[LINK] O/t responsible consumers

[Kim Holburn]

On 2010/Sep/06, at 8:32 AM, Karl Auer wrote:

> On Sun, 2010-09-05 at 23:02 +1000, Kim Holburn wrote:
>>> I assure you that if it were possible to as easily be profitable
>> without such insanity, they would be doing it.
>
> You missed out my next bit - it's the cost of *changing* that prevents
> them doing it. I'm sure it possible to be profitable doing green cars,
> maybe even MORE profitable, but the moving cost for a huge corporation
> like GM is so forbidding that it paralyses them.
>
>> Sorry but without that "profitable" argument the rest of your  
>> argument
>> doesn't stand.
>
>>> Actually, they'd probably do BOTH. But it's not the cost of
>>> doing it, it's the cost of changing over.
>>
>> They are already doing that.  Didn't I read recently that Hummers had
>> been discontinued?
>
> Discontinuing a line is not the same as the total makeover that  
> would be
> required for (eg) General Motors to move to more environmentally  
> viable
> machines. To do that would require (just for a start) massive
> rebranding, a massive reeducation of the American markets and a  
> massive
> research and development effort. Hence they desperately flail about,
> going under rather than letting go of the baggage that is dragging  
> them
> under...


Discontinuing a line is an indication that the line was completely out  
of touch with the market.  Americans are already buying small cars  
from car makers mainly in the pacific rim.  So they don't need to  
reeducate the market, just supply what the market actually wants.  The  
market for giant gas guzzling personal vehicles is not so great  
outside of the US so just by making smaller cars they might become  
more profitable.  Carmakers upgrade their models each year so they  
retool anyway.

I read a while ago that almost all carmakers are owned by the same  
companies:
http://jalopnik.com/372339/who-owns-who
http://jalopnik.com/372594/and-now-your-jalopnik-moment-of-zen
Probably all owned by tata now!

When you add up costs of bailouts of the auto industry and cost of oil  
security for the US the total subsidies on fossil fuels by the US are  
just unimaginably huge:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/04/study-middle-east-oil-scecurity-cost-us-78-trillion-over-last-three-decades/1

If we put 10% of that money into renewable energy we'd have renewables  
up and running easily in short time.


-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
T: +61 2 61402408  M: +61 404072753
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