Big
3's hybrid efforts: Hype or reality?
Thursday,
January 25, 2007
The
Volt was a hype machine at NAIAS
With the Big 3 bleeding red,
it wasn't very surprising that each of the Big 3
automakers made important hybrid debuts and/or
announcements leading up to the first 100 hours of the new
Democratic Congress and before the President's State of
the Union Speech. Obviously, they had to show they were
taking some action on fuel economy and global warming, or
at least they had to create that perception.
GM was the hype machine king, launching the Chevy
Volt electric hybrid at NAIAS. I believe GM is serious
about the Volt, and I believe the Volt will one day be a
sale's leader for GM. Still, at this point in time, I'm
more concerned about GM's dual mode hybrids, such as the
soon-to-be released Yukon
hybrid. Where is it?
I don't just want to hear about the hybrid
cars GM is going to develop, I want to see the hybrids
GM has developed saving gas at gas stations in my
neighborhood.
Similar to GM, both Ford and DaimlerChrysler made big
announcements as well, such as Ford's plug-in
hydrogen hybrids, flex-fuel
hybrids and Chrysler's testing
of plug-in hybrids. These were all great
announcements, but announcements are not much more than PR
hype. Hopefully, these PR efforts were not just hype
campaigns to influence politicians.
posted by Dahcredyns
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