CAR FUEL EFFICIENCY & ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Conventional Wisdom



Watch out Toyota and Honda!

Boy am I impressed with what Nissan has done with its 2007 Altima. That's what I have been talking about folks. A full size sedan weighing in at over 3000 lbs. with 175bhp that has city/fwy average of 30 miles per gallon! Way to go Nissan! By comparison both the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry fall about 1 or 2 mpg short and cost an extra $2 - 3k. It matches the Honda Civic in MPG for Pete's sake! And, its a looker too. Sharp and catchy designing on the interior and exterior.

No longer are we confined to sacrifice by keeping smaller sedans if we want to stay atop the 30mpg mark. The mark has moved and others need to catch up. Nissan is also launching a hybrid version of the Altima by April 2007 that will join the Camry Hybrid amongst 40mpg family sedans. All wonderful news.

While we turn heads at the foray of vehicles pouring out of new technology it is easy to miss the sheer magnitude of the market that lives off the conventional fossil fuel. And hence, a small dent in this area goes a long long way. Nissan will probably sell more Altimas alone than the entire hybrid electric market in 2007. And so its commendable that they have taken the charge and come out on top in the fuel efficiency category of the economy family sedan market.

Like I said, Honda & Toyota, do take note.

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