Episode 302 – F1 Chief Bids For Saab, VW #1 In China, GM To Halve Battery Cost
January 8th, 2010 at 12:00pm
Runtime 8:02
Formula One chief, Bernie Ecclestone joins in on a last-minute bid for Saab. Volkswagen leads the way in sales for passenger cars in China last year. General Motors says it will cut the cost of the Volt battery in half. All that and more, plus a preview of this week’s Autoline Detroit about the upcoming Detroit Auto Show.
Transcript and Story Links after the jump . . .
Here are today’s top headlines. Bernie Ecclestone bids on Saab. VW is once again the sales king in China. And GM says it will cut the cost of the Volt battery in half.
Up next, we’ll be back with the news behind the headlines.
This is Autoline Daily for Friday, January 8, 2010. And now, the news.
The deadline to bid on Saab ended at 5:00 p.m. yesterday in New York and dang if three new bids didn’t come in just at the last minute. Most surprising is an offer from Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who joined up with Luxembourg investment firm Genii to see if they can buy it. Also, according to Bloomberg, Spyker put in a new bid, and yet a third offer came in involving Sweden’s former Deputy Prime Minister, but no more is known about that offer. And so this story still isn’t over.
Yesterday, as many of you know, we held a live webcast at GM’s plant where they’ll assemble battery packs for the Volt. We interviewed quite a few people involved with the Volt program, but two news items really stand out. First, since the battery plant is actually a brand-new subsidiary of GM, the plant is not organized by the UAW. Second, GM says it believes it will cut the cost of the battery pack in half with the second generation that will be out in three to five years. You can catch the entire webcast at the John’s Journal channel on our website at www.autolinedetroit.tv.
And another Detroit Auto Show embargo lifts. Chevrolet is trying to reinvent its b-segment offering with this concept. The Aveo RS is a five-door hatchback with a bold design and massive, 19-inch wheels. Under its creased hood lies a 1.4-liter turbocharged four-banger with 138 horsepower. It’s the same engine that’s going in the upcoming Chevy Cruze. In the show car it comes paired with a six-speed manual transmission. Production of the next-gen Aveo is expected to begin late this year at GM’s plant in Orion, Michigan.
The Detroit News reports that the Toyota Prius was the best-selling car in Japan last year, racking up almost 209,000 sales, nearly a three-fold increase compared to 2008. Finishing in second place was the subcompact Honda Fit. Toyota only sold around 140,000 Priusses in the U.S. where hybrids make up less than 3 percent of the market. In Japan the number is much bigger, about 10 percent.
While its no secret that China passed the U.S. in car sales last year, the official numbers are in. According to Gasgoo.com, China sold 13.5 million vehicles compared to 10.4 in the U.S. to become the number-one car market in the world.
And leading the way in sales for passenger cars in China was Volkswagen. According to Gasgoo, the company sold 1.4 million vehicles including the other brands it uses in China: Audi, Skoda, Bentley and Lamborghini.
And to give you an idea of just how much growth potential there is in China, according to Gasgoo, only 1 in 6 Chinese, only 15 percent are able to drive. Even so, that translates into 200 million people. So even if they get to only one out of three, they’ll see massive sales growth.
And sticking with China for the moment, Geely just announced it will sell an electric vehicle in Europe starting this spring. According to Autocar, the five-seat vehicle, called the Nanoq, will be powered by a lithium-ion battery. It has a claimed range of 125 miles and top speed of 81 MPH. The company says it could bring the vehicle to the U.S. and other Asian countries later this year.
Coming up next, a preview of this week’s episode of Autoline Detroit, where we’re talking about car names.
The Detroit Auto Show kicks off on Monday so we devoted this week’s Autoline to previewing what’s going to be unveiled at the show. In the following clip we talk about the names of cars, particularly regarding the Ford Fiesta.
That’s Jim Hall from 2953 Analytics, Guy Gordon from WDIV Local 4, and Sara Webster from the Detroit Free Press and you can catch the entire show on our website at AutolineDetroit.tv.
