Who are the dinosaurs running the big three automakers? If we email them, and tell them we will NOT buy...?

Question

...another vehicle unless it has a plug, they will put plugs on them. Electric hybrid SUVs have great P/U & get on avg 100 mpg. Cars average 124 mpg!

What is stopping these dinosaurs from doing the right thing?

Email at www.gm.com

Email at www.daimlerchrysler.com

Email at www.ford.com

This is what I emailed GM:

Pretty soon you will be out of a job. GM is proudly hailing themselves as green because they have more vehicles that get over 30 mpg than the other major automakers. 30?—that's nothing to brag about.

Every vehicle should have a plug. Electric hybrids are much better for the environment and all living things. SUVs get on average100 mpg, & cars 124 mpg—no more mideast oil dependence.

GM is a slow-moving, slow-thinking dinosaur, & like other dinosaurs, you will become extinct. You've been unable to adapt to take advantage of rapidly changing market conditions, as in GREEN!!

I will NOT purchase another vehicle WITHOUT A PLUG!

See sherryboschert.com .

Answer 1

I am glad you are taking a stand. Unfortunately, not many people are on your bandwagon, for a variety of reasons:

1) People don't like being told how to behave. Some like to drive big SUVs that hog the gasoline and hog the road. That is how they like to show their dominance over others. Others may just not believe that electric-powered cars could ever be as good as combustion engines.

2) They may see being environmental as a stigma. The image of a tree-hugging hippie may keep them away.

Either way, not enough of a demand is placed on the automakers. Sure, there are some loud voices in the media and with a handful of activists, but until the demand is actually present, not many changes will be made.

Answer 2

Toyota is trying to make a plug-in Prius, but they haven't been able to make the design feasible yet.  This is because current hybrids only partially discharge the batteries before recharging them, which prolongs their lives significantly.  If you have a plug-in hybrid, the battery gets used more and thus fully discharged, which reduces its life.

Some people have altered the Prius to make it a plug-in, but I think they may find out that the battery won't last very long.

I'm certainly not defending GM, which along with the other US automakers gave the Japanese auto companies a 7 year head start on hybrid technology, but it's simply not feasible for current cars to be plug-in hybrids.  Regular hybrids sure, though that has a higher initial cost that some people can't afford.

I just don't think you've got the facts quite right.

Answer 3

You could tell them, but unless you tell them implicity by NOT ACTUALLY BUYING THEIR CARS, I doubt they'll care.

You actually believe cars can get 124mpg.  Not even Toyota is claiming they can get that with their hybrids.  And an SUV getting 100mpg?  You understand that on the highway a hybrid is really just a gasoline car right?  You have taken a class in energy balances?  Because I'm pretty sure we could prove it impossible for a Toyota Titan to get 100mpg at 75mph.  Unless you find a way to drive at 30,000feet.

Answer 4

Good for you!

But talk to the Japanese - they're the ones refusing to put a plug on their hybrids.  

GM agrees with you. They're doing the Chevy Volt, built from the ground up to be a plug-in hybrid.

GM also made the first and best electric... and crushed it.  After Bob Stempel retired, he said cancelling the EV1 was the worst mistake he made, because it set them back years on the Volt.  

GM also realized that "making a statement"

http://www.motorauthority.com/cars/toyot...

would only take hybrids so far.  They actually have to DO something regular cars don't.  So starting in 2005 they put 2400 watt inverters in their otherwise mild Silverado hybrids, so you don't need a dirty, expensive generator.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_S...

GM is also coming to market with a "medium" hybrid (somewhat more hybrid than Prius) in 2008, the Yukon.  GM is focusing on large vehicles because they use the most gas and thus will save the most gas.  Smart play.

Thing is, it's HARDER to make a large vehicle hybrid.  There are tougher problems to solve, bigger batteries, larger drive motors, and heavier power steering that must run off battery when the engine's off.  GM is good at this, having made electric-drive locomotives for 50 years.

The point is, GM is ACTUALLY DEVELOPING THESE THINGS.  The Japanese automakers are not, they are doing the least innovation possible, fully confident that they can copy the Americans when the time comes.  Really.  The Synergy drive isn't that good, but why is Toyota doing nothing to evolve it? They don't have to - people are buying all they can make today.  Why is there not a plug-in Prius!?  Same reason.  Why do they void the warranty of anyone who modifies their Prius to be plug-in?  Because they don't care about plug-in, and anyway, the Synergy drive is sized wrong to be full plug-in - the drive motors would need to be bigger.   Like on the Yukon and Volt.

And then there's Ford.  The Ford Escape is actually quite an impressive hybrid, certainly the equal to the Prius if not the better.  People who drive for mileage can reliably get 50 MPG out of their Escape, and good grief, it's an SUV!  I'll hold Ford's technology up to Toyota's any day.

So your bashing of GM and the American automakers is quite ignorant.  They're hardly faultless, but you could at least fault them for things they actually have done.

Look, GM is a strange outfit.  They're like the autistic-savant of the green car movement.  Only Nixon could go to China, and only GM could create a world-class EV from scratch on their own... and then crush it to spite CARB*.  Only they would have the cojones to design the Chevy Volt.  Like I say, they're strange.  

* you better know what CARB is!

But you're accusing them of being slow and backwards, and they are certainly not that!   They're innovating far beyond the rest of the industry.  You should find out what they're doing, because if you come off like an ignoramus, they'll ignore you.

Answer 5

An email won't hurt but they will eventually respond to consumer behavior.  Or go the way of the dinosaurs.

Answer 6

It might help to complain.  Putting a plug in will only divert the energy from your car generator to another electric power plant but it is still a good idea.

Answer 7

Good Luck!!!

Try convincing all of the 7-9 Passenger SUV driving soccer moms that.  They are too busy talking on the phone and running people off the road to be concerned by fuel mileage.

Have fun trying to charge your next car!!!!

Let's see you make a 200 mile trip in your car that you won't buy without a plug!!!  LOL!!!!

You enviro-whackos are always good for a chuckle!!!

Answer 8

The automakers belive their sales numbers.  Despite the concerns about the price of gas and global warming, the top sellers are all SUVs.  SUVs represent 40% of new car sales in America.  Every change in automotive technology in the last 50 years has been mandated by the federal government, from improved mileage to better safety.  A bill to further improve mileage was just defeated in Congress due to pressure from the automakers.  So go ahead, send your letter, but you need to write your Congressmember too, and get a million friends to do the same.

Answer 9

Frankly, they couldn't care less what you send them via email.  These companies have very large market research firms looking at what buyers really want and they make their decisions based on these studies.

Answer 10

We are stopping them from doing the right thing.  

Drive by any new car dealership and count the rows of full size 4x4 trucks, SUV's, and large cars.  

They are there because they sell. Until the public stops buying these vehicles, they will keep producing them.

Answer 11

Me Ill buy (sometime when finances OK)

Toyota Camry Hybrid, Lexus GS Hybrid sedan.

Otherwise NO US cars save:

Used 2003-05 Vette coupe

Used Dodge Viper coupe.

Used Saleen Mustangcoupe

White House Cadillac streach limo.

H1 Hummer

ALL Used from Big 3.

Nothing New from Big 3 ever.

Id rent the New Camaro coupe model due 2009.

Go Toyota & Japanese.