Monday, November 17, 2008

Why not bring back the EV1?

The Yes Men's New York Times parody is not only funny and loaded of emotionally satisfying fantasies. It is a source of thought provoking ideas.

One of the fake ads that keeps popping up is for a re-released EV1 from GM. (New slogan: Because we have toTM.) My first thought was, "You know, re-releasing the EV1 should be a condition for a bailout!" But wait, why doesn't the EV1 play a big role in anyone's scenario for a revived GM? Bringing back the EV1 would instantly give GM the drop on Honda and Toyota, who are planning to introduce their plug in hybrids in the Spring. It would give GM a high profile entry into the new car market, and announce to the world that they plan to change the way they do business. What's stopping them?

2 comments:

Matt BK said...

http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/

Rob Helpy-Chalk said...

Thanks Matt, I actually got schooled on this at Unfogged. I was thinking that they could just put the EV1 back on the road and beat Toyota to the punch. But it would actually take them till 2010 to ramp up production anyway, and the Volt will be a superior car, if only because GM won't be losing $40K on every sale.