Mr.Krinkle

Automakers Urge U.S. to Emphasize Biofuels, Not CAFE (Update2) By Gopal Ratnam The best way to reduce oil imports and carbon dioxide emissions ``over the next decade is through increased use of bio-fuels,'' said Rick Wagoner, chief executive officer of Detroit-based General Motors Corp. Jim Press, president of Toyota Motor Corp.'s North American unit, broke with his peers on criticizing CAFE. He said Toyota exceeds today's standards and the Japanese automaker favors the program as long as it is ``fair, technologically feasible, cost- effective and does not discourage early compliance.'' ] Wagoner said CAFE has ``failed to meet its intended goal'' of reducing oil demand because growing fuel efficiency has led consumers to drive more. Also, setting the standards by fleet averages ``has been particularly damaging to the domestic, full- line manufacturers'' who make small to large vehicles, he said.` It is not the lack of will that is keeping'' Toyota from putting plug-in hybrid cars on the road, Press said. ``It is the absence of technical breakthroughs'' in battery technology Wonder who will come up with it first. Anyone know if Toyota is trying or just waiting? Link to Full Story

sounds familiar http://www.cheersandgears.com/forums/index...c=13508&hl=

Questions about lithium-ion battery technology make GM wary of giving a timetable for building an auto that gets its primary charge from a home outlet, Beth Lowery, head of GM's battery division, said at a briefing in suburban Detroit today. Lowery said GM held the briefing because of the interest the Volt generated has generated since its debut at the Detroit auto show in January. The company intends to hold regular briefings to report progress and to temper expectations. ``People are so excited about the Volt they want it today,'' she said. ``We need to balance the story about what is possible with what needs to be done.'' http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=con...id=aRHpotGtOARU Joe Lograsso, the engineering manager of the hybrid-battery group for GM, said price may be the lowest hurdle. ``We believe that while they are not ready for prime time, it is not a revolutionary advance, but an evolutionary advance,''

A poll can actually become reliable/valid after 100 responses assuming it is a random sample. The + or -- margin of error is increased, though. 500 is usually a decent number and would result in a margin of about five +/-. 1000 is give or take three. The most relevant part is that it is random. Like, suppose you work at GM or Honda and distributing the question to your employees, for instance. That would compromise the results.

Now, does this look like the type of person who would try and intentionally mislead you? :AH-HA_wink: btw, thats Jim Press of Toyota NA.

maybe they are just be implying the North American transplants that buy parts. Thats just the beauty of the English language. Example from recent memory. "Artificial and Natural Maple Falvors" Are the Maple flavors natural or are they artificial and natural.

I get ya. I thought I saw "among other vehicle makers. oh well. sucks for them. One bad thing about being on top of the mountain.

Maybe its just me and im reading this incorrectly, but how can a company fall to number two behind another company among others. unless there were ties? but I dont think it specifies. Just looking for clarification.

I dont need some magical alternative fuel. I just took out ma back seats. I also have a hood and left fender made from carbon fiber. she sure is sweet. The idea of perpetual rain fall is an interesting thought.

as a concept the volt is fantastic its just that it was needed yesterday. I saw the video of it driving and it may not be as far off but it still at this time is the equivalent to kiting a check. the prius has done all the damage it needed to do. Rightly or wrongly. Most people will acknowledge this. I dont think anyone is singling out GM for this transgression but as a gm fan site with the toughest critics and biggest fans who gives a hairy rats ass if honda or anyone else dropped the hybrid ball. Excusing them or blaming them will not exonerate GM and make up for their lack of a halo wearing highmileage green mobile. As a step in the right direction Gm is admitting their own follies and taking their lumps. Maybe not proactive but not going forward with the tech when they realistcly could and should have, has to be one of the toughest pills for them to swallow.

It is not a lack of intelligence, its a lack of vision. You have to open your eyes before you are able to see. Ill leave you these last thoughts as to illuminati you. A Zen student once asked his master: "Does FOG seek enlightenment?" To which the Zen master replied "No. Enlightenment seeks FOG." At that moment the student became enlightened.

A nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse. :AH-HA_wink: and never forget: just because you are paranoid doesnt mean they aren't out to get you.

yea, i wish he would have just shredded him so he could have spared us this story.

