The Isuzu vehicross is available as a SUV with 3-door, 3.5 or 3.2 L V 6 engine. It is equipped with 4-speed automatic transmission. The vehicle with 3.5 L engine can be able to produce around 215 horsepower and 3000 ft of torque. The Isuzu vehicross is considered as a small crossover and they have a 4-wheel drive system. It consists of combined feature of sports utility vehicle with the passenger car. Even though not many cars are sold during their introduction but still they are considered as the popular choice for the off-road vehicle buyers. Four wheeler magazine announced Isuzu vehicross has a first runner up.

The interior side of Isuzu vehicle has features such as, recaro sports buckets for the front seat occupant covered with black and red leather, 2-place rear seat with recycling feature and 50/50 split type folding seatback. It is provided with a six speaker set up along with a cassette/CD player. Inside door is trimmed with faux carbon fiber. It can be able to produce standard 120 watt sound system. At its exterior, the black polypropylene outer covering gives a striking look to the vehicle. It is designed with larger size tires that can able to accommodate standard 16″ wheels. Usually, the diameter of wheel is around 18 inches. The outer covering polypropylene are resistant to scratch hence, you can ride it comfortably, even in the serious off-road areas. The exterior side features Aerodynamic halogen headlights, fuel-filler door with an aircraft-style locking, rear spoiler mounted on the roof and much more. The spare tires are mounted inside the cargo door hence it forms a prominent bulge shape at the outside.

It wouldn’t be so bad if Isuzu started its vehicles with a basic, GM-designed architecture and then customized it to be a true Isuzu. That’s precisely what GM does with Saab, Ford does with Volvo, and on down the list.

New Isuzus, though, are nothing but plagiarism on wheels, and that’s a remarkably stupid idea coming from what was once such a big, powerful, international company. It’s hard to believe that someone, somewhere, thought they could buy a few mediocre but well-known Trailblazers, give them a totally unknown new name, and have the public clamoring to buy one with the Isuzu badge. That makes no sense.

To make matters worse, Isuzu has chosen to compete with The General’s big-time advertising strategy that involves dumping mountains of cash on TV stations and newspapers across the country. Isuzu’s marketing budget is hardly enough to buy a paperclip and a chewed piece of bubble gum.

In fact, driving that Ascender felt like driving mechanical death because it’s so obvious that Isuzu is about to croak. There’s no point in hiding it. The company has left life support and is quickly being wheeled to the morgue, where it will unceremoniously be pronounced dead and quickly buried beside Oldsmobile in the Scrap Metal Cemetery.

BMW is launching two sub-120g/kmcars this year – both breaking new efficiency records for the sectors they compete in.

The new BMW 520d EfficientDynamics uses a 2.0-litre 184hp diesel to average 62.8mpg and emit 119g/km  The new BMW 5 Series is thus 10% more efficient than even the best German rival in the executive car sector.

Crucially, it claims a Benefit In Kind company car tax rating, giving BMW an advantage over key competitors. The Audi A6 2.0 TDI 177, for example, is rated at 18% for company car tax.

The new BMW X1 xDrive20d EfficientDynamics uses a 163hp version of the diesel engine. Despite still offering four-wheel drive, this compact SUV can also average 62.8mpg, and emit 119g/km CO2.
Such fuel economy makes it the greenest BMW X 4×4 product ever.
Both new BMWs are also as fuel efficient as a Citroen C3 Picasso diesel, a  Golf 1and the Greenline version of Skoda’s Yeti.

The green new BMWs have a series of efficiency tweaks to help them return high fuel economy. Auto Stop Start, brake energy regeneration and low rolling resistance tyres are fitted, onto streamline-design alloy
Both models have a long final drive ratio in the gearbox, to lower engine revs at speed; the 5 Series enhances this with a new
By pressing this switch, the driver can enhance economy at low speeds by adjusting the engine mapping, throttle sensitivity and amount of power consumed by the heated seats and climate control.

