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Hi everyone, happy Summer to you all. If you’re planning some fun in the sun, we’ve got some interesting information about whether a hybrid is the best bet to get there greener. That, and a look back, and forward, at the company whose half-hearted hybrid broke my heart—Saturn. Oh, and our first Gen. 2 Insight sighting on Who’s Got Hybrids!
Let’s get to it,
Scott Nathanson
UCS National Field Organizer &
HybridCenter.org Administrator
In this issue:
 So here we are, summertime again. We hybrid drivers often feel pretty proud about how we’re able to minimize our carbon footprint when we hop on the road for our summer trips. I’ve bragged to you on a couple of occasions about how we’ve been able to top 50mpg with the Prius on those family trips up to Vermont.
But as proud as I am of my anecdotal success, our analysts do like to put things to the scientific test. So for the summer driving season, Senior Engineer Jim Kliesch took some of the analysis he did for our report Getting There Greener: The Guide to Your Lower-Carbon Vacation and put together the latest Hybrid Watchdog to take a closer look at how your summer travel options measure up.
Well, I’m happy to say that my self-congratulatory trips to Vermont with the wife and two boys have some basis in fact. On a 500 mile or longer trip an efficient hybrid car is the most eco-friendly travel option around for a family of four. For trips with only two travelers, hybrids are still a pretty good option, coming in second only to buses.
But, for solo trips efficient hybrids fall down to the middle of the pack—particularly on longer-distance trips where lower-carbon options exist, like the bus and train. And, perhaps surprisingly, a direct coach flight is a better travel option than driving solo in a hybrid if the trip is longer than 500 miles.
So why the big difference between a solo traveler and a family like mine? When it comes to cars—the fuller a vehicle, the more environmentally friendly it is. On a per-passenger basis, a car is roughly four times as environmentally friendly with four seats occupied as it is when the driver travels alone. Accounting for the slightly lower fuel economy you get with a full vehicle, the per-person emissions for a family of four in the hybrid example above are a mere 75 pounds per passenger. Compared with other modes of travel, family trips in efficient cars offer considerable eco-opportunity.
Speaking of other modes, as Getting There Greener explains in detail, the lowest-carbon mode of travel actually does depend on how far you’re traveling and how many people are going with you. Check out the full summertime option rundown in the latest Hybrid Watchdog.
- Gen. 3 Toyota Prius Far Surpasses Sales Targets: The revamped Prius is proving to be a bright spot for Toyota and the Japanese auto market, much like the Gen. 2 Insight is for Honda. In one month alone, Toyota received 180,000 orders for the new Prius in Japan. These orders more than met Toyota’s monthly target of 10,000 vehicles. Indeed, the Gen. 3 Prius bumped the Gen. 2 Honda Insight from the coveted ranking of the top selling vehicle in Japan, and marked the second month in a row that a hybrid had topped the list. To help spur vehicle sales, Japan has implemented a government cash-for-clunkers program and currently does not tax the sales of hybrids. In the United States, sales for the Gen. 3 Prius totaled just 700 vehicles, however, when combined with the sales of the Gen. 2 Prius, Toyota sold 10,091 units of their popular hybrid. More on the Prius at the Hybrid News Center.
 Nissan Will Open Electric Car Factory in the United States: The number of green jobs available in Tennessee is about to expand. Nissan has announced plans to start producing electric vehicles and their batteries in the town of Smyrna. To support these plans, Nissan is relying on funding from the U.S. government under a low-interest loan program designed to aid the automobile industry. Nissan says the factory can build 50,000 to 100,000 vehicles per year by 2012. In collaboration with NEC Corp, Nissan also plans to build a facility to produce the lithium-ion batteries needed to power the vehicles. More information on Nissan can be found at the Hybrid News Center.
- Honda to Challenge Itself?: Honda seems to be making more moves toward becoming the low-cost hybrid leader. Honda President Takeo Fukui told reporters that Honda is considering adding more affordable hybrids to their lineup, a move that could put the company in a strong position if the future brings higher gas prices. Honda already offers the Insight with a low manufacturer's suggested retail price of $19,800. Unfortunately, Fukui wasn’t quick with any details about what models they may be offereing or to provide a timeline, but Honda is working to release the Honda Fit Hybrid in late 2010. To learn more, visit the Hybrid News Center.
On June 5, GM announced the sale of the Saturn Corporation to the Penske Automotive Group, America’s second largest automobile-retailing chain. The deal, which should be finalized in October, gives Penske the rights to the Saturn brand.
