General Motor Corp. announced that it is expanding its XFE (Extra fuel efficiency) line from Cobalt to Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, plus Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon full-size SUVs, starting in the fall.

The Cobalt was launched with XFE badge in March, 2008 which uses a combination of revised gear ratios, engine recalibration and low-rolling-resistance tires to improve highway fuel economy 9 percent, from 33 miles per gallon in highway driving from the base Cobalt to 36 miles per gallon highway for the XFE line. Reportedly, the Cobalt XFE accounted for about 8 percent of Cobalt sales since its debut.

GM said that the new XFE upgrades will deliver a 7 percent improvement in city fuel economy and a 5 percent improvement in highway fuel economy. The pickups and SUVs are now rated at 15 city/21 highway instead of 14 city/20 highway as they had been. The vehicles use a combination of mechanical, aerodynamic and mass-reducing enhancements. The XFE package is available on two-wheel drive vehicles with a 5.3-liter V-8 and a six-speed transmission.

Gary White, GM North America Vice President and vehicle line executive for full-size trucks said, “Our pickups and SUVs are already the fuel economy leaders of their respective segments, but our engineers knew greater efficiency was achievable,” “We fast-tracked the XFE models to get them into dealer showrooms as quickly as possible.”

The automaker said that the aerodynamic tweaks make the XFE versions of the Silverado and Sierra the most aerodynamic vehicles in their class, with a drag co-efficient of 0.412.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 7:51 am and is filed under General Motors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.