Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles Consume More Fuel

Plug-In Hybrid are Eco-Friendly?

Majority of people around the globe (mainly in rich countries) using plug-in hybrid electric cars are consuming more gasoline than their conventional counterparts. Sound strange but it’s true. Not sure how…read on. Plug-in hybrid automobiles use regular gasoline engine along with electric motor with battery. People buy these cars for different reasons – improve their Eco-friendly credentials, style statement, make use of generous subsidies given by government on electric cars, etc etc. That’s all good, but something is going wrong.

Plug-in hybrid owners are frequently choosing gasoline power to drive their cars even though their vehicles have inbuilt technology to run on batteries (electrically charged). When plug-in hybrid cars are made to run on just gasoline they actually consume more fuel since they are carrying 150 kilograms of extra electric components than regular cars.

According to a report such a situation is arising due to lack of charging facilities in the owner’s neighborhood. Lots of people using such cars are unable to charge it at their place of residence due to reasons like no reserved parking space, lack of electric outlet near the car etc. Also the public charging facilities are not densely located and you need to drive for few kilometers before you can access it. Countries like US and China are spending billions of dollars to build charging stations across the country but it will still take many more years before such facilities are easily accessible for majority of their population. Till then its best to drive a regular gasoline vehicle and be proud that you are contributing less to global warming than a rich guy driving a state of the art plug-in hybrid vehicle.

Source: Bloomberg
Read More On: Hybrid Cars

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Survey: Maruti-Suzuki India’s Most Trusted Auto Brand

Trust is a complex concept to be measured and even more difficult to earn and maintain. Brand loyalty thrives on trust and higher this rating goes more consumers follow the brand. As per 'The Trust Report, India Study 2012', compiled by the Brand Trust Advisory, Maruti Suzuki is India’s most trusted automotive brand. Now that can’t be called a surprising revelation since it’s already a well known fact the Maruti commands lots of respect and trust in India and its reflection can be seen in its annual sales figure.

Maruti Suzuki Dzire and Alto has been rated as the top two most trusted cars and BMW leads the list of luxury car brands followed by Audi. Interestingly as per the report the second and third largest automobile maker in India, the Hyundai Motor and Tata Motors could not make it to the list of top ten trusted automotive manufacturers. Come on now, the quality of cars from Hyundai and Tata has improved a lot in recent years but it seems that even in the past year people continued to suspect cars from these brands.

"The report measures 61 tangible and intangible aspects of brand trust, which combine to encompass all positive behaviours and attitudes toward a brand," Trust Research Advisory CEO N Chandramouli said.

The survey was conducted between August-November 2011 and took into account the responses and views on 17,000 brands from over 2,700 participants across 15 cities in the country and has featured top 1,000 brands from several categories.

What we are more concerned about here is how our automotive brands performed on the trust factor. So checkout below the list of top ten automotive brands as per the Brand Trust Report 2012 which have managed to gain and maintain the trust of people of India all through the year of 2011.

Source: TrustAdvisory
Read More On: Maruti-Suzuki

Rank	Brand	Category
1	Maruti-Suzuki	Four-Wheeler
2	BMW	Luxury Cars
3	Hero Honda	Two-Wheeler
4	Toyota	Four-Wheeler
5	Honda	Four-Wheeler
6	Ford	Four-Wheeler
7	Audi	Luxury Cars
8	Skoda	Four-Wheeler
9	Hero	Two-Wheeler
10	Yamaha	Two-Wheeler

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Survey: Honda Cars Stronger Than BMW & Merc

Honda cars have been found to be the best equipped to deal with potholes, saving drivers thousands of rupees in repairs each year, according to a new research by Potholes.co.uk. These results are based on warranty claims resulting from pothole damage in UK and gives out the names of top 10 best and worst susceptible car brands. According to the research, after Honda, the most ‘pothole-proof’ manufacturers are Toyota and Hyundai, with less than 2% of their cars suffering axle and suspension damage attributable to potholes and other road defects.

Chrysler came out as the most unreliable against potholes followed by hot shots like Land Rover, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. These premium brands are known world over as being the manufacturers of some of the best cars and off road SUVs including Presidential vehicles. It’s difficult to imagine that those fancy low profile tires and large, expensive wheels that we see on luxury vehicles with their bulging sidewalls are not really strong enough to deal with what our roads have to offer. This survey doesn’t sound promising for their known credentials.

'We've found some cars have an uncanny ability to absorb the jolts from even the most severe road craters, while others aren't so resilient,' said Duncan McClure Fisher of Warranty Direct. According to their calculations in an average year, there is a 6 per cent chance of any car suffering such damage.

Since the government continues to struggle to solve the pothole problem, we consumers can at least be smart about our vehicle of choice. Scroll down to see the ranking compiled by potholes.co.uk.

Read More On: Honda

Top 10 Most Resilient Make Damage Rate Honda 1.4% Toyota 1.5% Hyundai 1.7% Nissan 2.0% Kia 2.1% Mitsubishi 2.2% Mini 3.0% Suzuki 3.1% Ford 3.4% Mazda 3.4%

Top 10 Least Resilient Make Damage Rate Chrysler 12.2% Smart 10.6% Mercedes 10.4% Land Rover 10.1% Jaguar 9.4% Saab 8.5% Fiat 7.4% BMW 6.8% SEAT 6.6% Vauxhall 6.4%

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