Ok, it’s Friday and you know what that means. It’s time to answer this week’s trivia question. We asked you to identify who the original founder of Tata was. And the correct answer is, it’s Jamsetji Tata, the great-grandfather of the current chairman, Ratan Tata. As always, we randomly selected this week’s winner from the pool of correct responses. And the winner is, Wesley Kittel from Henderson, Nevada. Congratulations Wesley, you’ve just won this Panasonic ELS Surround sweatshirt.
Also, look for Monday’s Autoline Daily in the morning because starting at noon we’ll be broadcasting live from the floor of the Auto Show in Detroit until about 2:00 p.m. And we’ll be doing the same on Tuesday. You can watch that on our website at www.AutolineDetroit.tv. So be sure to tune in.
And that’s it for today’s top news in the global automotive industry. Thanks for watching, we’ll see you next week.
Thanks to our Partners for embedding Autoline Daily on their websites: Autoblog, The Auto Channel, Car Chat, WardsAuto.com and WWJ Newsradio 950
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Comments (47)
January 8th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
The only redeeming virtue for a name like “Fiesta” is that it meets Ford’s req. to start with “F”. Otherwise, it is a ludicrous name for a car. I am in favor of alphanumeric names that DO provide lots of info about the vehicle and are easy to decipher. Sort of like Merc, BMW and Audi names. But that’s me. Maybe the perky young secretary does prefer “Fiesta”. BTW, what the hell is an “Aveo”? Sounds like a rare bird.
And to think that these idiot makers pay MILLIONS of $ to quacks to come up with these names! The stingy Germans kept their money AND have better names!
January 8th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Re China, 19 million Chinese got driver’s licenses last year. I am not sure if that number is high or not. But the growth in the domestic market is staggering, and in 09 it did not just surpass the US sales by a few thousand vehicles, but by 3,100,000 !
It seems that the chinese are fed up selling stuff to the rest of the world at cut-rate prices, they got plenty of $ and they want to spend it, and the government greatly encouraqes domestic consumption. THis must be a new thing. I bet it is linked with the worries of the CHinese about the US dollar. They hold a trillion or two, and they are not amused if the US government is driving its value thru the ground.
January 8th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Practice saying Bernies last name 100 times, it’s easy, you got it wrong everytime. Embarrasing!
January 8th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
We note that:
>Toyota only sold around 140,000 Priusses
>in the U.S. where hybrids make up
>less than 3 percent of the market.
>In Japan the number is much bigger,
>about 10 percent.
I am curious as to why this is so. Could it be that:
1. Gasoline is more costly in Japan than in the USA?
2. Could it be that in Japan, the road-going citizenry was already driving non-hybrid small cars, hence the only way to increase fuel economy would be via a hybrid like the Prius?
2a. Could it be that here in the USA, many members of the road-going citizenry attained equivalent percentage-wise increase in their personal fuel economy by going from SUV’s or other large vehicles to smaller non-hybrid cars?
January 8th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Nick writes:
“I am in favor of alphanumeric names that DO provide lots of info about the vehicle and are easy to decipher. Sort of like Merc, BMW and Audi names.”
I guess I don’t see that much “info” in BMW cars names, other than the body series. You might expect the 328i to have a 2.8 liter engine and the 335i to have a 3.5 liter engine. Hmm… They both have 3.0 liter engines, as does the 335d.
January 8th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
As far as the Nanoq coming to the United States: “Don’t you eat that yellow snow”; pun intended.
And like the interviewees said, if the car is good enough, the name doesn’t matter that much.
January 8th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Hello Nick Stevens to answer your ? yesterday you had asked John a ? “are you 100% sure that the Regal is just a re-badged Opel Insignia? Because the sheetmetal of the Buick is far fancier than any Opels I have ever seen.” And I answered just check any numerous Opel websites in Europe and you will see the Opel Insignia there already in Europe being manufactured because as you said the Opels you have seen have not been as fancy. And those websites will show you that they indeed are “fancy” to us you description. Have a great day.
January 8th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Name recognition is very important. Not using the Taurus name may have hurt Ford sales. i think establishing a new name is difficult, I’m looking forward to the show.
