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Who killed the Hummer?

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by hill, Jun 3, 2008.

  1. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Alternatively, I would call this thread,

    “The many dishonest faces of GM’s Wagoner & Lutz.â€

    http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gm4-2008jun04,0,6352198.story

    So, the No 1 sticky under this forum refutes Mr. Spinella’s / CNW’s farce how dust to dust, the Hummer is WAY more efficient than the Prius. Spinella, still sticking to his guns, (offering up more proof, “er, the Prius Tires wear out quickerâ€) claims that no matter what anyone says, and he won’t let you see his foundational data, the hummer IS the way to go.

    Apparently, the dynamic duo, Lutz & Wagoner didn’t get that memo, as they are closing down their land barge factories (rather than ramping up EV1 production, and asking forgiveness for ongoing lies) left and right. Meanwhile, GM ads continue to profess these dinosaurs as, “Popular†… and “American†etc.

    Let’s see … closing down plants of “Popular†SUV’s according to GM’s ad man … how can I reconcile that? Similarly, the EV1 was taken back and crushed because it (according to GM’s spin machine) “wasn’t popularâ€. Yet EVERY one of them was instantly snapped up, leaving a waiting list of thousands … though it was nearly impossible to find, or get on the waiting list.

    So I have a quandary. Folks tell me to “Give GM one more chance, with the Voltâ€. But if GM is still lying (SUV’s are popular, and the EV1 wasn’t) to cover their lies, why would I … why SHOULD I trust them? Seems I’d have to be like Charlie Brown, hoping Lucy won’t pull the football out from under me … again.
     
  2. Rockville1

    Rockville1 Silver Pine Mica

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    Agreed!!!

    And why should we buy the Volt when they can't even make reliable batteries for their hybrids?!

    Anybody notice the eerie similarity between GM’s spin machine and the Bush administration’s spin machine?
     
  3. bac

    bac Active Member

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    While I totally agree with you, my reasons for not buying a GM auto are a bit different.

    All corportations lie and cheat to gain short term numbers - that's a given. However, GM builds crappy cars to boot. That's the reason I'll never buy a GM. Really, isn't that enough?

    .... Brad
     
  4. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Wagoner / Lutz's lack of integrity is at the core of GM quality. If their families had interventions with them, helped them realize they have no integrity / moral character, and if either of them went public, asking the public's forgiveness for their excess greed, lack of honesty & integrity ... fessed up as it were, to their lies ... I could actually buy GM again. But I'd have to watch for a while to see if it was sincere. Ok, I'm back from my fantacy, sad to say.

    Edit:
    Ok one more thing. Wagoner says GM'll save $1billion via their recent plant closures ... the very same amount GM "says" thay spent 'on the EV1' ... but of course they deliberatly omitted the fact that the lion's share of the $1B was lobbying so they wouldn't have to build them anymore. Well Wagoner? Now that you have an extra $1B laying around and no one wants a single land barge, and plenty of empty factories to build them in, maybe it's finally time to re-tool, eh?
    .
     
  5. minkforce1

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    remember, buying billions of barrels of oil from countries that really hate us is "american" while accepting innovation and efficiency is supporting terrorism
     
  6. KayakerNC

    KayakerNC Member

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    We've always been at war with EastAsia.
     
  7. hiremichaelreid

    hiremichaelreid New Member

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    You shouldn't trust them.

    Suddenly they "have religion" and they will produce an electric vehicle in 2-3 years with "8-10 years of engineering" crammed into those 2-3 years ???

    Bwahahahaha ! :bounce:

    And how many fuel efficient GM vehicles are recommended by Consumers Reports and other reasonably reputable testing authorities ?

    Never mind the GM volt. Give me a Gen 4 Prius ! I'd bet it will cost me less over the long haul.
     
  8. KandyRedCoi

    KandyRedCoi S is for Super!

