Posted on 11/24/2010 9:45:41 AM PST by mojito
President Obama's administration has bought almost a fourth of the Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. hybrid vehicles sold since he took office, accelerating federal purchases as consumer demand wanes.
The General Services Administration, which runs the government fleet, bought at least 14,584 GM and Ford hybrids since Obama became president in 2009, according to sales data obtained by Bloomberg under a Freedom of Information Act request. And all told, the companies sold 63,434 of those vehicles during that period, according to data compiled by Autodata Corp.
"At some point, the reality is that for this technology to be accepted, it needs to be done without a government crutch," said Jeff Schuster, director of forecasting at J.D. Power & Associates in Troy, Mich. "But without a huge gas-price increase or further government demand, the natural demand just isn't to be there."
The 14,584 GM and Ford hybrids made up 10 percent of the government's total vehicle purchases over the past two fiscal years, up from less than 1 percent in fiscal 2008, the data show. The government is boosting investment in a technology that has failed to win broad acceptance after more than a decade in the marketplace.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Government CIRCLE JERK!
If the subject ever comes up, the hybrids are dying at around 100K miles and cannot be fixed for less than they’re worth at that point. VERY bad used cars.
Volvo has one closing in on 3,000,000 miles!
Do you have any details on that...or a source? That’s good info to have in one’s quiver.
So out of all the whiny AGW raving liberals who hector us about the “urgent need” to “save the planet” only around 50,000 could be bothered to buy a precious hybrid from a US company?
Another example of the hypocrisies of most socialist liberals - they can’t even be bothered to put their own money on the line for their supposed “beliefs”....
Now a Toyota Pious...I mean Prius...that's something different. I mean, we still have to atone for Hiroshima, don't we?
sure but it’s also an article of faith among the delusional left that the “Big 3” need to churn out “earth friendly” cars so the leftists ought to love shelling out unreasonable amounts of money for hybrid cars that more rational Americans don’t want to buy.....
True. The one person I know of with a Prius gloated over the high mileage, then had to cough up $1500 to replace the batteries shortly after warranty expired. That killed any savings for gas, needless to say.
They should give one to Neil Young.
LOL watch while they put them into the GSA fleet and impose them on soldiers. Elected or appointed political trash certainly won’t be inconvenience themselves with these high maintenance lemons.
after we cut off the money and force the Gubbermint to do mass layoffs, you are gonna be able to buy one of these in one of those online auctions for about $2000.00.
Leftists are never troubled by their hypocrisy, because leftist know how virtuous they are, and how everything they do is, by definition, good, correct, wise, and helping to heal the planet.
The evidence on that one is anecdotal but as anecdotal stuff goes it’s exceptionally good. I have relatives who buy and sell cars for a living, wholesalers who work with the big East Coast auctions in Fredericksburg Va. and Manheim Pa. and the mechanics who work with them are telling us these stories, i.e. that they’re getting so many of the Prius’s and hybrid Civics in at 100K for battery grief and the economics of the thing as I mentioned are so bad, that you’re correct in saying that the basic life-span of one of them is around 100K miles.
Not so sure about that. My Camry Hybrid is the best, most reliable car I’ve ever owned. All the Logan Airport Taxis run these cars. Unfortunately the GM BAS systems weren’t so hot, but those were half-baked hybrids anyway, the Volt should fare better; at least from a technical standpoint. The parallel systems favored by Ford and Toyota are totally different. They are also far simpler in design with regard to parts that break. For example, my Camry doesn’t have or need an alternator, starter, or transmission. The ‘PSD’ which takes the place of the transmission is the size of a small pumpkin and holds only a few moving parts.
At 60,000 miles, I’m looking at struts and a set of front hubs soon. That’s it, no other operational problems in nearly 4 years.
It was only a week ago when General Motors IPO opened at 35. Yes, one suspects that the Obama administration has clandestinely done all it can behind the scenes to warp the field so the the stock will do well; and, in just 5 short trading days, the stock has skyrocketed from 35 to 33.5!
Oh, wait...
Ahem, one also suspects a rapid departure from the stock in order to keep from being referred to as the ..."biggest loser".
.
I would rather live in five minutes in a world comprised of your anecdotal evidence than an eternity in Obamaworld.
Here’s something else anecdotal... The feds are lying about the mileage for the new German clean diesels. In other words, EPA numbers for the new VWs are around 40 while owners are nearly unanimous that they’re getting 50 - 53 or so regardless of how or where the things are driven. For whatever reason the pols in this country want a future without IC engines and that may or may not happen depending on how far EESTOR and other super capacitor vendors get in the next year or so.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.