I have a question, does Jim Hall ever breath in when he’s talking?
January 8th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
# Alex Kovnat Says:
January 8th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
I am curious as to why this is so. Could it be that:
1. Gasoline is more costly in Japan than in the USA?
That’s sure part of it.
“2. Could it be that in Japan, the road-going citizenry was already driving non-hybrid small cars, hence the only way to increase fuel economy would be via a hybrid like the Prius?”
I think these small cars are in a totally different price range than the prius, it would not be easy for everybody to upgrade.
“2a. Could it be that here in the USA, many members of the road-going citizenry attained equivalent percentage-wise increase in their personal fuel economy by going from SUV’s or other large vehicles to smaller non-hybrid cars”
It’s not that many. There are tens of millions of these dinosaurs still on the road.
OTHER, perhaps more important reasons:
1. Tax breaks, privileges etc in japan if you own a Hybrid
and, perhaps the most important of them all,
2. There is nothing in common between TRAFFIC in an average US street and the stop-go torture in Japan. For that type of traffic, the Prius is IDEAL, while for many americans, a MODERN DIESEL would be far more efficient.
January 8th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Paul Stewart:
You could have saved yourself writing these 8 lines of text if you just copied and pastes the LINK I could use to go see the sites you wanted me to see.
Have a fantastic weekend and a thrilling whatever.
January 8th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
“# Kit Gerhart Says:
January 8th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
I guess I don’t see that much “info” in BMW cars names, other than the body series. You might expect the 328i to have a 2.8 liter engine and the 335i to have a 3.5 liter engine. Hmm… They both have 3.0 liter engines, as does the 335d.”
I am a huge critic of the recent trend by Merc and BMW to misstate the CC of their models. Sometimes it is actually downwards, as in the 4.4 lt v8 in the 7 series being called the “740″ (for the 95-01 models). But this does not invalidate the method, it only shows its misuse. Even if misused, the scheme lets you know with 100% accuracy what size and type model you have, and with good accuracy what size engine it has as well. I’ll take that over the stupid “fiesta” or the incompehensible “Aveo” any time.
January 8th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
I did.
January 8th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
I believe you have the capabilitiy to find them yourself.
January 8th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
I wonder where Ecclestone got the money to be involved in buying a car manufacturer. Hahahahahaha!
He rode his involvement in F 1 to billionaire status in about 25 years. Do you think he wants to give back to the automotive community? Haha!
There must be a profit potential in there somewhere.
January 8th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
I think they should keep the Aveo name. The first one, before Hyundai pumped its Accent up and Nissan Brought the Versa over was top seller.
I think GM keeping the Aveo name on such a revolutionary product would only cement in the minds of doubters like myself, that “New GM” is a force to be reckoned with and is not playing games.
January 8th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
It will be Revolutionary, as the other makes except for Hyundai/KIA VW/Audi or MINI dont have anything close to this on the drawing board in terms of power and fuel eocnomy in this B Segment.
January 8th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
The next gen Yaris will be a Joke along with the Fiesta, and next gen Fit wont be around until 2013. The Next Gen Versa from what I have been reading will be an inferior product as well.
January 8th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
As far as BMW car names, they seem to be concerned about “re-using” car designations. If you add the model year to the designation, it would seem to solve that “problem.” For example, of the current 3-series, you have a 330i, a 330td, and a 330it (or maybe whatever is the abbreviation for turbo in German). Word names like Fiesta and Mustang make as much sense as 335i.
January 8th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Accent, Polo, MINI, and Aveo look to be the top small cars in the next year.
January 8th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
HyundaiSmoke Says:
January 8th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
“I think they should keep the Aveo name. The first one, before Hyundai pumped its Accent up and Nissan Brought the Versa over was top seller.”
To me, Aveo screams “substandard little Deawoo car,” whether or not Deawoo even exists as an independant company. Chevy needs to retire that name with the present car. I have no suggestions for a new name, but Aveo does not have good vibes with very many people.
January 8th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Kit the name does, but there are many Patriotic people who will only and must drive American, as well as those who will drive American only if its a good product on paper, and on any rubric that counts towards buying a proper small car.
