GM's fuel subsidy program not exactly popular with everyone
GM recently announced a program to lower gas costs for buyers of some of the company's most gas-inefficient vehicles. GM's "fuel price protection program" reimburses the buyer enough money to bring the cost of all of that buyer's gas during the first year down to $1.99 a gallon. The reimbursement process is slightly confusing, and GM, the supposed "Live Green, Go Yellow" company, has taken a lot of flack since its introduction a few weeks ago. Instead of encouraging less gas consumption, the program seems designed to encourage more gas usage. The program only applies to buyers in Florida and California and ends July 5. There are no plans to expand the program outside of those two states.
Critics are comparing GM's promotion to "a crack dealer looking to keep his addicts on a tight leash" and calling it "lunacy", according to the Detroit News.
Eric Haxthausen, who works at Environmental Defense, said the program is "a gimmick, and if GM would focus more on making fuel-efficient cars and trucks, they wouldn't need such gimmicks."
My least favorite part of the article is from David Cole, head of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, who politicizes the program. He said, "The liberal philosophy is we ought to not be buying GM SUVs and instead buying Toyota Priuses. That's their perfect world but it's not the world in which we live." As if clean air and better mileage is something only "liberals" want. How does that make sense?
[Source: Detroit News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
dan 9:11AM (6/05/2006)
actually, that's EXACTLY the way it is. I know a tahoe driver who would kill to keep his truck. He said once to me, "I'm aware of the cost of fuel for my truck. Of course it needs that much, it's huge! ...and I love it." he has no illusions about the cost of fuel for it, but it still is no deterrence for him. I think he'd love to gotten in on such a subsidy. But it is ass-backwards. the only reason why GM is promoting e85 anyway is because they've had flex-fuel versions of the SBC for a while now anyway. It's a helluva lot cheaper to make e85-compatible cars than to build a hybrid
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