Go read this. It's deja-vu all over again.
GM's Lutz: Now the gloves are off
I've been saying this for years. GM hates fuel economy. Bob lutz hates fuel economy. The volt is window dressing. The government does not seem to care either. Just read the article. He is basically calling green cars money losers and performance gas guzzlers are the profit ticket. He blames most of GM's troubles on everyone else.
Consumers have wanted better mileage since cars were first mass produced. I have a Popular Mechanics magazine from 1958 in which they did a survey and found that for 60% of consumers better fuel economy was their #1 wish from Detroit. The VW beetle was the answer to that demand. I think VW did OK on that one dontcha think?
Here's a choice quote:
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But Lutz made it clear that this "green car" stuff can't be allowed to get out of hand. The simple fact is that, especially with gas prices well under $3 a gallon, there is even less demand than usual for hybrid cars, which sell in small numbers and are unprofitable even with relatively high gas prices.
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As if the only choice for a "green car" is a hybrid.
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"There's about 5% to 10% of the customer base in the U.S. that desperately wants a hybrid," he said. The rest just want the best possible vehicle they can afford to pay for and fuel
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Which is why they haven't been buying GM's crap products. "Best possible"
of course means 400 cubic inch guzzler.
Consumer reports rates most of the US produced vehicles at the bottom of the heap with the Japanese at the top. By the way, 10% market share is a huge niche in automotive terms.
GM to consumers (with help from CNN): "Gas is cheap everyone. Please go to sleep while we kill off this whole annoying "green car" thing."
So you Americans are bailing out GM so it can do the exact same thing again but with better design?
By the way, not a peep about EV's in there.