HHR Goes Flex-Fuel in '09

Chevrolet's presence at the 2008 Chicago auto show focused on the new Traverse crossover, but the little HHR wagon got some attention of its own in the form of ethanol. GM president Troy Clarke said in Chicago that, starting in the 2009 model year, the HHR will become a flex-fuel vehicle capable of running on gasoline, ethanol, or blends of the two fuels. The HHR will be Chevrolet's first four-cylinder flex-fuel vehicle, and it will be GM's first flex-fuel version of the Ecotec engine family sold in America. Clarke also highlighted GM's new partnership with Coskata Inc., a builder of ethanol plants. Coskata says it will build future ethanol plants so that the fuel can be made from materials like wood chips, solid waste and old tires.