’s operation.
Rather than following the traditional vendor model, in which the studio works with the advertising agency from a distance, AVSO teamed up with JWT/Team Detroit to collaborate on the spots from concept to final execution, creating a true partnership.
“One of the things that AVSO has prided itself on since inception – and we share this trait with our colleagues at Offspring – is our willingness to innovate not just in our product, but in our process as well,” stated AVSO Executive Producer Saffron Case. “This collaboration with JWT/Team Detroit is just one example of our team pulling together to do things differently without compromising the quality of the final product.”
The Creds:
Client: Ford
Spot Title: “Sync”, “Hybrid”, “I-4″
Air Date: 3/3/09
Agency: JWT/Team Detroit
ECD: Toby Barlow
AD: Curtis Melville
Copywriter: Steve Silver
Agency Producer: Bob Rashid
Prod Company: AVSO
Director: Mikon van Gastel
DP: Stefan von Borbely
EP: Saffron Case
Line Producer: Nina Huang
Post-Production: Offspring
CD: Mikon van Gastel
Editor(s): Nathan Caswell & Cass Vanini
EP: Joanna Fillie
Producer: Suzanne Potashnick
Telecine: Nice Shoes
Colorist: Chris Ryan
Inferno: Guava
Artist(s): Aron Baxter, Rich Schreck, Jason Farber
Audio Post: Sound Lounge
Mixer: Rob Sayers
Shoot Location: San Bernardino Airport
For more info visit: http://www.trustcollective.com/portfolio/content/avso_ford.htm
Duration : 0:0:31
FOR MORE CAR VIDEOS & REVIEWS CHECK OUT: http://www.kbb.com/kbb/NewsAndReviews/VideoLibrary.aspx
As global warming concerns and emission standards threaten vehicle production in the United States, General Motors is exhaustively researching alternative-fuel technologies, including Hydrogen Fuel Cells. A fuel cell creates electricity to power an electric motor via an electrochemical reaction, utilizing Hydrogen (created from water through electrolysis). GM has chosen to showcase its Hydrogen Fuel Cell system in its crossover SUV, the Chevrolet Equinox — bucking the anti-SUV trend by creating a vehicle that can carry the entire family and its cargo all while emitting nothing but water from the tailpipe. Currently Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell Vehicles are only available through the Project Driveway Program — a user trial designed to collect as much information as possible from drivers and onboard data collectors. GM hopes to use this data to one day incorporate Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology into other vehicles. Check out the video below to learn all about the Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell Vehicle with kbb’s Video Production Editor Beth Lear-VanderYacht.
For more new car reviews, interviews and automotive news visit kbb.com today.
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Visit http://www.autonetwork.com for the largest collection of new car introductions.
2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, Nater Rayner.
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DigInfo – http://www.diginfo.tv
Auto EV Japan exhibited the Italian “Girasole” electric vehicle at the International Automotive Electronics Technology Expo.
The Girasole is an electric vehicle that can be fully charged in about 7 to 8 hours from an ordinary 100V household outlet and can travel up to 120km on one charge. The charger is located in the vehicle, and thus the batteries can be recharged when away from home as well.
The cost to charge the Girasole is equivalent to a fuel efficiency level of 100km per liter for a gasoline powered car. The Girasole also offers acceleration performance that is comparable to that of a 2.0 liter gasoline vehicle, so it can be driven like ordinary gasoline powered cars even in urban areas.
An aluminum alloy frame with a unique design was adopted for the new Girasole, and as a result, a compact, lightweight, high strength body that can withstand 4 tons of static pressure was achieved.
Sales of the Girasole began in August 2007, and thus far a total of 130 cars have been delivered. The vehicle price is 2,604,000 yen, but those who purchase the Girasole can receive a subsidy of up to 770,000 yen by filing an application with the Electric Vehicle Promotion Center.
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We take a spin in the new sporty hybrid from Honda, the Honda CR-Z
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Our green car expert explains why high cost slowed the expansion of eclectic vehicles and how certain fuel cell batteries are replacing them in this free environmental automotive vehicle.
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Hybrid Regeneration Mode: An ingenuous Hybrid Mode is the REGEN-Mode. By using the inertia or kinetic moving force of the vehicle the Hybrid Computer uses the electric motors to generate a high voltage and recharge the HV batteries. This is why Hybrid vehicles are so efficient. The Hybrid system uses the moving impulse of the car to apply a field to the M1 electric motor/generator and inducing a voltage. The Inverter then changes this voltage and charges the HV batteries. See it here in clear detail with CG animation. Excerpt from out hybrid series DVD. Copyright Mandy Concepcion.
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http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FirstDrives/articleId=124716?tid=edmunds.il.home.photopanel..2.*
He was tall, looked fit in his spandex bicycling gear and — the reason we were a bit nervous — he was glaring at the little silver roadster with distaste. Had we inadvertently forced him off the road on one of our passes while photographing the electric-powered 2008 Tesla Roadster? No. His problem, it turns out, is that the car is “too quiet.” The Tesla, clean and silent but for the hiss of tires on asphalt and the whine of the electric motor’s cooling fan, disturbed him because he didn’t hear it coming as we scooted by him on a twisty section of Skyline Boulevard in the mountains above Tesla’s headquarters in San Carlos, California.
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