With a fuel economy of more than 50 miles per gallon on the highway, the new Chevrolet Cruze Eco sounds like one of the many hot new hybrids or electric vehicles on the market.
It's not. It runs on a conventional gasoline engine.
While hydrogen, electric and other alternative cars get all the hype, efficient models powered by conventional engines may provide the best immediate hope. These cars are able to attain similar fuel economies to the alternative cars by being stripped of unnecessary weight, streamlined to move smoothly and equipped with gas-sipping engines.
General Motors, Ford and Hyundai have all been selling cars this year with conventional engines that can get 40 mpg on the highway. This exceeds the efficiency of some hybrids.
"The buzz has been all about electric vehicles and hybrids, but to me, the real buzz should be about the old internal combustion engine," said Jeremy Anwyl, CEO of Edmunds.com, an automotive website. "It ain't dead yet."
Engineers of the Cruze Eco dropped its weight by 200 pounds, installed shutters to close part of the grill and reduce wind drag at higher speeds, added a rear spoiler and cut its height by 1 centimeter. All of this made it more efficient.
With a manual transmission, the Eco is rated at 42 mpg on the highway by the government but can get up to 50 mpg under the right conditions, reviewers say. The new Ford Focus and Hyundai Elantra are rated at 40 mpg (Peter Whoriskey, Washington Post, March 9). -- JJP
