T Mac
03-29-2008, 04:35 PM
...I concluded that (despite ever-escalating gas prices and dire climate warnings) this is actually one of the worst years for green car introductions. It's not hard to understand why: Carmakers, especially American ones, are "going green" only very reluctantly, convinced their customers don't agree that small is beautiful.
Exhibit A: Robert Lutz, vice chairman of General Motors and the company's chief "car guy." Here's what he had to say recently: "What we're seeing is there is a portion, a very narrow portion of the population, that will make a financial sacrifice to be green....Most people, not the ecologically committed, but most normal people are going to take a look at how much more am I paying for this fuel-saving technology will I be able to amortize it over the life of the vehicle?"
I added emphasis to the word "normal" because many "car guys" don't consider environmentalists at all normal. In an earlier interview, Lutz spoke disparagingly of the new federal 35-mpg-by-2020 standard, and proclaimed, "We're going to have to sell a ton of hybrids, whether people want them or not." Obviously Lutz, on record as calling global warming "a crock of "@#$%&*, doesn't think people want hybrids, despite the runaway success of the Prius.
Click here (http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/blogs/cars-transportation/new-york-auto-show-460328) to read the full commentary from The Daily Green (http://www.thedailygreen.com)
Exhibit A: Robert Lutz, vice chairman of General Motors and the company's chief "car guy." Here's what he had to say recently: "What we're seeing is there is a portion, a very narrow portion of the population, that will make a financial sacrifice to be green....Most people, not the ecologically committed, but most normal people are going to take a look at how much more am I paying for this fuel-saving technology will I be able to amortize it over the life of the vehicle?"
I added emphasis to the word "normal" because many "car guys" don't consider environmentalists at all normal. In an earlier interview, Lutz spoke disparagingly of the new federal 35-mpg-by-2020 standard, and proclaimed, "We're going to have to sell a ton of hybrids, whether people want them or not." Obviously Lutz, on record as calling global warming "a crock of "@#$%&*, doesn't think people want hybrids, despite the runaway success of the Prius.
Click here (http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/blogs/cars-transportation/new-york-auto-show-460328) to read the full commentary from The Daily Green (http://www.thedailygreen.com)