GM Precept makes the Volt look tame

[NeilBlanchard]

Diesel / Electric parallel hybrid -- electric front wheels driven, diesel drive the rear wheels. 80mpg Cd 0.19

And check out those mesh seats! :-)

[RobertSmalls]

The Precept was one of the government-funded PNGV cars, along with the Dodge Intrepid ESX series and the Ford Prodigy: Chrysler diesel-electric hybrid

Of the three, the Intrepid ESX-3 looked closest to "production intent". The goofy "it's just a concept" styling was kept to a minimum. As a hatchback, it would have looked utterly conventional. And check out those little mirrors:



They say the Intrepid ESX-3 would have cost $7500 more than an Intrepid, while getting 72mpg. Not bad mileage for a four seater, but $7500 is too much to ask when gas is cheap.

[Patrick]

Here's an interesting article about the "Supercars": Supercar: The tanking of an American dream - Chicago Tribune

[NeilBlanchard]

I'm fairly sure that those are video mirrors, Matt! The Ford Prodigy and the GM Precept had 'em, too.

[Frank Lee]

Thanks for the reminder Pat. I've seen that article before. How frustrating- all that investment, all that development, and even some decent results and what does anyone involved have to show for it? Virtually nada. Seems the whole thing and the lessons that go with it have been shelved and they're starting from scratch... AGAIN.

[NeilBlanchard]

I think the Ford Prodigy is even more "normal" looking:

The Ford Prodigy had a Cd of 0.199! Cool -- it looks pretty ordinary (except for the side video mirrors):






The grill is apparently active, too.

80 MPG Ford Concept Car Heading To Auction : Gas 2.0

[Old Tele man]

...design-wise, the GM PRECEPT looks like it was designed by the same people who designed the slab-sided Lockheed F-119...ie: it "works" but you gotta wonder "how?"

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by Patrick

Here's an interesting article about the "Supercars": Supercar: The tanking of an American dream - Chicago Tribune

Thanks for that very interesting read, Patrick. Here are parts two and three:

Battered from all sides, Supercar sputters along - Chicago Tribune
Political obstacle course proves fatal for Supercar - Chicago Tribune

And look - that $1.5bn of taxpayer dollars sent to Detroit didn't go to waste. The PNGV appears to have hatched the Prius as well. Probably the first-gen Insight too.

Thanks, Al Gore, I love my car! But we would have saved more gas with higher CAFE standards instead.

[Nevyn]

I thought that THIS blew away the Volt?

[cfg83]

Robert -

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

...

And look - that $1.5bn of taxpayer dollars sent to Detroit didn't go to waste. The PNGV appears to have hatched the Prius as well. Probably the first-gen Insight too.

Thanks, Al Gore, I love my car! But we would have saved more gas with higher CAFE standards instead.

That's been my understanding. The Prius and Insight didn't just happen in a vacuum :

Battered from all sides, Supercar sputters along - Page 3

Shortly after the Supercar project was launched in 1993, Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's biggest automaker, asked the U.S. government if it could join the effort. The United States said no, that Supercar was a project only for GM, Ford and Chrysler. A major goal, the government said, was to improve the competitiveness of the U.S. auto industry. Toyota was one of the companies Supercar was trying to beat.

Some Toyota officials today downplay that rejection, saying Supercar in no way affected company decisions. But others at Toyota say that being excluded clearly motivated the automaker.

"There was a real good chance they could succeed and put us at a competitive disadvantage," recalls Michael Love, a Toyota regulatory affairs manager.

About the same time the Supercar project was announced, Toyota started designing its own ultra-efficient car, company officials say. The goal was not as bold as the 80-mile-per-gallon Supercar, but it still was ambitious: 55 miles per gallon, or twice the mileage of the average car.

Work was conducted under strict secrecy at Toyota's Higashi-Fuji Technical Center, a sprawling research complex at the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan. Twenty-hour days were not uncommon for engineers there.

CarloSW2