President Barack Obama yesterday signed into law the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Program, or "Cash for Clunkers." Its detractors are labeling it a classic waste of government money, and many supporters are wondering what went wrong.
.jpg "How to Cash Your Clunker")
After weeks of debate and legislative gamesmanship, "Cash For Clunkers" is finally one step away from becoming law. Officially called the "Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Program," the law made its way to President Obama's desk, backed by $1 billion in funding that is designed to stimulate the sale of 250,000 new cars and trucks in the next year.
Bosch, the world’s biggest auto parts supplier, believes that electric
cars will dominate the global car market—but not until 2030. Speaking at
an automotive seminar in Stuttgart, Bosch chairman Bernd Bohr said the
major hurdle for electric cars remains the weight and cost of batteries.
Pricing for the next wave of electric cars is starting to be revealed. Remarkably, these gas-free cars are coming in at almost the same exact price: $45,000.
One of the nation’s largest consumer incentives for energy-efficient cars—a tax credit of $1,800—goes to buyers of a $60,000-plus hulking diesel SUV that gets 17 mpg in the city. The Mercedes GL320 Bluetec and two other so-called “clean diesel” SUVs from Mercedes benefit from the tax credits. Meanwhile, today’s most efficient hybrids—such as the 50-mpg Toyota Prius and the 41-mpg Honda Insight, selling for $22,000 and $19,800 respectively—are not eligible for any federal tax incentives.
The dismal economy is forcing companies, and individuals, to make tough decisions about what is essential, and what can get tossed aside to save a buck. In the past, car companies might have shelved green car technologies as nice-to-have but too expensive and not really critical. However, this time around, the world’s major automakers are holding firm to plans for hybrid gas-electric cars, pure electric vehicles, and other fuel-saving programs.
One day after the US government rejected GM’s turnaround plan, Mark LaNeve, the company’s vice president of sales, service, and marketing for North America, spoke with Eddie Alterman, editor-in-chief of Car and Driver magazine. For most of the discussion, LaNeve and Alterman talked about restoring consumer confidence and the future of GM brands. But finally LaNeve said that GM needs to turn away from high-performance and toward fuel-efficiency to send "a better message" to key stakeholders."
Toyota has confirmed its plans to produce a smaller less expensive hybrid car. "We are developing a low-priced hybrid vehicle like Honda's Insight," said Akihiko Otsuka, chief engineer of the third-generation Toyota Prius. "We are going to compete by expanding our hybrid-vehicle lineup to smaller hybrids, in the class of the...Yaris.
Toyota announced today that combined sales of Toyota and Lexus gas-electric vehicles in the United States topped the 1 million mark. This comes just one day after Ford announced that the 100,000th Ford hybrid SUV rolled off the assembly line of the company’s Kansas City assembly plant—and one month after Honda announced that it had sold more than 300,000 hybrids worldwide.
Hybrid car sales may currently be in the doldrums, but the forces for a major hybrid takeover of the auto market in about three to five years are already in the works.
