It is appalling reading about General Motors Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz’s opinion on hybrids. In an interview with Just-Auto this week, Lutz tells:
Hybrids are technologically of doubtful benefit, and expensive, but necessary from a political and public relations point of view.
What a shame, GM already sells the Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra hybrid trucks since 2004, and is due to launch hybrid version of the Saturn Vue crossover SUV this fall. Currently, it is eyeing plug-in hybrids too...for me, I will never lay my eyes on any GM hybrids again.
Lutz adds ‘it doesn’t make economic sense for consumers to pay several thousand dollars more for hybrid cars that get up to 30 percent better fuel economy’. He also believes that the only way a company will recover the extra cost of a hybrid system is installing it on higher-priced, bigger vehicles like pickup or SUV and would have a better environmental effect than installing it on already fuel-efficient small cars.
Equally disappointing is Toyota’s statement. The leader of the hybrid cars manufacturer shares, ‘economically, hybrids make no sense. The reduction in fuel [consumption] does not pay for the technological content and cost of the vehicle so therefore economically it remains fairly nonsensical’.
Coming from manufactures as big as GM and Toyota, I have nothing left, but to believe their statement. However, if hybrid cars are not as good as they claim to be, then why don’t they produce an alternative? Therefore, I can rightly accuse them for letting money come over their consciousness, and really sad that it is humanity they are fooling and us that has to bear the brunt.
Read: Leatlane News , money.cnn.com
and money.cnn.com
