Hope for SUV owners?

[WarPig]

High school dropout shows up GM engineers with both improved mileage and more horsepower

[ROTC1983]

That is just utterly amazing...

[lildrgn]

There's an H3 that rolls around here with a sticker on the window that reads:

My model airplane puts out more emissions than this SUV

Or something like that. Hmmm....

[Purge]

damn!! I got goosebumps.

[leo8877]

I wonder if we'll see any advancements like these become wide spread in my lifetime.

[EngineNo9]

So here's the actual full original story. 

[Destructor]

 

So...why isn't this guy designing cars for a living AND making sure they show up on the show floor to buy in the first place?

[Thin_J]

I rarely buy into conspiracy theories but the idea that this has been technically possible as long as it has and it still isn't implemented on a far larger scale reeks of the big oil companies being in bed with the automotive industry.

Guys like this are slowly pushing this stuff out, but they're meeting resistance from a lot of different fronts. Like the aforementioned GM engineers who were told by their superiors that it couldn't be done.

I think the most telling part is this:

Goodwin's work proves that a counterattack is possible, and maybe easier than many of us imagined. If the dream is a big, badass ride that's also clean, well, he's there already. As he points out, his conversions consist almost entirely of taking stock GM parts and snapping them together in clever new ways. "They could do all this stuff if they wanted to," he tells me, slapping on a visor and hunching over an arc welder. "The technology has been there forever. They make 90% of the components I use."

[EngineNo9]

I certainly believe the the auto industry has been far too stagnant for far too long on these issues, but you also have to realize that there are other considerations when they are manufacturing a car including overall cost, safety standards, reliability and ease of maintenance.  If consumers won't pay the extra money for a certain model or they have far more breakdowns or can't get repaired at their local shop then it isn't a viable pursuit for them. 

I'm not saying those and other problems couldn't be overcome by an auto manufacturer, but those aren't going to be nearly as big of considerations for somebody that is willing to pay thousands of dollars to have a specialist mechanic retrofit their vehicle and work on it if it breaks. 

[PaulBot]

GM is probably sending a hit man after this guy.

[Wolves]

Actually this could help them gain some market share, since it mentions it the 2nd link that his company can get you a conversion. That could be an incentive for some people.

As for Hybrids, Toyota, Ford and Honda already have them, (plus maybe some of the other guys do too, not sure) but this new idea of a biodeisel/Hyrdrogen Hybrid sounds pretty interesting. Especially since buying a hybrid these days in the long run, doesn't save any money...and in fact ends up costing more than you could ever save in fuel (due to expensive repairs/battery replacements). But here's to this changing in the future.