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GM *MIGHT* Bring 45 to 50 mpg Minicars to US for 2010 Model Year
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17878603/
New series under development in Korea.
IMHO, "A day late and a dollar short".
Best Hopes that I am wrong,
Alan
Yeah, I will believe it when I see it....
From the article:
“The honest answer is, I don’t know yet how serious we are,” Smith said, referring to the mini car segment.
“Our internal forecast shows gas at $2.50 a gallon for quite some time to come,” Smith said . . .
“There’s an age-old debate in our business of responding to consumers or presenting them with a case they haven’t thought about,” Smith said.
- - - -
Smith doesn't seem to remember GM's 3-cylinder Geo Metro, which delivered 52mpg and was sold until oil prices tanked in the late 90s.
Where do they get these multimillion dollar clowns to run their company? I wonder what they were discussing in their boardroom when crude rose to $50 in 2004?
Screw market research. Jack up gas prices and CAFE standards until 50 mpg plus cars are necessary for company survival. But noooo, the U.S. policy/strategy is to wait for a miracle to occur. Besides, according to Bush, we're making great progress and, besides, we ain't gonna do nothing much until China and India show the way. I knew that Bush would just give the middle finger to the supreme court after their ruling.
It costs big bucks to scale down doncha know?
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070405/AUTO04/704050...
Funny how the Japs can do it and still make huge profits.
The prevailing mindset that the GM "car guys" have revolves around building cars with V-8's. Many of them own classic muscle cars from the '60's and participate in events such as the "Woodward Dream Cruise" which is a sight that has to be seen to be believed. As long as that atmosphere dominates, American car companies are doomed.
From linked article:
Some "market research" on interest in minicars (Hint: PR, this is NOT how market research is done) but I did it anyway.
www.vote4chevrolet.com
A N D
“Our internal forecast shows gas at $2.50 a gallon for quite some time to come,” Smith said, noting that stability in that price range won’t seriously change consumer demand or inspire “a seismic shift in consumption habits.”
Best Hopes for New GM Management,
Alan
While GM is wringing their hands over whether or not to manufacture fuel effiecient cars because it goes against their internal long term gasoline forecast of $2.50/gal, the North Carolina State Treasurer Richard Moore said on TV yesterday that the automakers "...need to plan for an era without fossil fuels".
That's a good sign to NC residents- i would imagine that Moore isn't investing NC State pension assets in all the asset classes that will go bankrupt (like automakers).
So, the mean time,let the planet burn. "Not my problem" Nice.
Something that I found interesting today, while watching Bloomberg, was the General Motors representative giving info on their first quarter of 2007. It says a lot about how people are (or aren’t) changing their levels of oil / gasoline usage. GM sold about the same number of cars as last year, but had “strong growth” in Luxury SUVs and Full-size pickup trucks.
General Motors Q1 2007:
Total sales up only 1%
Lux SUV up double digits
Full-size pickups up double digits