Wednesday, September 14, 2005
GM's
missing hybrids at Frankfurt Auto show
There has
been a great amount of news regarding hybrid
cars at the Frankfurt Autoshow.
"In the future, the cars you see from Toyota will be
100 percent hybrid," Kazuo Okamoto, executive vice
president, told reporters in Frankfurt Monday, without
giving a specific timetable. (NYTimes)
An AP
auto writer noted, "At the Frankfurt auto show
this week, German automakers Volkswagen AG, Audi AG and
Porsche AG said they were forming an alliance to develop
hybrid engines. Last week, BMW AG joined General Motors
Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG in a similar
partnership."
Additionally, "French automaker PSA Peugeot-Citroen
also wants to develop hybrid technology and may join
forces with another company to share costs, Chairman and
Chief Executive Jean-Martin Folz said." And,
"Audi unveiled the first gas-electric hybrid vehicle
from a European automaker at the show, a version of its
new Q7 sport-utility vehicle that will go on sale in
2008."
Even, DaimlerChrysler, one of GM's hybrid partners,
"also said it will release its first hybrid Mercedes
before the next Frankfurt auto show, which will be held in
2007."
Yet, it was GM that was missing at the hybrid party.
A European
Auto Correspondent wrote, "Record fuel costs
pushed hybrid cars to centre stage at the world's biggest
car show this week...", while noting that GM was
"one of the seemingly few companies at the Frankfurt
show not to trumpet a new hybrid offering or highlight its
plans to make one."
It is particularly ironic that GM told the European
autowriter that the U.S. government made a mistake by
giving hybrids favored treatment, rather than setting
environmental standards to let the market decide how to
meet them.
GM lobbyists have for decades convinced the government NOT
to address fuel efficiency because GM has claimed it would
interfere with fuel cell development. Additionally, the
government has created loopholes, even tax incentives,
enabling GM to create larger, foreign-oil guzzling trucks
and SUVs. Essentially, GM has paid the government to
handcraft its perfect market.
GM is an important American company because it employs a
great number of Americans. Still, GM has become the least
'American' acting auto company. In the wake of 911, two
wars in Iraq, and Katrina, GM plans to push its large
trucks and SUVs full force ahead, even at the expense of
some new, more fuel efficient sedans according to a recent
AutoWeek
article.
Perhaps hybrids aren't the only answer, or even the best
answer, but they are a positive action. Consumers, or
market forces, have expressed strong interest in this
automotive development, yet GM offers only criticisms.
GM is an automaker, not an auto critic, and it's about
time GM focuses on innovation rather than excuses.
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