Much like the Toyota Fortuner was conceived through the IMV ladder frame of the Toyota Hilux, Isuzu has created an SUV based on the Isuzu D-MAX. Like it’s pick-up brother, the 7-seater Isuzu MU-7 is powered by a 3.0-liter DOHC 16-valve 4JJ1-TC common rail turbodiesel engine. It’s made in Thailand, but there’s no news of whether it will be coming to Malaysia,

For every blog and article written hyping the virtues of electric cars as the transportation method of the future, there are just as many belittling their credentials – and with Tesla announcing the end of production for its Roadster last week and electric car maker Think driving straight into bankruptcy it appears critics have had more emission-emitting fuel poured on to their fire.

So are electric cars all hype and no hope? Here we address the three key questions often posed by the naysayers to determine their future.

Question one: Are electric cars really better for the environment?

Electric cars are often promoted as “zero emission” vehicles – which critics jump on as false advertising, because while they produce no harmful emissions at the exhaust pipe, the clean air benefits are limited based on how the electricity is sourced.

According to estimates from the MIT Electric Vehicle team, an electric vehicle charged from the existing US grid emits about 115g/km of carbon dioxide (CO2) on a well-to-wheel analysis, compared to a conventional US-market petrol car that averages 250g/km. However, in Europe, where many of the most efficient cars have emissions below 115g/km, the advantages are much more limited.

Perhaps the crucial element that critics overlook is that the goal is to produce electricity from renewable sources – for example, in France, which has a clean energy grid, well-to-wheel CO2 emissions from an electric car would be just 12g/km. Only in a worst case scenario would incremental electricity demand be met by coal – in reality, it is much more likely that the electricity we use will continue to get cleaner and so the environmental advantages of electric cars will only expand further.

Question two: Will electric cars save drivers money?

As much as many of us might like to think we are environmentally motivated, in these tough economic times it’s hard not to think about our budgets and so it’s no surprise that many potential drivers are put off by the high price tags associated with electric cars.

It’s true that electric cars are generally more expensive than petrol cars primarily because of the high cost of batteries. This is a major stumbling block with a survey undertaken by Nielsen for the Financial Times showing that 65 per cent of Americans and 76 per cent of Brits are not willing to pay more for an electric car than for a petrol car. However, there are signs that electric car prices could come down – the Renault Fluence ZE, for example, will be priced at less than $20,000.

However, perhaps the most important consideration is long term costs. Nissan estimates that the five-year operating cost of the LEAF electric vehicle, for example, would be $1,800 – this compares to around $6,000 for a comparable petrol car.

Question three: Will electric cars run out of charge before I reach my destination?

Ah, range anxiety. Surely this is the biggest stumbling block towards the progression of electric cars – and who will ever forget that infamous, and controversial, image of the Tesla Roadster running out of power on the Top Gear test track?

Cars with internal combustion engines can of course be considered to have an indefinite range because they can be refuelled so easily and quickly. By contrast, many electric cars have been targeted on the statistic that the average American drives fewer than 40miles each day and so they have been developed for urban driving. However, there are a number of electric cars with a far more substantial range. The Tesla Roadster, for example, can travel 245miles per charge.

The key of course, is the development of electric car infrastructure. DC Fast Charging Stations are being implemented across the US and it is hoped that by 2013 they will cover the entire country. There are similar developments elsewhere too, with Australia recently placing itself at the forefront of the electric car race thanks to an agreement with battery swap station supplier Better Place.

Our verdict – Electric cars have the answers

The image of electric cars is slowly changing and with it, the doubts surrounding their future appear to be disappearing.

The questions raised are certainly justified. Electric cars with limited range and high price tags will struggle to appease consumers; but these issues are being addressed because as more vehicles come to market prices will fall, and ranges are already expanding even with so little infrastructure so far in place.

Of course electric cars would defeat their own object if they were more harmful to the environment than the petrol cars they replace – but most analyses suggest that they are already ahead of their counterparts and that the electricity they use should only get greener as time goes on.

