Michelin’s Challenge Bibendum is an annual event created to provide a showcase and competition for advanced-technology vehicles. Vehicles are judged on emissions, acceleration, handling, noise and energy use. Interior and exterior design and technology integration are also considered.
While the venue for the event changes each year, the last challenge in the United States, in 2001, featured vehicles and technologies from Freightliner, Volvo, Allison Div. of GM, Ebus, XCellsis and UPS.
The medium and heavy-duty competition for this year’s challenge – to be held September 22-25 in Sonoma, Calif., and San Francisco – will be broken into classes based on weight rating: Class 6 and 7; Class 8; buses; and other vehicles, such as military, which don’t fit into other categories.
The object, according to Michelin, is not to pick one superior vehicle, but to compare current performance standards to that afforded by a variety of new technologies.
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