TV Schedule

General Motors blames its lagging hybrid tech on public.

  2. palaver
  3. related topics
Head of GM Rick Wagoner, speaking at an industry conference in Dallas commented, "We have to build cars and trucks that people want to buy," in response to why GM's hybrid lineup is lagging behind.

Autoblog continues, "..your company also has to have at least a modicum of foresight in order to be successful in the tough American market these days. For instance, Toyota is just now reaping the benefits of its hybrid electric vehicles, despite the fact that the automaker has been building them since 1997. Did Toyota know something that GM didn't? Not really".
palaver

18 responses // General Motors blames its lagging hybrid tech on public.

  • Maybe people don't want to buy from General Motors since they killed the electric car/EV1 years ago!
    shroomfairy
  • Wow, it's like the 70's and 80's all over again. I gotta say, I ditched (sold) my last personal car back in 1999 and have been a mass transit user ever since. You know why?

    I'm waiting for cars that I can afford and run on freely renewable energy to arrive. Seriously GM... if you built a car I wanted I'd own it right now.

    It's no mystery why the Toyota Prius will rule our roads in the next 3 years. Too bad Big Car and Big Oil couldn't see it coming through their greed-colored glasses.

    Maybe they were too busy compacting the last electric vehicles to get them off the road to notice the hybrid invasion.

    Also, since I'm on a rant I gotta add that I don't even fit in most of the cars the GM companies build... I'm 6'3" and I can't fit in a Ford Ranger.... I've tried on dozens of car models over the last few years... and the best ones I can fit in (this is ridiculous) is the Toyotas, the Nissans, and the freaking Hyundai's! Designed by company's (Japanese and Koreans) in countries who average a much shorter height than people in the USA.

    So GET A DAMN CLUE GM! I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore! :-)
    Stradius
    2 responses to this
  • GM's myopic short sightedness has long been it's chief competitor. They've operated with an Microsoftian market share arrogance for the last 30 years, and the result?

    They're scaling back production on light trucks, SUVs and all of the other cars that "people want to buy." Oddly enough, people don't seem to want to buy them.
    palaver
  • No foresight.
    Its an ongoing theme in this country.
    Maybe we should have developed better mass transit also....naaah.
    jay_ct
  • Like they give a rats ass about hybrids, we all know your gonna keep wrenching out hummers like there's no tomorrow!
    VegaNerDiva
  • The reason a person would sell their car and use mass transit, is because they happen to live in a place wherer there is a mass transit!

    Not everplace HAS mass transit available.
    cadsuch
    1 response to this
  • We should have had mass-transit between and throughout cities all over the country for the last 50 years. Amtrack has such HUGE potential to help but they have to co-exist with freight-tracks which is just not right. There should be dedicated passenger tracks all over the place and it should be a Federal infrastructure item.

    If you're lucky enough to have mass-transit, here's a mindset I suggest for you: Think of mass-transit as your "first car". Then whenever you get in a situation where you need horizontal freedom just rent a car for the day. If you can spend 80% of your activies around mass-transit you're going to save thousands of dollars every year.

    Add it up: car payments, maintenance expenses, insurance payments, fuel costs, parking (!! especially in cities... what a pain). You essentially begin living to support your car. My costs for travel all over my city and even into the suburbs is less than $100 a month.

    I'm lucky enough to live in a city that has pretty good mass-transit programs.

    Here's wishing you get mass-transit in your area soon.
    Stradius
  • Texas mass transit is POS and dangerous
    clayjj05
    1 response to this
  • No mass transit anywhere near me! I live in the country and don't forsee mass transist here ever. (and that's ok, it's beautiful here.)

    So I need/want a hybrid or an electric car!
    shroomfairy
    1 response to this
  • Your tax dollars are going to be spent on bailing these assholes out of Chapter 11. I know from a credible source that GM will be bankrupt in the very near future. With comments like this it makes it easy to understand why.
    BetterWatching
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_c...
    the big three brought us auto dependency
    joefac3
  • GM doesn't get it. Sell the hybrid cars to a price the masses can reach and for sure it will sell.
    MrBigShot21
  • GM, Toyota, Whatever!!! The world is run by big oil. The Exxon/Alaska Supreme Court decision proves that what we want doesn't matter. stradius is right, we should have had mass transit a loo...ooong time ago. But why can't we have what we want, NOW. We can, but we've all been brainwashed to beleive that fuel economy and utility can't go hand-in-hand. Check out afstrinity.com and their Extreme Hybrid. They've taken an off the shelf Saturn Vue (GM) and turned it into a 150mpg machine. By extremely rough extrapolation you could expect a similarly powered Yukon Hybrid to get at least 80 mpg. Why aren't we getting this technology? And why are we taking this inaction from our elected leaders? We are in a crisis and it's high time American ingenuity overtook political processes. Come on people...SPEAK UP!!!
    logcabn

Add your response

Login/Registration is required to add a response.