It's hard to go to any car website or some political blog and not find something regarding Green Cars, Green Jobs and the Green Economy.
And if you read the editorials of most of the mainstream media the tone is that the world is waiting with baited breath and losing sleep until the day they can get their hands on an earth friendly vehicle.
Even the Politicians all the way up to our President echo these talking points over and over.
Including the concept that somehow, magically all these unemployed Michiganian's will be back working in the plants building these products as soon as they are in dealerships in volume.
There is only problem.
When you look at sales figures and reality meets fantasy, the back story isn't very rosy.
Even in the midst of the biggest oil scare in my lifetime, consumer Hybrid and alternative energy vehicle sales have decreased THREE years running.
I'm honestly even surprised about that.
I would have thought in the middle of the crisis sales would have at least risen during that time period.
But they didn't.
And as the $41k Chevy Volt gets ready to rollout to customers, mid level Toyota Prius's are being hawked in Sunday papers for around $22k.
But even at that aggressive price, they are NOT flying off the lots.
NOT a good sign in my opinion.
Now add to it all the premium manufacturers adding and planning hybrid cars/trucks in their lineup in the +$40k range.
If past poor sales history of cars like the Lexus LS600, BMW X6 hybrid, S400 Hybrid, etc. is any indication, can this be a good strategy going forward for them?
Even Porsche has publicly stated that every single product they make will eventually be offered in a hybrid version.
If you ask a lot of these execs in the back room about their feelings on these vehicles, they'll tell you the ONLY reason they exist is for public perception of the company, NOT becuase they believe they will sell.
So the questions we're asking today are:
1: Are these companies ALL going to dump loads of cash on these cars only to wakeup one day and find out the employees, politicians and media they listened to were out of their minds?
And the BIGGER question...
2. Is the Green Car Buyer totally a creation of a media with an agenda that really doesn't exist in the volumes needed, for any of these companies or countries to be investing the kind of money and resources that are being poured in hand over fist?
And before you start ranting that this is flame bait a conservative vs. liberal war of words, let us assure you that we are not AGAINST hybrids.
In fact we here at Auto Spies love the 2010 Prius and drove the Volt and were very impressed.
Its just our belief that hybrids will end up bring the vehicle for niche urban area driving.
Nothing wrong with that.
But we don't believe the American car customer will buy into these cars in the volume needed to be a windfall business case or will all the laid off factory workers will get hired back in Michigan in mass building 'Green' products.
What say you Spies?
**Let us know your thoughts in the comments
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