Making clean, lightweight diesels for passenger cars is an altogether different matter.
Fleet-wide fuel economy for passenger cars must jump to an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, from 32.8 miles per gallon this year.
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It is also investing in diesel use for passenger cars and light trucks, which the company expects will make up 25% of the U.S. market in eight to ten years.
The fact that 70 percent of the cars made each year in China are made with foreign technology makes implementation and enforcement of emissions standards for passenger cars less problematic.
The wait was five hours for trucks and 90 minutes for passenger cars at the Bluewater Bridge, which links Sarnia, Ontario, and Port Huron, Michigan, according to Canada Customs spokesman Danny Yen.
The largest of the Detroit automakers released its August sales number, with an 18% increase over August 2010 as the bailed-out company takes advantage of continued demand for passenger cars, SUVs, and crossovers, and trucks.
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Data showed the European Union market for new passenger cars in April expanded for the first time since September 2011.
Corning, which makes the ceramic substrates for catalytic converters, had been working on a filter for diesel passenger cars, which are popular in Europe.
Demand for new passenger cars fell sharply across the European Union in May, reflecting weak consumer confidence in the wake of the financial crisis.
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They say aircraft emit more of the main greenhouse gas than cars for each passenger they carry.
For example, August sales of passenger cars rose at a healthy year-on-year 12.1 percent rate, an acceleration of growth from the 10.7 percent registered in July.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) have formally announced their joint proposal to set stronger fuel economy and greenhouse gas pollution standards for model year 2017-2025 passenger cars and light-duty trucks.
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Several companies have already started field-testing battery-electric passenger cars and light trucks for use in their fleets.
Although not as sexy or glamorous as passenger cars, the numbers for heavy-duty trucks are no less impressive.
While providing a more relaxed experience for the passenger, these options do not take cars off the road.
One of the companies I visited was Kailing, a manufacturer of brake systems for high-end bicycles, motorcycles and passenger cars.
Unlike trucks, which have been produced in China since 1956 when First Auto Works (FAW) was founded, very few passenger cars were made in China when demand for cars began to grow in the 1990s.
For this reason, the implementation of emissions regulations has lagged passenger cars and is currently at Euro III standards.
While the growing number of passenger cars is cited as an issue, environmental regulations for cars are already strict.
There's a passenger ferry linking the two communities, and Shaldon Bridge for cars.
Chrysler Group is offering the Hemi as an option for power-hungry drivers who want more oomph in their trucks and passenger cars.
For the first 10 months of 2012, a total of 10.8 million passenger cars were sold in China, up 7.6 percent from the comparable period last year.
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While the Indian automobiles market is showing signs of revival--sales of passenger cars were up 6% in the last quarter--the market for heavy trucks, Tata's mainstay, shrank by 20% in the same period.
For the first seven months of this year, China-based assemblers sold 6.2 million passenger cars.
Already, in passenger cars and sport-utility vehicles, buyers are downsizing to smaller vehicles, not only for the better fuel economy, but because auto makers are offering them with more options and features.
According to Kate Zhu, Executive Director of Morgan Stanley Research, 5.4 million passenger cars and 3.6 million commercial vehicles were sold during the first half of 2010, for a total of 9.0 million vehicles.
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