GM faces Obama's new climate policies.

[Rabbit]

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20090126/gm-faces-obamas-climate-policies.htm
General Motors responded to President Barack Obama's address on climate policies Monday, saying it was "working aggressively" to develop better hybrids and electric cars to reduce emissions and improve mileage.

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Today, Obama ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to move forward to allow California to impose its own strict limits on vehicle emissions of Carbon dioxide, which is seen as contributor to global warming. It is expected that as many as 18 other states follow California's new regulations.


"The federal government must work with, not against, states to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions," Obama said at a press conference in the White House Monday.


Today's statements represent a sharp change from ex-president George W. Bush’s climate policies. Obama’s push also adds pressure to troubled auto makers to produce more fuel-efficient and less polluting cars as they face a slump in sales.


"We're ready to engage the Obama administration and Congress on policies that support meaningful and workable solutions and targets," GM said in a statement.


Last week, GM reported its total global sales in 2008 dropped 11 percent compared with 2007 due to a downturn in the economy which has tightened credit and reduced the prices of commodities Not a very smart move on Obama's part as of right now, if you ask me. This will only add unnecessary pressure to an already severely struggling company. They can't sell enough vehicles as it is, and if they can't make these Hybrids less expensive they won't sell enough of those either. GM just announced more job cuts and are expecting more. I'm a strong supporter for cutting down pollution, but this seems like an unnecessary move right now. At least, let them get one foot back on the ground before you start shaking it. What are your thoughts?

[Infinite]

Well, the way I see it, GM sales went down while gas prices went up. Why? Because the strongpoint of GM was the heavy SUVs and trucks. Once demand of the gas guzzling heavy cars went pretty low (how many times have you heard the advice to not buy an SUV?), so did the core of GM profits. To recover, GM needs to realize that the consumer, along with the government, want smaller, more fuel efficient cars. Why are all the foreign car makers not facing as tough a crisis as the Big Three? Because they all had to adopt to their countries' law, as most foreign car industries must now abide by the Kyoto Accord.

In my opinion, GM will bounce back if the Chevy Volt and its Cadillac counterpart, the Converj, succeed. GM should be investing all of it's vast array of talent in perfecting both vehicles, because if they flop, American opinion will be unrecoverable.


But don't get me wrong, I'm still going to buy the new Camaro if it's a hit. I could care less about it's fuel efficiency. On the flipside, however, I find it despicable when people who aren't driving a full family driving in a SUV or people who buy those double-size trucks that they don't even use. Its like throwing money away.

[Murray B]

What are your thoughts?

The automakers should have replaced clutches and torque converters with differential gears and motor/generators thirty years ago. The technology is more than a hundred years old so I suspect the problem is mostly political.