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    not counting the members of this forum, outside this forum, the Hummers were very popular since 2002 until gas prices started reaching $3.50 here in socal, now they can be had for $18K from $70K LOL

    the EV1 never had a strong enough following at the time, and of course most business are in the business of making money, and for a while the market wanted big trucks

    as far as the article that a hummer is better than a prius...he could shove that thing right up his u know what LOL
     
  9. Chuck.

    Chuck. Former Honda Enzyte Driver

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    All the people taunting they had so much money it did not matter - where are they?
     
  10. PriusSport

    PriusSport senior member

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    The problem with American car companies is that they are in bed with the Oil Lobby.
    That means build big cars for bigger profits that consume gasoline.
    America will fall further behind the World economically unless it changes its consumption mentality.
     
  11. PriusSport

    PriusSport senior member

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    The batteries are made by another company. GM just picked the wrong supplier.

    Fortunately, American corporations--even GM-- are more financially responsible than the American government has been lately.

    GM has a more profitable car business in China than here. They are supposed to be supplying the Chinese with an electric car this year.
     
  12. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Lutz is really a robot the future by a truely environmental car company with the single goal of destroying General Motors and opening up the market for more efficient vehicles with better reliability.

    He started by infiltrating General Motors and working his way into a position of power and then proceded to make seemingly rediculous claims and pushed the company into supporting dangerous programs that will ultimately lead to a collapse of the company as we know it today.
     
  13. miscrms

    miscrms Plug Envious Member

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    And who owns GMs battery supplier, Cobasys? Chevron/Texaco. Who sold Cobasys to Chevron/Texaco? GM. :rolleyes:

    I personally am shocked that Chevron/Texaco is not producing top quality NimH batteries to help us all break our addiction to oil.

    Rob
     
  14. miscrms

    miscrms Plug Envious Member

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    That would explain a great number of things! :eek:

    Rob
     
  15. Spectra

    Spectra Amphi-Prius

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    Why don't we just watch the national fleet of Hummers drop onto their backs, their 4 wheels grappling in the air for traction, as their 4-wheeling rotation slows to a squeaking crawl :evil:
     
  16. chogan2

    chogan2 Senior Member

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    Ditto.
     
  17. Stev0

    Stev0 Honorary Hong Kong Cavalier

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  18. PriusSport

    PriusSport senior member

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    Haha. So that's what the oil companies are doing with their profits. It figures. Diversifying, to protect their flanks.
     
  19. chogan2

    chogan2 Senior Member

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    Seriously, you should trust them because the world has changed. They can't extract high profits from the large-vehicle segment, the way they could before. It was just a case of government regulators being ahead of the times, back with the EV1/RAV4 EV/Ford Ranger EV. The (CA) government shoved against the tide, and GM shoved back. And won. Yeah, they won ugly, but there are no style points in business, only profits and losses. And yeah, a lot of the decisions of that era appear, from a distance, to stink of egotism over shareholder value. But that exchange could be, in the long run, mutually beneficial. So the past is the past, the future ain't what it used to be, and the tide has now changed. They now have Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan, and minor players saying EV/PHEV in 2009/2010. If they screw up the Volt, they may still have a long good-bye, but at some point they will have passed into the production of yesterday's cars.

    I look at it like a learning curve. The stupid die off, that's the way it works in the long run. Look at Ford, they have widely increased the sales of the Focus in the last couple of months, but no talk of shortage there. (I'm partial, as I drove a '93 Escort for many years, and the Focus is the successor to the Escort.) But they started ramping up production in April. So, no boasting from Ford, but no shortage of high-demand cars either. They had the sense to try to stay ahead of the curve. Even if their product is no Prius. If GM's management is too dumb to do that effectively, then the ought to be replaced. I don't require that they better the Prius, but as an active investor I surely expect that they do as well or better than Ford at exploiting the demand for fuel-efficient vehicles.
     
  20. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    They Hummer never should have been produced to sell to the consumers in the first place. If anyone is to blame it's Arnold Schwarzenegger for "suggesting" it and GM for allowing themselves to be "convinced" it was a good idea.

    The Hummer won't rival the Edsel, but history won't be kind as time goes by.