Is the green auto revolution more hype than reality?
Can Honda sell 100,000 Insights per year?“In spite of government and advocacy groups touting the benefits of smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, Americans seem to have an insatiable feeling that bigger is better,” claims AutoTrader research data according to MSNBC's Dan Carney.
In recent years, automakers have built a lot of PR hype around their green offerings, or at least their future green offerings. For instance, America has been hearing about the Chevy Volt for years now, yet the Volt's sale's debut is almost 2 years from reality. Even then, and for a number of years after, GM will be making 10's of thousands of Volts, not 100's of thousands.
Likewise, many other automakers have plans for a hybrid or two, maybe a few small cars, and a limited production EV. Yet, none of these automakers have stopped building beefed up sports cars and gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs. Go to any auto show and most of the crowds are still drawn to the usual, inefficient suspects.
In terms of sales, for instance, Ford has been putting great effort into promoting its fantastic Fusion hybrid, but the automaker is only going to make 25,000 of these great hybrid cars per year. On the other hand, Ford sold over 30,000 F-Series trucks in March alone, despite the fact that Ford truck sales are down more than 40 percent year to date thanks to a recession - not gas prices.
In reality, isn't the green auto revolution still mostly hype?
Labels: Chevy Volt electric vehicle concept, Ford fusion hybrid, Hybrid Vehicles
posted by Dahcredyns at
10:00 AM
6 Comments:
yes, hype unless the automakers can get the cost of hybrids down to within a couple of thousand dollars of a all gasoline vehicle. If the American public can see where they don't have to spend much more and they can recoupe their investment in gasoline savings, then I believe they will buy hybrids. If this doesn't happen, the only people you will attract is the people who have the extra income that want to go Green. The middle class with many of the jobs going to Mexico and overseas, along with our pay going downward at a fast steady pace, we as Americans, are going to be buying less new cars and they are going to have to be cheaper.
If the price of oil goes over $100 a barrel again within the next 10 years, it will certainly be more than hype. EVs and PHEVs are the next wave. And I'm excited about it
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Americans LOVE pick ups! so one solution is to make SMALLER hybrid pickups, I promise you millions would be sold !! It would meet the childish needs of 'having arrived' with the green planet needs of surviving at all.....everyone would win
When will a small pick hybrid pick arrive and how come NO ONE is mentioning it as a super hot option ??
Frankly, there's nothing green about millions of people dumping their current vehicles for new efficient ones if their old vehicles are going to end up half away around the world in South America, Africa, or Mexico.
We need LESS vehicles...NOT MORE. We need to take the current cars OFF THE ROAD...not simply displace them and send them off elsewhere.
It's amazing how Americans can brainwash themselves into feeling warm and fuzzy about making things worse.
noz - there is still demand for new vehicles. a few years ago, we were selling 17 million vehicles per year, now its less than 10 million.
i don't disagree that that in and of itself is a good thing, still that's 10 million vehicles being sold every year that are mostly gas guzzlers. its going to take another 12 years after sale to get those vehicles out of the fleet. so this isn't just about replacing old with new.
moreover, this philosophy isn't endemic to america. the cash for clunker program has already been enacted in germany and france i think. britain is proposing.
marcel-
i agree that long term, this won't be hype. still, the longer we wait to change, the more chance for serious problems, such as another Iraq, etc. That's my worry.
Likewise, as other countries embrace these technologies, such a China and India, Big 3 companies won't be able to compete at manufacturing.
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