GM Bets Nearly $900m On Next-Gen V8s, Thanks To E85 Loophole
CAFE got you down? Worried that it’s only a matter of time before the feds come for your V8? You can relax a little, as General Motors is announcing that it will spend nearly a billion dollars rolling out its next generation of small-block V8 engines. According to Automotive News [sub], GM is dropping $893m to upgrade or renovate engine plants in Tonawanda, NY; Bay City, MI; Bedford, IN; Defiance, OH; and St. Catharines, Ontario. These new plants will build GM’s next generation of all-aluminum V8 engines, which will use direct-injection and a new combustion system for improved efficiency.GM won’t say what vehicles these new V8s will be offered in, but expect this to signal the end of the road for the Northstar family of engines as well as replacing the outgoing small-blocks. And what of GM’s commitment to reducing emissions? According to The General’s presser, all of its future small-block V8s will be E85-capable, meaning they qualify for t he CAFE ramp-up’s Flex Fuel Vehicle credit loophole. As such,
their fuel economy is determined using a special calculation procedure that results in those vehicles being assigned a higher fuel economy level than would otherwise occur.
Which helps explain why Sen Chuck Schumer (D-NY) doesn’t mind publicly lobbying for V8 production at Tonawanda despite his strong belief in Global Warming: the regulatory fix was already in.
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I don't really have enough context here. What is the actual e85 FFV boost? If the V8 delivers a 25MPG, what is the FFV adjusted number?
what bothers me are the words fuel economy and special calculations. last i checked in the real world, using E85 actually resulted in worse fuel economy than regular gas. not to mention the still rudimentary process of making E85 gives us a negative net benefit. @Z71 chevy guy: thank god GM has customers like you.
Maybe the investment is because of the hundreds of thousands of trucks that are sold every year. Regardless of environmentalist wishes, trucks will continue to be a major part of the US automarket for the foreseeable future. As such, wouldn't it make sense to continue to invest in making those vehicles as efficient as possible, while maintaining performance? And the single most part of the vehicle that impacts fuel economy remains powertrain. As far as E85 goes, yes, the E85 vehicles are rated differently under CAFE, but the point you miss is that irregardless of how many E85 capable vehicles a manfuacturer sells, they may only claim up to a .9 mpg improvement in overall CAFE for model years 2011 - 2014.
My next question... Who is going to tell the yahoos who get this motor and or E85 capable unit that.. its easier to hail a cab in the snow or the rain in NYC.. than find an E85 pump for most of the East Coast.