China Out to Dominate in Electric Cars (and Why Not GM)

[Anonymous]

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[Puppyjump]

Yep.

 

[dogman dan]

Hindsight. Much smarter decisions can be made by historians. It's funny, didn't the japanese do the same thing to us with cars in the 70's? Here we go again. It doesn't matter if it's GM and Ford or the US government. Big organizations get dumber and dumber.

 

[Puppyjump]

Hindsight. Much smarter decisions can be made by historians. It's funny, didn't the japanese do the same thing to us with cars in the 70's? Here we go again. It doesn't matter if it's GM and Ford or the US government. Big organizations get dumber and dumber.

They (GM, Ford, all other Big Auto- including foreign) were not necessarily being dumb over the last 3 decades. That suggests no business plan of action.

I propose that they were not dumb at all, but simply made a choice to remain with a business model that requires the car owner to make regular service visits inherent with ICE technology, example, regular oil changes, to insure steady revenue to the auto dealer and indirectly back to the auto manufacturer who sell high profit margin replacement parts.
Additionally, there exists evidence that car companies and oil companies are invested in each other in a way that would be advantageous to stall development of EV's, and thus insure the maximum sales volume of gasoline and ICE service parts.

EV battery suppression, public record, not conspiracy theory:
http://www.ev1.org/chevron.htm

Possible evidence of Oil marriage with Auto:
http://www.ev1.org/gmoil.htm

Furthermore:
Bob Brinker, host of syndicated talk radio program "Moneytalk" has said (to paraphrase) "The US has the finest congress money can buy". Brinker, IMO, is a level headed reasonable person, not an extremest as are some other well know radio hosts. He mostly give stocks and financial advice.
He was illustrating the impact lobbyists have in a way that essentially puts up the Government for sale. Who has the most money out there? Especially after a summer of $4 gas? Who has more money than God?
Does it smell fishy that even after two years of its inception the $25 Billion fund for EVs has not issued a single grant, even though at least 75 companies applied? The Energy Department's excuse of under-staffing sounds preposterous IMO. They could have at least issued one grant by now. Raise your hand if you work for, or know of, a company that ISN'T understaffed in this age of countless layoffs...Yet work still gets done. Although the NY Times article mentions that the Detroit 3 also requested EV funds, one wonders how serious they were, or if it was just a dog and pony show of a greenwashing empty gesture:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/b...nt/27green.html?_r=1&scp=7&sq=car fund&st=cse

Could the non responsive Energy Department be related to Texas Oil men in the White House?

CONCLUSION: Big Auto has not been dumb. They have been greedy and perhaps even corrupt in regards to association with Oil interests.

So now China is doing what we have not: Building affordable roadworthy EV's that will allow the marketplace a choice between ICE or Electric. A feat that will result from the economy of scale of mass production.

Still, there is such a thing as American Ingenuity. It exists. So does a steadfast work ethic and genuine devotion to quality by the work staff. We have the engineering talent and manufacturing base to overtake China in building EV's....if conditions are created to foster such an effort, namely a genuine mandate from our leaders. This may be difficult, though, when there remain untold trillions of dollars to be made pumping oil from the earth at a cost of $6 a barrel and selling it for between $50 and $150.

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

is there anything china isn't out to dominate?

 

[spinningmagnets]

One major problem as I see it is the prevailing philosophy in modern large US corporations.

There has recently been an emphasis on stock-options being a major portion of an executives compensation. In theory, if the company does well under that executives control, his stock options are worth more. This creates a powerful incentive, but many execs have gone for promoting a short-term fattening of stock value, so they can cash-out big after just a few years.

Rick Waggoner's ouster from GM was unconstitutional, but he gets to keep his 20-mil "golden handshake" if he does not contest it.

The unions are just as bad. Ive been in two unions and its a great gig if you can get it. But, ...'m not shocked when the UAW forces the big 3 to accept a contract that virtually guarantees their eventual bankruptcy (or they go on strike), and THEN Ford builds a semi-automated assembly plant in BRAZIL!

Japanese firms and workers have consistently made sacrifices and investments that reflect a view towards a long-term survivability.

In the macro-view of human existence, farms will grow food, and cities will house the majority of the population, with any factories being adjascent to the cities, whether worker transportation is private vehicle or public transportation.

Hummer, Saturn, Pontiac, and Saab are slated to be cut loose to help GM survive. They will likely go the way of Studebaker, Hudson, Duesenburg, Packard, Plymouth, and Oldsmobile (to name a few).

I fully anticipate seeing a Honda, Toyota, Nissan, or Subaru passing me occasionally on the road the rest of my life...