Hybrid hype tempered for good?
A year too late?Yesterday I read some commentary in the DetroitNews which basically claimed hybrid hype is dead.
"Gone, hopefully, are the days when the hybrid hype machine said the dual-powertrain vehicles would dominate the market and be standard offerings for most vehicles in every fleet," writes Manny Lopez.
Instead, "Unfortunately, in the end, legislators and activists have been better at grandstanding and casting aspersions at those who don't play their game, but if the car companies are smart and follow the market's lead, they'll keep building what people buy, not what others tell them to build."
So, isn't that exactly what Detroit has been claiming its been doing? Has that really been so successful?
Today, cheap gas and massive incentives might push many back into guzzlers, but does that really mean that is what Detroit should focus upon for its future product offerings? Isn't that a recipe for failure?
Still, Lopez is right to an extent. Cheap gas won't sell hybrid cars, even if Obama and Congress force automakers to develop such vehicles. Yet, gas prices will again increase, probably quite significantly. When that happens, hybrids will easily sell, but that might not happen for several years.
Just a few minutes ago, Obama spoke on the economy and made clean energy a huge component of that speech and fuel efficiency a central topic. That means hybrid cars. Yet, can Obama successfully sell fuel efficiency when gas is cheap?
Labels: gas, Hybrid Vehicles
posted by Dahcredyns at
8:08 PM
6 Comments:
This is truly ridiculous...how fucking stupid are these people?
Instead of trying to vindicate themselves like morons, they should be putting the effort into changing themselves. This is a lull in the storm....and it's a chance for them to do the right thing.
WTF is wrong with these people....are they really truly THAT dumb?
You know I pretty much agree with you Noz, but as I said in the post, Lopez does have a bit of a point.
It seems consumers won't be as excited about hybrids if gas is cheap. This brings up a conundrum in my opinion.
If Obama and Congress force automakers towards much greater fuel efficiency - hybrids, EVs, etc - when gas prices are low, consumers won't buy them and US automakers will go bankrupt, despite the massive investment Congress will have made in bailing out the US auto industry.
To me it seems there has to be a bottom on gas prices, a carbon tax, .... something.
I've advocated a gas tax.
Why not, minimally, add the coast guard and military costs of securing the shipping loans for oil tankers, for starters, for instance? According to some, these non-war costs run tens of billions of dollars per year, yet we don't pay this oil cost at the pump? That just seems silly and devious.
In a nutshell, is it possible to make America fuel efficient without increasing the price of fuel?
Trust me...we pay for those things and them some...just not at the pump. But they get it from us somehow.
Over 40% of your current paycheck's taxes are going to JUST the war. The current war that is...
The answer to a more responsible public is a more educated public. We need to get away from an economy driven society and move towards physically affected driven society.
Until people don't feel the effects they have on what they do around them, they won't change...much in the same way you won't touch a hot kettle the second time around on purpose.
Until then, while taxing helps, this sort of methodology of herding people to do something because one is cheaper over the other will not work in the long run to make for a better world.
Educating people and forcing them to see what they do on a daily basis will make for faster, more willing change.
If Detroit or the American people for that matter, think that its just about the price of gas, then we're further over the presipice than any of us realize. When will the human race realize that it's not about the money, it's about being good stewards of what's been so graciously given to us, not to mention the ransom we pay every day for the oil we get from countries that would just a soon see us all dead.
Don't get set in your thinking. The price of gas will rise again. Then what will you be saying?
I just dont understand why they dont make all cars hybrid?
It doesnt make much sense to me,
They are the EXACT same as any other car just with better mileage,
Honestly everyone is going to regret not buying hybrids when global warming starts to really affect everything.
But seriously if every car dealership just sold hybrids then there would be the number of cars being driven, the same demand for cars there is now, and money being saved.
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