Oil Falls Below $70 a Barrel: Have Gas Prices Gone Down in Your Country?

For the first time in more than a year, the price of a barrel of oil slipped on Thursday, October 16, 2008, below $70 US. In New York, crude oil features for November fell as much as 8 percent or to put that in dollars, $5.97, to $68.57 a barrel before closing at $69.85. Oil prices have been rapidly declining since spiking at an alarming $147 a barrel in July, 2008, when there were widespread fears that prices could go over $200 a barrel.

However, it seems that the economic downturn on both sides of the Atlantic has evidently put the brakes on the 'oil-rally'. Our question to our international readership (sic..) is whether or not you've seen prices going significantly down at the petrol pump, and if so, how much do you pay now? Have your say in the comment section.

Can you guess Which one of these Cars is the Most Aerodynamic?

“Aerodynamic drag has a significant effect on a vehicle’s fuel consumption. This is the reason why fuel-efficient family cars like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight look so alike (and boring) as their shape is virtually dictated by aerodynamics”. How many times have you heard this? Here at julino billym, surely more times than we can remember. Even GM’s Vice President, Bob Lutz defended the Volt’s lucklaster design by saying that its styling was aimed at achieving better aerodynamics so as to maximize fuel efficiency. -Continued

Here’s what Lutz said on GM’s official blog: “The vehicle’s design has come under some criticism, most of it, to me, unwarranted. The challenge to the designers wasn’t to design the most beautiful car imaginable and accept the compromises you have to make to do so. It was, make no compromise to fuel efficiency and electric range, and then do the most beautiful design possible, around those aerodynamic dictates.”

While GM has yet to announce a final figure, in a recent interview Lutz said that (currently) the Volt has a Cd of 0.27 to 0.28. There's a possibility that GM may be able to achieve a lower number than that by the time the Volt enters production in 2011, but we’ll have to work with this for now.

Leaving the Volt to rest in piece -figuratively speaking- let’s see the aerodynamic efficiency of the highly acclaimed second-generation Toyota Prius. According to the Japanese brand, one of the most mundane family cars (in terms of styling) ever to be produced has a Cd of 0.26.

Now, how about we take a look at the aerodynamic efficiency of two mid-size sedans that were presented at the Paris Motor Show a few days ago: the Opel Insignia ecoFLEX has a Cd of 0.26 (compared to the standard vehicle’s 0.27) while the Audi A4 TDI Concept ‘e’ has a Cd of 0.25. Oddly enough, neither car looks like a swelled up egg ready to explode...

Both German automakers said that they achieved this by spending many hours in the wind tunnel fine-tuning the design of their production models by adding underbody panels, lowering the suspension etc. Without taking sportscars into account, it goes without saying that there are plenty of other production family cars with a Cd of 0.27 or lower. One example is the beautifully penned 2008 Citroen C5 with a Cd of 0.27.

Even though we’re no experts in aerodynamics, it is clear that that there’s an easy way to achieve a low Cd (Honda Insight, Toyota Prius and Chevy Volt) and then there’s a hard way (Insignia ecoFLEX, A4 Concept e, C5). Of course some cars may be purposely designed to look aerodynamic –that’s a different story. We’re just sick and tired of hearing everybody putting the blame on aerodynamics for a poorly executed design.

SEAT’s Badge Engineering: What’s next, the Cupra R8?

Badge engineering is a term used to describe the rebadging of one vehicle to another with minimum aesthetic changes. One example is the Korean Daewoo Gentra that has been morphed into the Chevy Aveo and quite recently, into the Pontiac G3. Another example is the SEAT Exeo sedan that premiered in Paris which is basically a previous-gen Audi A4 with a new fascia and tail lamps. But while no one actually cares if the Aveo is a rebadged Gentra (or the other way around), we reckon that VW Group’s decision to remask the B7 Audi A4 will have a negative effect on both brands and especially on Audi. -Continued

The VW Group has come a long way with Audi which until the early 90’s, was seen by most consumers as more of an alternative to BMW and Mercedes than an equal opponent. It took money, time and tremendous effort to establish Audi as a worldwide recognized premium brand.

The Germans have also been trying for years now to cultivate an image for SEAT as the youthful, sporty brand within the VW family –something like a Spanish version of Alfa Romeo. The results of course, are far from triumphant but no one is to blame than VW’s high-rank execs who for one decided to produce cars like the Toledo and its siblings, a vehicle that does not know if it’s a minivan, a hatchback, a liftback or a sedan.

It’s no secret that like other major players in the industry, the VW Group exercises component, platform and engine sharing within its brand portfolio that includes Skoda, VW, Audi, SEAT, Lamborghini and Bentley. But by introducing a car like the Exeo that is clearly recognizable as a rebadged A4, one of Audi’s most important and well sold models, you’re basically weakening the brand’s premium image (at least in Europe) in the same way that Chinese knockoffs do.

As for SEAT, while the Exeo might bring new clientele into its showrooms, we believe it further deepens the problem with the Spanish marque’s identity crisis. Just take a look at the automaker’s vehicle line-up: Ibiza, Leon, Toledo, Altea, Altea XL, Altea Freetrack, Alhambra and Exeo. The only (relatively) sporty and youthful cars we see here are the Ibiza and Leon.

Chevrolet Volt Hybrid: From Concept to Production

So now that all the pizzazz surrounding the Volt has calmed down and while we wait… a couple of years to see how GM’s revolutionary plug-in electric / gasoline hybrid drivetrain works in real life conditions, let’s take a closer look at how the 2007 Detroit Show concept evolved into the final production car that was revealed to the public last week.

If you’re expecting to read a 2,000 word analysis on the Volt’s design, sorry guys, you lucked out. We’ll be short and to the point: our take is that Chevy’s design team essentially went back to the drawing board and created a conservative 4-box saloon sprinkling it with a handful of styling elements from the concept. -Continued

We understand that Chevy’s designers had to adapt the Volt’s styling and body analogies to our everyday needs but the end result is nothing out of the ordinary and that’s a damn shame for a car that means so much for the future of a troubled company like GM.

Yes, it may look more distinct than the current Toyota Prius or the forthcoming Honda Insight, but then again, what’s the difficulty with that? We can think of more than a dozen or so everyday family cars that manage to stand out from the crowd and they’re not even hybrids.

If you want an example then how about the European market Honda Civic hatchback? Now here’s a production family car that not only looks futuristic in and out having most of the competition licked for style, but it also does it without any compromises whatsoever in terms of interior space or functionality. Why is it so hard GM?