Echoing the global trend for small, fuel-efficient cars, the Australian arm of General Motors has plans to develop an eco-friendly car by 2010. GM Australia is set to benefit from a A$1.3 billion (Dh 2.95 billion) "green fund" established by prime minister Kevin Rudd to encourage the production of environmentally sound vehicles.
While GM has gone to the federal government asking for money, their Australian counterparts have instead been given cash from the Australian government to the tune of A$149 million (Dh389 million) over three years. This is part of the "New Car Plan For A Green Future" programme aimed at encouraging Australian car makers to make more responsible vehicles.
Preliminary sketches show the car will be based on the Delta, a GM-designed global small car platform with saloon and hatchback body types. It will be a front-wheel drive, four-cylinder vehicle. The early designs promise a sleek, streamlined car with sharp grille, but a GM spokesman says the final design has not yet been signed off. The price will be also be "competitive", according to GM.
GM Australia is confident the Delta's production will support more than 500 jobs at the plant at Elizabeth, South Australia, as well as a similar number of supplier jobs. GM also claims a production date of late 2010.
"As the Delta architecture is already developed, it will be possible. Given approvals were completed in Dec 2008, we are on target for the third quarter of 2010," the spokesman told The National.
A number of different engines are being considered by GM for the Delta. "We are looking at a variety of four cylinder powertrains for this vehicle including petrol and diesel variants," says the spokesman. "There is potential to include hybrid technology and capacity to run on E85, LPG and Compressed Natural Gas but further details will be announced closer to the time of production."
The business plan for the Delta does not include export numbers because a conservative approach has been taken to the economics of the vehicle, but GM is not ruling out exporting the car.
"There is potential for an export programme, if we have the flexibility to prepare the vehicle for other brands," says the spokesman.
The Delta project isn't GM Australia's only green project. GM is looking at alternative fuel sources as well as fuel-saving opportunities.
At the green car launch, GM Australia managing director, Mark Reuss said the long-term plans for future hybrid and fuel-economy technology "complement the vision we share with the Government of reducing dependence on foreign oil."
Reuss also commented on the ability for projects such as the small eco-car to offer stability to GM Australia's workforce. "At a time when short-term economic factors require a conservative approach, it is pleasing to provide long-term direction to our workforce," he said. "These are challenging times but we have clear direction and from that we will emerge stronger".
One such commitment GM Australia has made is to have the entire locally produced range capable of running on E85 ethanol by 2010.
The Holden Commodore, GM Australia's flagship car, sold as the Chevrolet Lumina in the UAE, has also come under the eco-boffins' scrutiny with the ECOmmodore, a prototype hybrid-electric car, unveiled back in 2000 at the Melbourne Motor Show, and again in Detroit at the North American Auto Show in 2001.
It has not yet gone into production and no date has yet been confirmed. The Delta-based, fuel-efficient car, however, is expected to be a more realistic way for GM Australia to seriously produce low-emissions cars.
glewis@thenational.ae
The biog
Name: Marie Byrne
Nationality: Irish
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption
Book: Seagull by Jonathan Livingston
Life lesson: A person is not old until regret takes the place of their dreams
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Miss Granny
Director: Joyce Bernal
Starring: Sarah Geronimo, James Reid, Xian Lim, Nova Villa
3/5
(Tagalog with Eng/Ar subtitles)
MORE ON IRAN'S PROXY WARS
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young