At last, it starts to make sense. I simultaneously understand 1) why there are so few American-made hybrid cars [0]; and 2) why General Motors [0] is suffering major losses [1].
At the 2006 British International Motor Show [2], General Motors product czar [officially the vice president, global product development] Bob Lutz told Just-Auto [3] that the primary reason to build a hybrid is for public relations.
His quotes from this interview [4] are sure to irk environmentally-conscious people everywhere. Here are some of the highlights:
"Hybrids are technologically of doubtful benefit, and expensive, but necessary from a political and public relations point of view..."
"....many people believe that if we all drove hybrids the world would suddenly get cooler again and then it’s the patriotic thing to do because if you drive a hybrid you will no longer be funding the Arab terrorists, and so forth."
"So, with all those beliefs out there, you have to do a hybrid for public policy reasons."
Hmm. Now, if I happened to work as an engineer or tech wizard toiling away at GM's R&D [5]department, I'd get the not-so-subtle message: The world's largest auto-maker [6] doesn't really want me to figure out this fuel-efficiency stuff. If really I want that fat Christmas bonus this year, I better start working on how to squeeze more DVD players and cupholders onto the cars instead.
If I worked on GM's Public Relations staff [7], I'd be tempted to remind the corporate honchos that telling a reporter that developing hybrids is just a smart PR move [8] is, perhaps, not a smart PR move at all.
I may also point out that gas prices are hovering around $3 per gallon and in a recent survey [9], 60% of Americans listed fuel efficiency as a priority. I'd say that Toyota just reported that sales are up 10% from last year [10] and Honda's net profit is up almost 30% from last year [11]. I might suggest that General Motors has failed to notice the sea change [12] that's taking place.
But then, that probably wouldn't get me a fat Christmas bonus either.