Re: [DMCForum]

["Ryan Wright" <ryanpwright@xxxxxxxxx>]

>  GM while loosing billions of dollars took $4 million dollars worth of
>  cars (that they had cash offers for) and crushed and shredded them.
>  This has never occurred before or since. I don't care if it is their
>  legal right. That is a BS excuse. What is right is acting in the
>  interests of the USA and the american people.

You can talk all you want about what you personally believe is right,
and you can certainly campaign to try to convince GM to change their
mind. I'm OK with all of this. What I'm NOT OK with is when people
campaign and lobby government to FORCE a company to do something. We
have absolutely zero right to force someone to build, or not crush,
electric cars, not even if it's "in (our) best interests."

>  This decision by GM was illogical and uneconomic. It could only have
>  been motivated by other forces. AKA follow the oil money. This
>  destruction occurred just be oil and gasoline prices sky-rocketed. No
>  coincidence there. ehey?

This is the voice of paranoia talking to you, Bob. You want to follow
the money? Let's follow it:

1. EV1s cost a huge amount of money. GM spent about $80,000 to produce
a single EV1. They were leasing them on a sale basis of $34k-$44k. In
other words, they were "selling" them for half what it actually cost
to produce. Why would they do this? Because California gave them no
other choice. The law forced them to sell a certain number of EVs and
it was impossible for them to sell that many at full price. So they
took a huge loss on every vehicle.

2. Why did they crush them? Again, it's simple: They were successful
in getting the unfair law changed and they no longer wanted to
continue losing hundreds of millions of dollars running the EV1
program. Can you blame them? Would you willingly give away hundreds of
millions of dollars? Of course you wouldn't. See, there are countless
transportation laws that require manufacturers to service vehicles and
keep parts on the shelves for something on the order of 10+ years
after the vehicle is sold. Had GM allowed these people to buy the
$80,000 cars for $20,000 each, as the lease holders proposed, they
would have been on the hook to continue repairing and stocking parts.

I understand the owners said they would buy them with no obligation,
no warranty, etc, but that is not possible due to government
interference in the transportation business. GM could not have legally
signed that contract with the owners because a private contract cannot
override government laws. They would have been on the hook to lose
huge amounts of money over the next decade servicing a couple hundred
cars.

So you're right, Bob: Follow the money. Except it's not "oil" money,
it's just money, period. The EV1 cost more to produce than people -
and by "people" I mean enough people to make the program viable - were
willing to pay. Period, end of story.

>  There would have been riots for more of these electric cars once
>  gasoline prices tripled.

Gas is over $3 a gallon. Diesel was almost $4 when I topped off my
coach with 200 gallons a couple of months back. People are paying it
anyway and they're still buying SUVs by the millions. Nobody is
rioting for electric cars - and if they do, I hope the police crack
them upside the head. Campaign, organize, protest peacefully, but when
you escalate to RIOTING over an electric car, you're lost your mind.

Anyone who wants an electric car can go build one themselves. Stop
whining and trying to force other people to build them for you. If you
really want one, buy the parts and install them in a car. You can find
web sites all over the place that tell you exactly how to do it. Or,
you can go pay a company like Tesla Motors for one of their electric
cars. "BUT THEY COST A HUNDRED GRAND! WAAAAHHHH!!!" Yeah, they do.
That's how much a good, mass produced electric vehicle costs. There is
such little demand they can't be manufactured by the millions in order
to bring prices down. That is the fact of life: Most people don't want
an electric car.

Nobody has a right to an electric car and nobody has the right to
force another person to build them one at any price, let alone a price
of their own choosing.

Anyway, if you think electric cars are so great and profitable, why
don't you go out and start a company and build them? If you're right,
if people are really going to "riot" over not having one, surely you
will become filthy rich in no time. If you can produce a good one at a
fair price, I'll even buy one from you.

-Ryan


 
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