General Motors announces that it will build electric motors in-house

This is weird. What have they been doing for their two-mode transmissions? A couple of years ago, they sold their Allison transmission division but apparently kept the 'White Marsh' plant making the two-mode transmissions.

This announcement still makes no sense considering how hard GM has worked to not make a Prius competing vehicle. It is as if one hand is puts a brick on the wall and then another hand comes by and takes it down. There is another hypothesis for GM:

Whitacre becomes GM's permanent CEO | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

I've long suspected Lutz was effectively running GM and this article describes the model I have for his leadership:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/...010/jan/11/automotive-industry-generalmotors1

He fundamentally does not understand the importance of fuel efficiency. Within an ICE architecture, yes, but his model of customers does not include fuel efficient customers for its own sake (and the lower availability in the future.) This explains the abysmal GM hybrids and killing the only affordable one, the Saturn VUE two-mode ... and selling off Saturn. One last comment from the article:

So 36 months ago would have been 2007, just before the 2008, gas hike. The Katrina gas hike in 2005 apparently didn't count. Since 1973 there have been a series of gas price crisis yet GM (not alone) continued their development plans. Instead they've been building fuel inefficient vehicles and downsizing the company ever since.

Bob Wilson

 

I saw the Volt in November 2008 at a private showing before the L.A. Auto Show. Quite frankly, it was an absolute joke. They wouldn't show under the hood for ... what was it ... oh right, "intellectual property" reasons. Personally, I think it was because they had some amateurish college-project motor under there with a bunch of shittily soldered wires. What I did see on the outside looked like crap. The stuffed shirts told the engineers to put like 22" wheels on the thing because the car-buying public wanted big wheels. Damn the rotational inertia, the weight, and everything else important to efficiency considerations. The brakes were hodge-podged together from what looked like old Camaro parts with these massive dual piston calipers that weighed a ton. It was way too large, and the interior plastics looked and felt cheap.

They should get smart and buy Tesla or something instead of heading down their own beaten paths of failure again and again. I haven't seen the newest incarnation of the Volt, but I hope this new GM has a clue.

 

Why do you say Lutz is running GM and does not understand the importance of fuel efficiency? GM has the most fuel efficient entry in many segments. I know it does not really have hybrids, but there is only one hybrid that sells in any volume anyways.

 

Good, I think they are on the right track. They just came to the same conclusion Toyota made back in 1995... 15 years ago.

 

The product lines developed under his leadership. Given it takes three years to design and produce as new car, he has had three generations of opportunity without coming close to competing. Heck, Ford has knocked one out of the park with the Fusion hybrid that really looks to be a very nice ride.

Going by the type of vehicles we use, family style sedans and looking at the list from Fuel Economy

• 51/48 - Toyota Prius
• 41/36 - Ford Fusion Hybrid FWD, Mercury Milan Hybrid FWD
• 35/33 - Nissan Altima Hybrid
• 33/34 - Toyota Camry Hybrid
• 27/36 - Fia Forte
• 26/35 - Hyundai Elantra Blue
• 26/34 - Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid, Hyundai Elantra (Auto)
• . . .
• 22/33 - Chevrolet Malibu
• . . .
• 22/32 - Camry 2.5L (auto)

So the Prius has been out in one form or another since 1997 in Japan and 2000 in the USA. This is how the family style sedans stack up. As for hybrid sales: December 2009 Dashboard: Year-End Tally | Hybrid Cars

I'm not buying a car because everyone else is buying one. I'm buying a car because it meets our requirements.

Bob Wilson