Comments | reality_hammer: Are we taxing away innovation? Did we regulate ourselves into an energy crisis?

reality_hammer

Are we taxing away innovation? Did we regulate ourselves into an energy crisis?

Jul 01, 2008 15:12

Sadly, the answer to both questions is "yes". While the stock market seemed to take comfort from the fact that GM staved off the inevitable loss of market leadership for one more month the reality is that both GM's short and long-term prospects are grim ( Read more... )

energy, 2008 election, gm, economy

Comments 5

oldsmobile_mike July 1 2008, 20:25:50 UTC

Agreed, and very well written, as always. Only thing I wanted to point out is that GM does have a hydrogen-powered car. I've seen it at an auto show. Of course, true to form, it was a Hummer. :-/

Article not accurate anonymous July 2 2008, 19:29:38 UTC

From the following quote, "GM cannot live off of hype for much longer." you are inferring that GM is surviving off money it makes from hype. Can you please tell me how much money GM is making from their hype division ( ... )

Re: Article not accurate reality_hammer July 3 2008, 05:02:08 UTC

Well, GM long ago stopped making money off hype. It is down to cannibalizing itself to come up with the billions needed to develop a hydrogen car.

The Equinox is a bolt-on. They simply are taking 100 Equinox cars and putting a fuel cell system into it instead of a gasoline engine. GM has stated they are only "50K mile" vehicles and there isn't going to be a production line for them.

Honda's Clarity, by comparison, is a "ground up" hydrogen car; what GM hoped it would have in the Sequel and for production models, it's "Gen 3" car...which will not be in showrooms until at least 2011. Maybe.

Are people going to wait 3 more years when they can get a Clarity this year or next year?

As for GM "test" vehicles, try Googling "EV1".

I would love it if GM turned things around, but time is running out for them.

Re: Article not accurate anonymous July 21 2008, 21:03:19 UTC

I was just saying you can't make money off hype. At least not since the .com bubble burst. GM made nice profits over the years selling exactly what the American consumer wanted. Just as their international operations made money selling what the rest of the world wanted. International is still making money. It's the change in domestic demand that is hurting all the car companies, not just GM. But for the big 3, their home market was their most important. The impact of this demand change is hardest on them, and it's not just because of poor judgment by GM management. Even Toyota with its Prius success is suffering from the demand shift ( ... )

graywolf44 July 3 2008, 01:04:59 UTC

$5/gal will be here (Seattle) sooner than most other places, as the next phase of the total 9.5 cents a gallon taxes just went into affect yesterday. We have, I think, one more increase coming.

Happy happy joy joy.

Not.