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It's nice that GM finally
decided to get started - I mean 100,000 Prius hybrids
have already been sold. Moreover, hybrids have been in
the works in Japan for a decade. Yet, GM still isn't
really making hybrids, aside from buses.
"They (GM) have
postponed building hybrids until 2007. And they are only
making 500 of the Silverado
hybrids. They are spending almost as much money on
advertising them as on their vehicles," says Dan
Becker of the Sierra Club.
In a recent Los Angeles
Times article, Becker also noted, "They are making
$8,000 to $20,000 per vehicle (on SUVs). That's why they
can afford to give $6000.00 rebates and still make a
profit. They have suckered the American public."
In reality, GM's
hybrids offer only an increase of 10% in fuel
efficiency. The Ford
Escape Hybrid, on the other hand, offers 61 percent
fewer smog-forming pollutants and 80 percent better fuel
economy.
Of course the Ford
Escape is built on the hybrid technology of the Prius
hybrid, which Ford had to lease from Toyota, until it
can develop its own hybrid technology.
The sad fact is that
American automakers have always put their primary focus
on profit, not a better product, not a better world, not
a stronger America.
The only reason that
American automakers are even talking about hybrids is
because Americans have started thinking about
gas-mileage again. The war on terror, Iraq, SMOG, global
warming, and high oil prices have forced many Americans
to refocus their car-buying habits.
So, American automakers
will continue to spend $13 billion per year to come up
with slick ways to sell the idea that you don't really
want to end terrorism, the war in Iraq, pollution, SMOG,
or global warming, you just want to look cool.
We're Americans and we
can do anything we want - at the expense of our
children, the future, and the world.
Even if Americans would
prefer hybrid trucks and SUVs over cars, GM is still far
behind. Toyota is soon to release two hybrid SUVs - the Highlander
Hybrid and Lexus
RX400h luxury hybrid SUV - both of which are
significantly more efficient that GMs lousy 10 percent.
GM does deserve kudos
for its hybrid buses, which are 60 percent more fuel
efficient than diesel buses, and by the end of 2004, GM
hopes to have 270 hybrid buses on the road.
Nonetheless, GM and the
Big 3 have failed America in automotive technology.
Instead of spending billions to pretend this isn't true,
they should start walking the walk, rather than just
talking the talk.
Americans are dying in
Iraq because of the lack of American automotive
innovation and shareholder greed.
Now is the time for
leaders, not pretenders.
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