GM gets on the hybrid highway

Where do these grades come from? Is there a certifying board that comes up with them? Are there rules and processes in place?

And, just for my curiosity, what does the board say about the Lexus hybrid that gets WORSE mileage than it's gas only counterpart? Is that a F?

 

I'd say it gets an "F" BUT, if it reduces emissions, then it gets an "S" (satisfactory) for citizenship! Ah, the old highschool grading system.....

 

GM says batteries won't last, it would be great if they would build a car like the Prius.

The stupid Malibu Hy:frown::frown::frown:brid won't last with the low mileage.

Most GM cars don't last. US auto makers should be ashamed of there quality they don't compare to Toyota or Honda. The US so called cars are assembled in Mexico or Canada.

 

In 2002 I bought a Chevy Cavalier. From day one I took it in to the dealer for recommended service, 3000 mile oil changes and all. Four years later it was costing me around $300 every time I took it in. Nothing really broke, just a bunch of little things. That's when I decided I'd had it. I got a 2007 Camry.

My only complaint with it over 2 years was that it was a little too big for me to use around town. That's when I decided to "trade up" to a "smaller car" and the Prius got the nod. It's only been a couple of months but I am absolutely certain I made the right decision.

Bob

 

This is what BMW has done across their entire range. Every single car they produce now has what they call 'Efficient Dynamics' which is more or less what you state, but also low rolling resistance tyres, better aerodynamics, self-closing grille vents etc. The effect is huge.

 

Prius: 50% improvement on FE and significant smog reduction, while still putting out some smog and plenty of CO2. I give it a B.

My Zap Xebra, powered by electrons from the Bonneville dam: Zero fossil fuel, zero CO2, zero smog. Pretty hard not to give it an A+. :whoo: :rockon: eace:

 

you are right on the money!
that is exactly what they want... well, but that is not the GM but those who are controlling GM

like stated in this book:


Deindustrialization of America: Plant Closings, Community Abandonment and the Dismantling of Basic Industry (Hardcover)
"The DeIndustrialization of America" explores the problem of multinational corporations reducing their US industrial payrolls and directing all investment to foreign countries. Multinationals produce abroad for sale into the United States, thereby making American workers compete against foreign starvation wages.

The federal tax code actually encourages speculation, mergers and acquisitions, and foreign rather than domestic investment.

Unbelievably, the taxpayers, through the US Export-Import Bank finance the transfer of equipment from American plants to subsidiaries in the Third World. This capital flight is also creating and financing our own future competition.

We are also creating a dual economy at home, have/have not, with a missing middle class. Most Americans are aware that this nation has experienced widespread closing of industrial facilities. Probably a lot fewer realize that our standard of living is lower than in Switzerland or Denmark.

We can look forward to unemployment, underemployment, and increased government costs for welfare & food stamps. These jobs are being replaced (if at all) by jobs with less pay and benefits, less security, and often part-time work. Also the ripple effect touches everyone in town, and of course the charities. Loss of property taxes affects schools and police.

This book's conclusion is that the global economy is synonymous with a reduced standard of living for all Americans. The trend will end with Third World status for the US, and inability to afford our current large social safety net (entitlement programs). Without a middle class, there will be nobody to pay for it. Reducing government social programs will be mandatory.

Unfortunately, the book's style was dry like a college textbook, with plenty of statistics and charts and too much effort to explain opposing viewpoints.

The last 70 pages are pure leftist drivel. The solutions? More of the same things that goofed things up in the first place! Central planning and "lively experimentation with bureaucratic forms." The book was great on defining the problem, clueless about the solution.

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Out of print? This book should never be out of print. But then again, Jean Renoir's Rules of the Game was almost destroyed during the Second World War. Greatness is sometimes fragile. Barry is something of a personal hero of mine so I do have a bias of sorts regarding this book and its follow-up, The Great U-Turn. Reviewing this book is like reviewing a classic music album: everything written in the last 20 years about Economic Policy and investment has been influenced by what Barry and Bennett wrote here and there is no more hated book by Reaganauts who would like you to believe THIS NEVER HAPPENED.
This book was the first book to talk about how industry in the United States was dismantled, in particular the Auto and Steel Industries of the midwest. The book traces decisions made by corporations in the 1970's and why these decisions were made, in light of perceived opportunities in Central America and the Far East. Could have the decision been made to do the reinvestment in the US (particularly in light of the modern day relative success of Saturn)? The answer is clearly not without the calculated weakening of powerful unions in auto and steel. If the unions were weakened, however, communities such as Flint, Michigan and Youngstown, Ohio were almost wiped out by disinvestment. There was considerable denial at the time about what was happening but Barry and Bennett's book makes clear that industry was dismantling and disinvesting and not coming back.
The awareness raised by this book probably saved a bad situation from becoming much worse. If the dinosaurs left the continent, though, maybe in retrospect we are better off for their having left. Car makers from Japan and Korea have been willing to make the autos that US carmakers have only made with the greatest of reluctance, and creating assembly plants here in the US as well. But it has taken a generation to recover from the wholesale deindustrialization and the cost was much greater than people should have been asked to bear.
Never again should American industry be allowed to tear out its roots and toss them aside. If you want to know why, this is the book to read. Please read the great final chapter on Reindustrialization with A Human Face for helpful guidance and insight on where to go from where we are at, insight that 20 years later still makes a great deal of sense.

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so, are there any of you still thinking that America's situation is just a conspiracy theory?

do you people understand that globalizm=internationalism, the same idea that communists had?

we are in deep shit, me thinks


comments please!

 

It's not a "conspiracy." It's capitalism and business as usual. The only motivation for any economic activity in capitalism is profit. And greed is rewarded while altruism is punished. Thus the management of corporations does whatever seems likely to make money. If they are "honest" (and some are) (e.g. Toyota) they do whatever they can to make money for the stockholders. If not, (e.g. General Motors) they do whatever they can to make money for themselves personally.

This does not require a "conspiracy." It does not require them to hide anything. There are no secret cabals pulling strings behind the scenes. There's just a lot of people running companies in order to make money. Now as always this means using the cheapest available labor, the cheapest available materials, and capturing market share. Bribery and corruption of government officials is part of the system, but to call corruption a "conspiracy" is to stretch the use of the word, because everyone knows that government functionaries are corrupt.

You may call the above "leftist drivel," but unlike the book (which I have not read) I have no solutions. Greed is far more powerful than altruism, so I remain firmly pessimistic. I am able to remain cheerful only because, as I've stated elsewhere, capitalism is the best possible system if you have money.

There was a cartoon in the New Yorker years ago: Two kings are sitting on a park bench and one of them is saying something about how, even though monarchy is basically unfair, "... it's always worked pretty well for me."

 

Don't mind jonnycat's sarcastic inquiry. The article just came out that the Prius 'payback' period is less than 2 years, whereas the malibu mild hybrid was over 20years ... and that just has him a little miffed, being a huge supporter of GM products ... especially their land barges ... at which point he'll say, 'what about Toyota's barges?' great.