Us Foreign small car owners will care, but then again GM is really not trying to sell to us that much, becuase they already know that we have made our minds up.
I believe they realize (for their sake) that the only way to change the minds of foreign small car owners like ourselves is through having the best fuel economy, and quality scores.
January 8th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
Kit, I hear its supposed to get 47 MPG on the Highway using Direct Injection.
There is a benefit with Daewoo guys. In Korea GM/Daewoo is Hyundai/KIA principal #1 competitor. They have an arms race with Hyunda/KIA and as Hyundai/KIA is really stepping up its game, it will force Daewoo to step the game up as well=Much better cars for GM.
January 8th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
John, I believe Bernie Ecclestone’s name is pronounced “Ekkelstone,” not “Ekkles-stone,” as you pronounced it. Otherwise, you do a nearly perfect job.
–Tom Tyson
January 9th, 2010 at 1:35 am
RE:Autoline
Sarah, Hyundai is doing a Hybrid Accent, Elantra, and KIA will do a hybrid Forte, Soul and Rio as well. All at the same time the your Hybrid Yaris/or whatever they are going to call it will be on the market.
Also, John Hyundai in Korea sells a 2.0 “New Sonata” GDI that gets 40 MPG=the same engine going in the next gen Elantra, and it has 166 HP. There’s stll an in company fight on having it as an option for the US Model. However, there is a posibility othem selling it as a “Sonata Blue” Model.
January 9th, 2010 at 2:15 am
Aveos are geting better and better all of the time guys. Give it a chance here. They get more and more reliable too.
January 9th, 2010 at 5:41 am
Daewoo Aveo=Ford Pinto w/o exploding gas tank. ps everyone I’ve ever met who owned a Daewoo, has regretted ever owning one.
January 9th, 2010 at 6:24 am
Pedro, but if they are copying off Hyundai/KIA, so they will get so much better. Think about this for a sec, Hyundai/KIA is trying to Mix Asian (Korean/Japanese) Fuel Economy and Reliability with European “Premiumness” and old school American ease of construction. Hyundais and KIAs are built like erector sets pretty much. Finally 21st century cars with 1950s like construction, making them easy to work on.
As GM/Daewoo has to compete in Korea with Hyundai/KIA GM could posibily be pushed to have some of their best product in 50 years. You Detroit (Orion)/Ohio guys better thank your lucky stars for Korean outsourcing, as you build Aveos and Cruzes. In the Future Even Cadillacs will be sourced from Daewoo, and believe it or not you’ll love it.
January 9th, 2010 at 6:35 am
Let be real until the Koreans came GM was ages away from competent small cars. Now they make decent competent small cars now, and their future iterations will be so much better.
January 9th, 2010 at 10:18 am
paulstewart said:
“January 8th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Hello Nick Stevens to answer your ? yesterday you had asked John a ? “are you 100% sure that the Regal is just a re-badged Opel Insignia? Because the sheetmetal of the Buick is far fancier than any Opels I have ever seen.” And I answered just check any numerous Opel websites in Europe and you will see the Opel Insignia there already in Europe being manufactured because as you said the Opels you have seen have not been as fancy. And those websites will show you that they indeed are “fancy” to us you description. Have a great day”
Then I said:
# Nick Stevens Says:
January 8th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Paul Stewart:
You could have saved yourself writing these 8 lines of text if you just copied and pastes the LINK I could use to go see the sites you wanted me to see.
Have a fantastic weekend and a thrilling whatever.
Then Paulstewart said:
“January 8th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
I did.”
WHich is of course a blatant lie, or Paul does not know even what an active link is, or how to post one?
And a mere ONE minute later, Paulstewart said:
January 8th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
“I believe you have the capabilitiy to find them yourself.”
Oh, I see. Instead of admitting that he DID NOT, he tries to squeeze out of trouble with a little compliment, which he may or may not mean (who can tell, goven the above…).
So just because the 100 people watching this site CAN go waste several minutes to FIND these links, does that mean that we should NOT post them, and waste 100s or 1000s of person-minutes that could be otherwise PRODUCTIVELY (do you know what this word means, paul?) employed?