I thought that was the theme of this particular thread. Isnt that how it got started? Continue to bring out more cars that people want. e.g. malibus, lambdas, Hope people buy them. Hope that their image and perception of their image continues to improve with the arrival of these new vehicles. Lead the way with more innovation technology and design. Stop closing down U.S. manufacturing and assembly plants.

that was you? thanks for the lasers, computers, and fiber optics. dont know where we would be without them. You are a credit to your lifeform actually, one correction here. Only the pentagon was hit with a cruise missile. We have video of planes hitting the the towers. what you dont know is that flight 93 was supposed to hit wtc 7. It never made it there and thats why when the explosions went off and collapsed it was suspicious. ps tell the lindberg baby tip toe through the tulips. hell know :AH-HA_wink: I can remember the fourth of July, Runnin' through the backwood bare. And I can still hear my old hound dog barkin', Chasin' down a hoodoo there. Chasin' down a hoodoo there.

that was my point. it was tongue in cheek. But the reality is as soon as the gas goes up again so will the sales. and more importantly, the halo effect still resonates with consumers. And someone correct me if i m wrong but i do not think selling days is a good method of measuring. not the top 10 but still selling well. Just because someone saw 50 sitting on a lot in their town doesnt account for the 19,950 that have been sold this year. The tax rebates are gone finally because they sold so damn many. and also, as noted above, they are offering special finance interest rates of 2.9% for up to 60 months. What remains to be seen is how the market accepts GM's entries. and not for nothing, its still selling 100k units a year. I can think of a few normal cars that it outsells. What pisses me off about the prius is the GM hybrid buses out do the prius in green-ness, difference being you cant own one and no one knows about them. That was something that could have been used to their advantage but never was for whatever reason. and i think its too late now.

a million extra sales over 3 years for toyota. the prius has been on sale roughly 3 years. sold approx 50k in 04, 100k in 05, another 100k in 06 and in ought 7 on pace for more. thats more than a 1/4 of those million sales. Id say that volume is marginal. Those people shopping for a hybrid 2 or 3 years ago probably would have bought a hybrid from GM, or Nissan if they were offered. It was an untapped market. Anyone know how many hybrids GM sold in 04? and unless you are a city who bought a bus the answer does not matter. That was an aspect GM failed to capitalize on. the facts really speak for themselves and i admit i should have not responded to the inflammatory remarks in kind. so on that note, ill just let FOG speak for himself from now on. and the contradiction This is what GM is up against. You can bitch about the truth of the matter and what is actually occuring or as quoted straight from the headline of the story:

i usualy dont click on links but from the same article. i guess with a headline like that they still had to go out of their way to show how awesome that cars been selling just to stick it to detroit because Toyotas are so good and they want GM to fail. im guessing you didnt find a story so clearly biased against toyota in the mainstream media? someone must have fallen asleep at the switch. btw, personally, i think the car is a piece of crap but there is no denying what it has done to the market and for toyota right or wrong. people want it and up until has led to: all the information is there. it just depends on how you perceive and interpret it.

never said anything about the prius? your head is so far up your ass you dont even know what you are saying half the time. its volume inconsequential? ok buddy. the halo effect even gives the appearance of being a green co. even as it rolls out the gas guzzling trucks. --quoted from the story. sounds pretty damned biased to me. thats sarcasm everything else zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzz you are the one who seeks the bias. grow up and get it together or lose it forever, pal. you sound like a sore loser and as a GM owner and fan i wouldnt want anyone reading your whiny bs. open the links, all two of them-more sarcasm- read what i wrote and pull your head out of your ass then come back to me.

Pffft. Whered you read that? in a newspaper. You know who prints that stuff right? Summer blends are in now and as long as gas settles at a certain point things should be o.k. for the truck end. Most people do not want another slap in the face from Katrina but will budget their gas in a certain acceptable amount. The perception gap has been and continues to be the most difficult hurdle to overcome. I believe the domestics have many of the hearts of the public, maybe the minds... just not their wallets. This is being addressed by the current mgmt. at GM and will have to wait a little longer to see if the damage is irreversible. Judging by the stuff set to roll off the lines i say people are going to run out of excuses.

From my experience its usually the places that are telling you something is "biased" are the ones that are biased. This is not the article to try and prove that this phenomena exists. People are Biased. You are right about the Star, I have not been subjected to it.

He needs to get his head out of the horses ass first.

...or this guy. someones been watching Tron.

true enough and i dont disagree. There was a time when GM was the media and they could do no wrong. Polls are often used for nefarious reasons. These internet polls like stated above are basically just for fun and I wanted to make sure people realize that. for instance, just by being posted on a fan forum site can destroy the validity. For all we know toyota fan sites may have responded 10 fold.

why didnt you respond to my other post? Hostile Media Effect also see confirmation bias you tool.