Reports: GM, Chrysler hold merger discussions
N.Y. Times reports preliminary talks; Wall Street Journal says talks on hold

BREAKING NEWS
msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 4 minutes ago

General Motors has held discussions about acquiring Chrysler, The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported late Friday.

The talks between GM and Cerberus Capital Management, which owns Chrysler, began more than a month ago, the Times reported on its Web site.

The Journal reported that the talks were "rendered inactive" because of the upheaval in financial markets but that people familiar with the developments said the talks could be revived quickly if markets stabilize.

Two people close to the talks told the Times the chances of a merger were “50-50.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27125864/

Yeah, I just came across this myself.
If they do merge, will we have to change the name of this site to www.chrysler-gm-volt.com?

This merger makes no sense for any reason until you realize that they are thinking of doing it to create a company that is "too big to fail" and guarantee a government bail out. It's really sad and pathetic.

GM and Chrysler's refusal to produce fuel efficient vehicles in response to the global fuel crisis that has developed over the past 5 years is nothing short of amazing. :eek:

Toyota already has an EV, put a battery charger on board and viola its a VOLT! :D

Visit this link to see how consumers are already making 100MPG cars out of the Toyota Prius. http://www.calcars.org/vehicles.html#5

The Prius with only battery modifications, no matter how powerful the batteries are, is still just a golf cart. It will not be able to sustain freeway speeds of 70 mph or more (ie, Interstate 5) on battery power alone, it would still consume gas to fund the people who hate us.

Unless they replace the Toyota's electric motor with a powerful one, along with the battery range to boot, then and only then we can say it has become comparable to Volt.

And again, even the plug-in planned by Toyota, the Prius would still be a golf cart when in pure electric mode.

Perhaps Toyota can use a more powerful motor, and then modify the parallel hybrid so that it will also recharge the batteries when it has been drained. Although that will be a more complex design, it might be more efficient when doing sustained freeway mode, when the ICE sustains the speed and at the same time recharge the batteries when it dips below. But perhaps the efficiency gains won't pay off for the added complexity. I still see the serial arrangement as better and more flexible in terms of separate ICE genset development or replacement (ie, Fuel Cell, Free Piston, etc) and separate Electric Motor improvement and development, as well as separate development of better batteries or ultracapacitors.

The Prius with only battery modifications, no matter how powerful the batteries are, is still just a golf cart. It will not be able to sustain freeway speeds of 70 mph or more (ie, Interstate 5) on battery power alone, it would still consume gas to fund the people who hate us.

Unless they replace the Toyota's electric motor with a powerful one, along with the battery range to boot, then and only then we can say it has become comparable to Volt.

Let's examine the need for a golf-cart in Houston or New York City.

First, the Prius runs off battery power up to 35MPH. Since most commuters sit in stop and go traffic they would be very happy to trade kilowatts for gas any day. A Plug-In Prius could have more battery capacity and the ability to switch off engine startup until 35MPH or when the battery reaches 10% power. In fact, if you read up on the efforts of CalCars.org, you would find their 100MPG was achieved in stop and go traffic!

Consider reading the book Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars That Will Recharge America by Sherry Boschert (http://www99.epinions.com/review/Book_Plug_in_Hybrids_The_Cars_That_Will_Recharge_A merica_Sherry_Boschert/content_422438407812) to understand how these cars can work.

Fugghetaboutit!

UAW just said they would put the kibosh on it.

Let's examine the need for a golf-cart in Houston or New York City.

First, the Prius runs off battery power up to 35MPH. Since most commuters sit in stop and go traffic they would be very happy to trade kilowatts for gas any day. A Plug-In Prius could have more battery capacity and the ability to switch off engine startup until 35MPH or when the battery reaches 10% power. In fact, if you read up on the efforts of CalCars.org, you would find their 100MPG was achieved in stop and go traffic!

Consider reading the book Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars That Will Recharge America by Sherry Boschert (http://www99.epinions.com/review/Book_Plug_in_Hybrids_The_Cars_That_Will_Recharge_A merica_Sherry_Boschert/content_422438407812) to understand how these cars can work.


Well, thank you so much for agreeing that indeed the Prius is a golf cart kid!

Putting more batteries into the Prius will not make it a Volt, far from it.

Even in the densest cities like New York, LA, Houston... It is a big probability that you are going to exceed 35 mph within the range of first 40 miles. Several million drivers do and they drive at freeway speeds in at least one of their routes to work.

And because of that, compared to EREVs, the Prius is well below the potential capacity to reduce emissions and gasoline consumption for most of the drivers. It is the Extended Range EV, like the Volt that has the potential to do that, especially for the 78% of the commuting trips. Prius is a backward technology in that it is a certainty that you would use gasoline. More than 90% of drivers exceed 35 mph in their commute to work.

And during stop and go traffic, the Volt will exceed 200 mpg, using the same method of calculations that the Prius will use.

I graduated from UCDavis, and I regularly check on my friends at Engineering, and have driven the Prius. The suspension shocks of the Prius simply sucks, I can feel every pebble on the road rattling through my spine. Of course, I have also driven Camry and hybrid Lexus, which has a lot better suspension than Prius. Of course I have been through several GM's cars.

And BTW, the golf carts are way cheaper than the Prius, and they ride exactly the same at 25 to 35 mph.

And here is an excellent SAE paper that reveals why EREV type vehicles are a lot better and more appropriate technology than plug-in parallel hybrids. The paper has realistically considered the typical driving habits in America, and not based on geeks stuck in the traffic of San Francisco or Houston or Los Angeles, and certainly not the seniors inside a gated community. EREVs are technically not hybrids and they have realistically more potential to reduce gasoline consumptions and well to wheel emissions compared to plug-in hybrids. Read the paper and learn.

http://www.sae.org/technical/papers/2008-01-0458