But do not worry. I wasted my time posting this only to try to teach you a free little lesson and in the hope you will reconsider and improve. As for me, long ago, ANDREW CHARLES, a very knowleageable poster here, told me everything I needed to know about the insignia-Regal details.
Have a nice life. (hint?)
January 9th, 2010 at 10:57 am
Study Raises Cost Estimate for Electric Cars
The study, conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, said battery costs were not expected to fall as much as automakers have projected, making electric vehicles too expensive for most consumers even 10 years from now.
The firm predicted that electric cars would account for just 6 percent of the global market in 2020, or about three million of an estimated 54.5 million vehicles sold over all.
Here is the LINK to the whole story. This is the kind of important news that belong to Autoline Daily. It would be interesting to see how the GM snow artists would dance around these hard to disprove facts if John presented them with the study results, back when the battery types BSed us with their propaganda.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/business/energy-environment/08auto.html
January 9th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Hi, Nick Stevens I did answer your ? honestly. When I said “I did” I meant copying & pasting your ? to John in my response not to a link or a website. And I’m still confident in your ability to find facts. IF I was aware that 100′s were in need of help of finding info on that car I would most certainly have posted any link that would help them. I did not mean to make you angry. And when I need your opinion I’ll give it to you. Sincerely, Paul S. Crane
January 9th, 2010 at 11:32 am
Here is some really important stuff from TTAC:
Who benefited from the 45% Increase in Chinese Car Sales?
1. General Motors, up 66.9 percent to 1.83 million units!
2. Volkswagen, with a record 1.4 million cars sold, up 36.7 percent.
3. Hyundai Motor and its affiliate, Kia, likely took the #3 spot with 811,695 vehicles sold in China last year, an 85.9 percent increase.
4. Nissan is the largest Japanese brand in China, its sales jumped 38.7 percent to 756,000 vehicles.
5. Toyota sold 709,000 vehicles, up 21 percent. Ford’s sales grew 44 percent to 440,619 vehicles.
China’s more than 100 auto makers sold the rest.
It’s likewise official: China is the world’s largest auto market. China did beat the U.S.A. by 3.2m units.
Really bad sign: The DetN thinks it will get worse. They quoted Rao Da, general secretary of the China Passenger Car Association, who said that auto sales in 2010 could grow by another 20 percent so long as China’s economic recovery continues and oil prices stay stable.
“People there are getting richer and can afford cars. Younger people can work for two or three years and with the help of their parents can buy a car,” Rao said. “Being able to afford a car in China is not so difficult any more. People with an average salary can afford to buy a car.”
If Rao’s prognosis of 20 percent growth pans out in 2010, then Chinese will buy more than 16m cars this year. When and where did we hear that number last time?
January 9th, 2010 at 11:38 am
I would really appreciate it, Mr. Stewart, Crane, or whatever your true name is, to not address me any more. I have wasted enough time, and you seem totally unrepentant and unable to be a helpful participant to this forum. I have NOT bothered to read your latest post, and based on your past posts, I will not be missing anything.
In the future, try to contribute something and really help somebody. This GROTESQUELY WASTEFUL exchange (vs the SECONDS it would have taken you to post the STUPID LINK, if you REALLY wanted to HELP and not just BRAG that you “know” but do not want to share) is only seen in such Mismanaged entities as the US Post Office. I have good reason to believe you work there.
January 9th, 2010 at 11:46 am
While being bitten at the ankle by this Stweart or Crane or whatever person, I was watching the AD episode.
John deserves great credit for explaining the Hybrid situation exactly for what it is. A tiny insignificant market, PRIUS dominates half of it, the Fusion Hybrid will do little to save Ford and sells an insignificant No. of units. Sarah made her only good point in the show by suggesting that Toyota produce a cheaper and smaller (but not cheaper feeling, like the Honda insight failure) Yaris class Hybrid, but the TV guy went th eother way, suggesting a Camry Hybrid class PRius. He may have a Better point.
