Branding Chevy
This probably won't last long, but if you hurry you can make your own Chevy Tahoe commercial at Chevy Online. Jeremy Marin, a Sierra Club representative in Boston, made one. Check it out.
It's worth noting that Chevy touts the SUV as being "responsible," because it will burn E85 -- an ethanol blend. According to Brendan Bell from our Energy and Global Warming Program, automakers can only meet up to 1.2 mpg of their CAFE obligation with flex-fuel vehicle credits, so they focus on their worst gas-guzzlers to get the most out of that loophole. In any case, what good is the ability to burn E85 if a) you can't buy it in most places and b) it's hardly energy-saving to begin with?
Another feature Chevy touts is the 5300 V8 engine, which has the ability to disengage four cylinders when not needed. Nifty, but unfortunately the so-called "Active Fuel Management technology" is aimed more at horsepower than fuel economy. The Tahoe 4x4 equipped with the 5300 V8 gets a dismal 15 mpg in city driving.
With fuel prices rising, it's no surprise that demand for this sort of gas-huffer is slumping. But for whatever reason, GM, the world's largest automaker, continues to bet on guzzlers. That bet isn't paying off currently, as Chevy's parent is in the midst of laying off thousands of workers and closing factories.
The Chevy contest asks, "Are you up to the challenge?" The real question is: Are they?
It's worth noting that Chevy touts the SUV as being "responsible," because it will burn E85 -- an ethanol blend. According to Brendan Bell from our Energy and Global Warming Program, automakers can only meet up to 1.2 mpg of their CAFE obligation with flex-fuel vehicle credits, so they focus on their worst gas-guzzlers to get the most out of that loophole. In any case, what good is the ability to burn E85 if a) you can't buy it in most places and b) it's hardly energy-saving to begin with?
Another feature Chevy touts is the 5300 V8 engine, which has the ability to disengage four cylinders when not needed. Nifty, but unfortunately the so-called "Active Fuel Management technology" is aimed more at horsepower than fuel economy. The Tahoe 4x4 equipped with the 5300 V8 gets a dismal 15 mpg in city driving.
With fuel prices rising, it's no surprise that demand for this sort of gas-huffer is slumping. But for whatever reason, GM, the world's largest automaker, continues to bet on guzzlers. That bet isn't paying off currently, as Chevy's parent is in the midst of laying off thousands of workers and closing factories.
The Chevy contest asks, "Are you up to the challenge?" The real question is: Are they?
13 Comments:
Adrian Cotter, one of the web team here at sierraclub.org just sent along his Tahoe ad. He says it's a piece of cake.
If you make one, send it along in a comment. You can just copy and paste the URL. Have fun.
Is Compass game to make any bets on how long this "make your own ad" gig will last on the Chevy website?
Wasn't there something else like this that got discontinued for abuse? Was it a Republican Party "make your own banner and post it on our website" thing? Something like that...
I believe it was a bush/cheny bumper sticker ad contest.
I think that's right. It was a Bush/Cheney thing. Anyway, I give it a weekend.
Here's mine.
havin' a heyday withit over at Grist
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/3/29/122054/644
are we having fun yet?
And meanwhile, in Japan: Toyota, with its hybrids and eco-vision is poised to become bigger than GM this year.
As if you couldn't see that coming.
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I accidentally submitted this to Chevy for review (twice), so who knows how long until they yank my commercial. (Sorry, Pat, I deleted my previous comment when trying to republish this comment.)
And here's mine:
http://www.chevyapprentice.com/view.php?country=us&uniqueid=fd679214-131c-1029-98eb-0013724ff5a7
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We collected 50 of them on the blog over the last few days.
We now have the chevy movie! (click on my name above.)
http://www.network-centricadvocacy.net/2006/04/chevy_ads_the_m.html
Is it just me, or has Chevy made it impossible to get/share the url to your movie? I just created one and the only URL I ever saw just led back to the creation screen. Perhaps I'm just looking in the wrong place. If anyone knows the answer, please let me know so I can share my ad with you all!
Anyone who actually believes this tripe is an idiot! We need to push for E85, not bitch about it! If the people promoting E85 would donate heavily to the Sierra Club, they would be endorsing it. Anything that can reduce our dependance on foreign oil to one sixths of it's current level is a good thing. Help it work, not hate it because they don't fund you! Hug a corn stalk besides your trees you stupid people!
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