So perhaps it’s time to stop asking questions and start embracing the future – and for governments to take the steps that are necessary to make electric cars the norm and no longer just a niche
alternative.

Going green isn’t just a hip fad, it’s a way of life for many Connecticut residents. Adopting an eco-conscious lifestyle can be as simple as installing energy-efficient fluorescent lights in your home or making the commitment to drive a hybrid automobile.

Blue Back Square is showing its support to green-minded consumers by installing two electric car charging stations in the retail center’s Lexicon garage.

“There is definitely a growing need for this type of service and we’re happy to provide it to the consumers taking advantage of all that Blue Back Square has to offer,” said Barbara Lerner, project marketing manager for Blue Back Square.

Connecticut Electric Car, a newly formed division of Newington Electric Company, will be installing the car chargers.

Will Lorenz, the property manager at Blue Back Square, spearheaded the effort to get the charging stations installed.

“We are pleased to be one of the first developments in the area to offer electric car charging stations to our tenants and would like to thank Ed Engels of Newington Electric and General Electric for working with us on this project,” he said.

Locally available charging stations will allow owners of electric cars to drive further knowing their half-way destination point has a charging station. The average electric car can go approximately 35-40 miles on a full charge, making it a perfect around-town car. At a cost of $1.50 to $2 for a full charge, it’s the most economic option for driving a car.

The two new charging stations in Blue Back Square will be unveiled during a special ceremony on Friday, July 22, at 5:30 p.m. Both Mayor of West Hartford Scott Slifka and Town Manager of West Hartford Ron VanWinkle are scheduled to attend the event.

Currently, the two most popular electric cars are the Nissan Leaf, and the Chevy Volt. To charge an electric car, the owner simply drives up to the charging station and plugs in their electrical vehicle.

Much like the Toyota Fortuner was conceived through the IMV ladder frame of the Toyota Hilux, Isuzu has created an SUV based on the Isuzu D-MAX. Like it’s pick-up brother, the 7-seater Isuzu MU-7 is powered by a 3.0-liter DOHC 16-valve 4JJ1-TC common rail turbodiesel engine. It’s made in Thailand, but there’s no news of whether it will be coming to Malaysia

Even though first introduced ten years ago back in 1997, the Isuzu VehiCROSS still looks space today. The Isuzu VehiCROSS was never intended to be a mass production model, produced only as a halo car. In concept form, it was showcased with both 4-door and a roadster body, but only the 2-door version made it’s way into production. Underneath it lay mostly mechanicals from the Isuzu Trooper, and engine options were also the same 3.2 liter and 3.5 liter V6 petrol engines that make over 200 horsepower.

Despite it’s looks, it had real offroad capabilities, including a low ratio transfer case. It’s 4-wheel-drive system was also advanced for it’s time, using a Torque On Demand system from BorgWarner, using 12 independent sensors to detect wheel spin and redirecting power to the wheels with the most traction.

Isuzu has decided to leave the US market, and will officially stop selling new vehicles in the country on the 31st of January 2009, a year from now. The decision to leave the American market was fueled by the inability to produce replacement models for its Isuzu Ascender and Isuzu i-series, the only two trucks it sells in the US market.

The Isuzu Ascender is essentially a reskinned Chevrolet Trailblazer, and the Isuzu i-series (shown above) is based on the GM small-pickup platform. Isuzu says GM may discontinue these two vehicles, thus leaving Isuzu with nothing to base their next generation US models on. Of course, the other reason could be that Isuzu sales in the US had slid from 103,937 in 1999 down to only 7,098 units last year.

“It has always been our intention to remain in the U.S. market. However, we were unable to secure any commercially viable replacements for these vehicles. Although Isuzu will cease supplying passenger vehicles in North America, it will continue to stand behind its customers and dealers here for years to come. Specifically, Isuzu will continue to honor all product warranties and roadside-assistance programs and will maintain its owner relations call center. Isuzu will be offering all current U.S. dealers the opportunity to continue on as service dealerships for Isuzu,” said Terry Maloney,

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