Those of us in the detroit area, and above all Peter Autoextremist Delorenzo, have long protested the AWFUL coverage of the auto show (NAIAS) by Channel 4, the only network that got the licence to broadcast segments like the “charity preview”. These PAINFUL affairs for any car lover involve all kinds of male and female auto illiterate Network Journalists and spokesmodels, peppered with company PR scam artists BSing us about how good they are (while they are sinking into bankrupcy). And the Anchorwomen in a very insulting stereotype waste HALF that time discussing the dresses and shoes of the various women at the show, spouses or whatever. Really? DO they spend half the time in FASHION shows discussing CARS and car repair?
January 9th, 2010 at 11:49 am
PS did you catch Sarah’s dissapointed frown when the other guests attacked pelosi and protested her energy illiteracy? (Apparently that idiot Pelosi thinks natural gas is not a fossil fuel!!!)
The botox-infested clownish figure has some nerve and some guts to ocme to the auto show.
But even more brave are the (probably few, given this brutal cold) Tea party protesters that will be waiting outside and protesting, correctly, against the bailout of the Auto industry.
January 9th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
There are those on this forum who really wanted GM and Chrysler to die and be liquidated, but I am not one of them. I hope both companies are able to survive as viable companies, but even if they don’t, the “soft landing” that the “bailouts” provide will be immensely valuable to the Detroit area, and many other areas that are dependent on GM and Chrysler for jobs. Even if the companies don’t make it long term, there will be a much more orderly shift of capacity to Asian transplants that if 30% of car manufacturing capacity was shuttered overnight, and then liquidated as some would have liked.
January 9th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
The Truth About Cars is not a real news source, considering you’re not even allowed to criticize the Authors, and if you do you face the possibility of being permanently banned from that website.
Plus, unlike 99.9% of jounrals they absolutely positively hate Hyundai/KIA. To the point that they are slanderous, and possibly liable to lawsuits.
THE LIES ABOUT CARS IS WHAT THAT PLACE SHOULD BE CALLED.
Plus its tied to the LA Times. Who takes Newspapers seriously these days besides old people anyway.
January 9th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
They also get most of their facts wrong most of the time, unlike reputable news sources like Autoline.
January 9th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
What utter, worthlelss, clueless nonsense. TTAC is AT LEAST as good a forum as THIS group, with the exception of the fanatic crazed Hyundai Salesman that Smokes and has never paid John Mc Elroy a dime for the shameless propaganda he is allowed to spew in this forum. Most likely H-Smoke DID try to [post his UTTER DRIVEL in TTAC and Autoblog too, and got BOOTED FROM BOTH.
January 9th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Everyone has an opinion and we should try to respect them with out the name calling. I must admit it does lead to some interesting reading. Have a nice weekend.
January 9th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
Lmao!! Nick, dont get mad becuase your favorite rag practices kangaroo journalism!! Lmao!!!
January 9th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
And Actually Autoblog has a few real jounralists!!!
January 10th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
It’s time to vote!
Monday at 8:00 AM we’ll know who wins the NA car and truck awards.
Having to choose from the very limited list of 6 vehicles, I’d pick the Chevy Equinox and the New Buick Lacrosse.
I’d be pleased if the journalists will agree with me, but I don’t expect them to. I doubt they will make both awards to the same bankrupt Government owned and mismanaged company…
How would those of you in this forum (those whose opinions I do care about, not HS and Paulstweart) vote?
January 10th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
With its combination of comfort, room and good fuel economy I would choose the Nox, but the Buick is a huge step forward for the brand.
January 10th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Im picking the Buick and Terrain.
January 10th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Though The Buick is going to win the Car and the Equinox/Terrain will win truck.
January 11th, 2010 at 9:00 am
They VOTED!!! and they chose the two Fords instead!!!
The Transit connect, the ugliest truck on the road, that looks so unstable, a turkish made te nt on wheels… a delivery van.
and The Fusion Hybrid, which is far inferior to the new Prius which SHOULD be on the list, sells TEN TIMES the units the Fusion hybrid sells, and gets AT LEAST 10 MPG MORE than the Fusion.
The obvious winners among the 6 in the short list should have been the Lacrosse and the Equinox.