Surprise: Chrysler Drops Electric Vehicles They Touted When They Were Seeking Bailouts
Conventional wisdom on the left had it that General Motors and Chrysler were insolvent because they spent too much time focusing on making the sort of gas-guzzling vehicles only stupid rubes in fly-over country like to drive and not enough time focusing on the small, socially conscious, environmentally friendly vehicles that liberals prefer.
Crippling labor contracts and burdensome government regulations and taxes that put them at a competitive disadvantage with their foreign competitors totally had nothing to do with it.
So when Chrysler and General Motors were bellying up to the federal trough to be slopped with buckets of taxpayer money they tried to appeal to that conventional wisdom by promoting all the wonderful, energy efficient vehicles they were going to produce.
But now that they got their money? Well, now those promises aren’t important any more.
If you believed all the talk from Chrysler about how our tax dollars would help finance its fast-track electric-vehicle future, you’re in for a big disappointment.
Tags: Asshats, Domestic Issues, Politics
Chrysler has disbanded the engineering team that was trying to bring three electric models to market as a rush job, Automotive News reports today. Chrysler cited its devotion to electric vehicles as one of the key reasons why the Obama administration and Congress needed to give it $12.5 billion in bailout money, the News points out. …
The change of heart on electric vehicles has come under Fiat. At a marathon presentation of Chrysler’s five-year strategy, CEO Sergio Marchionne talked about just about everything on Chrysler’s plate last week except its earlier electric-car plans. With the group’s disbanding, Chrysler’s electric plans will be melded into Fiat’s. Marchionne is apparently no fan of electric power:
He says electrics will only make up 1% or 2% of Fiat sales by 2014 and that he doesn’t put a lot of faith in the technology until battery developments are pushed forward.
So, basically, despite government attempts to manipulate us into buying the sort of vehicles the politicians think we should be driving, the simple fact of the matter is that the market isn’t ready for electric vehicles yet.
This is why the government should stay out of private markets. Let the companies that can’t turn a profit fail to be succeeded by the companies who can.
Of course, that would mean letting the host bodies (General Motors and Chrysler) currently surviving on federal life support for the express purpose of keeping the union parasites attached to them die. But it would also mean no more burden for the taxpayers, and increased competition as other car companies spring in to fill the vacuum.
