Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Tele man
...sometimes (often?) they have to MAKE the market exist, such as Toyota has done with their Prius...at first, there was NO market, but they built it anyway; for awhile they weren't making ANY money on them; now, they are, plus they're EXPANDING the hither-to-before non-existant EV market with new models!
...sometimes, you have to INVEST today for TOMORROW's returns; obviously, something GM apparently isn't good at doing, to wit: EV1 down the tubes; bankruptcy; Volt gets 246 MPG (B.S.!), etc..
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I can see what you're saying, but sometimes certain sacrifices are made in order for vehicles to be more marketable. What if automakers decided to add stock boattails to their fuel sipper models? Certainly some potential buyers would be turned off by the appearance - even despite the FE gains.
"Perfect is the enemy of good" - Voltaire.
Automakers can't forcibly make markets, but through styling, effective marketing and the naturally shifting consumer interest in fuel economy (I don't claim to be an expert, just generalizing), sometimes markets do develop.
With that said, your Prius example is an excellent illustration of [potentially] high risk, resulting in high reward. I agree with you that an influence was made on that front.