Premium fuel, please!

I just read the recall notice from NHTSA regarding the 2010 Cadillac SRX. Though I can certainly see where the federal government and General Motors needed to do something about a very real problem, the recall of crossovers equipped with turbo-charged 2.8L V6 engine underscores just how dumb some car owners can be.

Premium Fuel

GM makes it clear in their owner’s manual and on the fuel filler door that this particular Cadillac model requires premium fuel. Unlike some situations where premium fuel is recommended, GM has calibrated the SRX engine to only use premium fuel.

Sure enough, some customers have gone ahead and gassed up with regular gasoline. The result?

Engine problems. That is, if the person who drives the SRX is an aggressive driver and the crossover begins to respond by pinging or knocking, a pre-ignition problem that could damage the engine.

547 Recalls

In the NHTSA recall announcement–affecting 547 models sold–a connecting rod or piston could break, damaging the engine or engine failure could take place, leading to a crash.

Okay, so whose fault is this? Unfortunately, GM has to provide a fix for ignorant owners.

GM’s “repair” is simple and straightforward, though it is unfortunate that it has to come to this. GM will reprogram the engine control module to eliminate pinging or knocking in the event customers continue to use regular fuel.

Yes, GM has to make a technological change which will allow the SRX to run on regular fuel, defeating the purpose of the engine. Customers may save at the pump, but they’ll lose performance. Though I cannot prove it, fuel economy may also drop.

Fed Recall

GM says that the recall will begin on or about June 11 and it should be a quick fix for owners. The silly thing is that it comes down to customers ignoring what they should be doing with the federal government putting the onus on GM, not the customer.

The first car from China's BYD Company is expected to be this five passenger, all electric sedan (or wagon).

Limited Introduction Initially

BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu announced last week that the Chinese automaker would use funds derived from a recent stock offering to launch its US initiative as well as fund a second production line for its lithium-ion batteries at a plant located near its company headquarters in Shenzhen. Chuanfu indicated that BYD would target utilities, government agencies and perhaps some American celebrities to help market its line of cars.

BYD has ties with Berkshire Hathaway’s MidAmerican Energy Holding Co., the company that paid BYD $230 million for a 9.9% stake in the Chinese automaker in 2008. BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, has displayed its cars at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, with the intention of entering the US market as soon as possible.

Priced from the low $40s, the BYD e6 is expected to be offered in one region of the US market when it goes on sale in 2010.

Quality, Safety Concerns?

A number of Chinese automakers have been panned by the automotive press for building cars that are rip offs of other manufacturers’ designs or lack the quality standards that buyers in more established markets expect. Not to be confused with Brilliance Automotive whose cars have miserably failed several critical crash tests (which are still available for review on YouTube), it remains to be seen how well BYD will match up against the competition.

The BYD e6 should take seven to nine hours to fully recharge when plugged into a standard home outlet. Currently, BYD sells a plug-in hybrid model (F3DM) to fleet customers in China, but hasn’t offered these vehicles for sale to the general public yet. BYD’s chairman has dismissed talk that technology problems with the F3DM has delayed a wider release of the car, but until that happens doubts will likely persist.

For their part, MidAmerican has promised to assist BYD enter the US market and has expressed interest in boosting its stake in the Chinese manufacturer if possible.

Not much is yet known about the e6 which is powered exclusively by a lithium-ion battery pack built by BYD.

Photos Courtesy of BYD Company.

See Also — Hummer Brand Off To China

For BYD (affectionately named Build Your Death by members of the media), this will be a return appearance, having been at last year’s show. For Brilliance Auto, this will be their first visit to any car show in North America.

Brilliance is a partner company to BMW and plans to begin selling its first cars in the United States later in 2009.  The automaker gained notoriety in 2008 when its BS6 (nice name, eh?) miserably failed a European car crash test, earning a one-star rating. Later in the year, the automaker redid the test, but still only managed three-stars. The company says that by the end of 2008 their American bound vehicles will meet stringent safety requirements, supposedly these same vehicles will be on display in Detroit.

To date, no Chinese manufacturer has sold a single model in the U.S. Back in 2005, Chery Automotive was planning to enter the U.S. market, even partnering with a U.S. distributor who planned to bring several models stateside. That plan never worked out.

Geely Automobile Holdings Limited has also considered selling cars in North America, but the automaker has yet to move in that direction. Changfeng Motors was the first automaker from the PRC to display its cars in Detroit, having made the trip there in 2007.

Chinese cars have a distinct price advantage thanks to very low wages and minimal design effort. Take a look at most any Chinese vehicle and you’ll notice a similar pattern across most model lines — designs were ripped off from other manufacturers, though PRC courts have upheld these copyright violations.

BTW, BYD actually means Build Your Dreams — we’ll let you decide if the media’s depiction was a fair one or not!

Visitors to the 2008 NAIAS in Detroit will get their first glimpse at several makes and models offered by five Chinese automotive manufacturers. None of the vehicles are being sold in the US and Canada (yet) but plans are under way to bring one or more models to our shores in the near future. That is, if these cars can pass stringent U.S. safety and emissions standards first.

Crash testing of several earlier Chinese models quickly revealed that they failed — miserably. The promise of getting a $6500 Chinese-built car to the U.S. market seems to have vanished as safety and emissions upgrades would raise that price considerably.

Even if China had the vehicles to pass federal scrutiny, one important fact remains: their cars lack style and some are downright ugly. The Geely model pictured, a taxicab, underscores the problem — cars from Chinese manufacturers cannot match current design standards, let alone safety and pollution regulations.

Now, I am not saying that China can never be a player in the North American market. I remember heading to my local Hyundai dealership way back in 1987 with some friends as we took a look at their Excel model and had similar comments regarding quality. The South Korean-made Excel was a much better looking model at that time than most of the Chinese cars on display at the NAIAS, but Hyundai’s reputation for building good cars at that time was sketchy. Today, Hyundai matches — even passes — Toyota in some measures of quality. No doubt the Chinese manufacturers will some day get it right too and become a viable player. They just aren’t there yet — not by a long shot.

Picking the right models to introduce to the world is important too — the BYD brand produced the most catcalls from fellow bloggers of them all. BYD became “Build Your Death” as jokes about cars that collapsed on impact or contained lead paint were rampant. If we bloggers turn our noses up at a particular vehicle, you can bet that the buying public will do the same.

Although I only spent about an hour on the floor show on Tuesday, I was able to get the rest of the press packs that I needed. I must have about 50 lbs. worth of cds, press releases, booklets and media material, information that will take me many weeks to sort out.

I missed some of the key introductions at the show including the Toyota Venza crossover sedan, Lincoln MKT concept, the Passat CC — a coupe-looking four door sedan, the Mercedes GLK Freeside, and the Dodge Ram pickup. The interviews with GM executives and tours of GM facilities took up a lot of my time, but those opportunities were worth it for me.

One of the funny points of the show involved the Chinese automakers — when the press release from BYD is a hoot, a company some of us bloggers have labeled, “Build Your Death” to signify the poor quality and safety standards of the brand.

I’ll be posting additional NAIAS information soon — don’t forget: the show is open to public beginning this Saturday.