Last week, as a long-time Saturn owner, I got a letter in the mail from Jill Lajdziak, the General Manager of the Saturn branch of General Motors. In it, she says:
 "You placed your trust in us when you purchased a Saturn, and we heard you when you asked us to keep this brand alive. It was the overwhelming groundswell of support we received from many of you that inspired us to find a way for Saturn to prevail."
Boy, I wish I still felt that way about Saturn. But as I talked about in an old HybridBlog post way back in 2005, this was a promising company built on cost-efficient, fuel-efficient vehicles that lost me as its mission became increasingly compromised by its parent corporation. And you’ll note in the comments for that blog that a number of people felt the same way I did.
Saturn began as an internal project launched by GM in May 1982 to build high-quality, affordable small cars to compete with the wave of imports arriving in the United States. Named after the Saturn rocket, which propelled American astronauts to the moon, the Saturn Corporation was officially born in 1985 as a small, innovative virtual company under the massive GM umbrella.
Instead of building gas-guzzling, large vehicles and focusing on the bottom-line, Saturn promised to employ the latest technology and most efficient practices to build small, fuel-efficient cars to compete with the likes of Toyota. Indeed, Saturn benefited from the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.—a joint partnership between GM and Toyota started in that same year.
From this work came the revolutionary labor agreement made between the United Auto Workers executive board and Saturn, which formed a more efficient and flexible workforce. To promote performance, 20 percent of compensation was dictated by whether the company reached common goals, such as sales. Saturn had a Tennessee-based factory designed by workers, an at-the-time revolutionary “no haggle” sales policy, and unprecedented autonomy over its own affairs—allowing it to have its own designs, engineering, manufacturing, and dealership network. By 1992, Saturn was the highest ranked American car company in product quality and customer service.
From the very beginning, GM said that Saturn was "the key to GM's long-term competitiveness, survival, and success as a domestic producer.” Due to the success of the brand, GM President and CEO Jack Smith wanted to “Saturnize” all of GM. However, the opposite actually happened. Saturn was GM-ified.
In 1994, since GM was short of funds, Saturn’s advertising budget was cut in half, the growth of the dealership network was put on hold, and product enhancements were postponed for a couple of years. Saturn suffered from a chronic lack of innovation and could not keep up with the fast-changing auto industry. Due to the lack of funds, the nimble company that was supposed to be capable of rapid evolution only made one redesign in the first decade of its existence. In short, Saturn lost its edge.
In 2000, GM invested $1.5 billion in an attempt to return Saturn to prominence, not through its original independent model, but rather by expanding Saturn’s line through the use of platforms from other GM subsidiaries. This change only compounded the feeling that Saturn was simply just another brand of GM rather than something distinct and special. Even improvements in some of their cars, such as the Aura, which one the Detroit Auto Show’s Car of the Year award a couple of years back, wasn’t enough to turn the company around—Saturn had now lost not only its edge, but its niche.
 The burgeoning hybrid market was really the last opportunity to make Saturn feel special again. The two-mode hybrid technology developed by GM for truck applications could have been adapted for the Saturn Vue—indeed, that was the original plan. But instead of using this new technology to bring Saturn back a distinctive niche, GM went with its hollow-hybrid technology on the Vue and Aura, and GM’s last, best hope for Saturn again fell flat.
So, the big question is: will Saturn under Penske become a “different kind of car company” once again? Well, not at first.
Penske will not manufacture any of Saturn’s cars. GM has promised to continue to produce the Aura, Vue, and Outlook until 2011. After that, Penske must find new sources for the cars it will sell under the Saturn brand, possibly with other major automakers like Nissan. Roger Penske, chairman of the Penske Corporation, has said that electric vehicles may be the first Saturn-Penske cars made. If that ends up being the case, then perhaps Saturn’s new owners can revive the spirit of a little American car company that thought it could, and almost did.
We’ve got some great hybrid additions, including our first Gen. 2 Honda Insight! If you are a proud hybrid owner and would like to join us, please submit your testimonial. Remember to get your hybrid owning friends to sign up too!
 Alec and Sandy McDougall of Mount Vernon, WA sent us this photo of members at St. Paul's Episcopal Church who have gone green. Pictured are Dennis Taylor, Wade Melton, Sandy McDougall, and Bob Bates, and there are at least four more Prius owners at the church! They’re all pleased as punch with gas-saving.
 Gayle Greenlee of Redwood City, CA is our first Gen. 2 Honda Insight owner!
She says she looked at all of the hybrids before deciding on the Insight. Why? Well, she thinks it looks a little sportier than the Prius (special rims and tinting help). The gas mileage is great and price was a nice factor. She just returned from a 2,000-mile road trip and averaged 45miles to the gallon with the A/C on. She feels like she’s off the grid and doing her part to save the planet!
Happy Independence Day to everyone, see you next month!
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