Topic: GM Announces Spark EV--Hypocrites?

[rrocket]

http://gas2.org/2011/10/12/breaking-gm-announces-chevy-spark-ev-coming-to-u-s-in-2013/

So GM has announced a purely electric car for 2013.  This after much fear-mongering about "range anxiety"....it's a term they even tried to trademark!  Mark Reuss (GM president) and Bob Lutz have both ridiculed and criticized purely electric cars.  And GM's Volt commercial has too...tongue in cheek.  And now...GM is bringing a purely EV to market.

How will they market this car (and maybe future Volt marketing) with all the BS they were slinging around about electric vehicles and range anxiety??   

[tpl]

They have probably taken a second look at the new CAFE numbers for '13 thru '16 compared with their sales and figured that an electric car will get them enough credit to keep selling big SUVs.    Also they have read the chicken entrails and concluded that Obama with still be president so there is no chance of getting the CAFE standards rolled back.

cynical much ?

[Jaeger]

http://gas2.org/2011/10/12/breaking-gm-announces-chevy-spark-ev-coming-to-u-s-in-2013/

So GM has announced a purely electric car for 2013.  This after much fear-mongering about "range anxiety"....it's a term they even tried to trademark!  Mark Reuss (GM president) and Bob Lutz have both ridiculed and criticized purely electric cars.  And GM's Volt commercial has too...tongue in cheek.  And now...GM is bringing a purely EV to market.

How will they market this car (and maybe future Volt marketing) with all the BS they were slinging around about electric vehicles and range anxiety??   

Hopefully someone will throw the quotes back in their faces when they get up to the podium to wax poetic about their wonderful new product.  Be interesting to see what some of the "range anxiety" proponents on here would have to say about this, also.

Jaeger

[TopGun]

....
....This after much fear-mongering about "range anxiety"....it's a term they even tried to trademark!  Mark Reuss (GM president) and Bob Lutz have both ridiculed and criticized purely electric cars.  And GM's Volt commercial has too...tongue in cheek.  And now...GM is bringing a purely EV to market.

How will they market this car (and maybe future Volt marketing) with all the BS they were slinging around about electric vehicles and range anxiety??   

You're so predictable Rrrocket.  I wrote a few responses and deleted them all...they were inappropriate.

And now a see Jaeger has added his typical crap on GM.  You guys win...this place sucks.

[rrocket]

....
....This after much fear-mongering about "range anxiety"....it's a term they even tried to trademark!  Mark Reuss (GM president) and Bob Lutz have both ridiculed and criticized purely electric cars.  And GM's Volt commercial has too...tongue in cheek.  And now...GM is bringing a purely EV to market.

How will they market this car (and maybe future Volt marketing) with all the BS they were slinging around about electric vehicles and range anxiety??   

You're so predictable Rrrocket.  I wrote a few responses and deleted them all...they were inappropriate.

And now a see Jaeger has added his typical crap on GM.  You guys win...this place sucks.

You're free to type whatever you want, man.  I posed a good question.  GM has been publicly slinging BS about "range anxiety" and mocking purely electric EVs.  Now they are releasing one.  I posted my comments on their hypocrisy and how might they advertise in the future to get around their previous bias. Feel free to post your view however inappropriate you think it is.  I really don't see why you're pouting about this.  This is an automaker (and their execs) making a 180 degree flip about something they've been saying for the past couple of years.  This is newsworthy.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

It's marketing. The competitor's product is always bad, yours is always terrific, only the rationalizations change. It's just the way things go.

GM played up range anxiety for sure, but they certainly didn't invent it.

[rrocket]

GM played up range anxiety for sure, but they certainly didn't invent it.

It's ironic.  The term was first used towards GMs EV-1.  Now GM wants to trademark the term for "promoting public awareness of electric vehicle capabilities".  Oh..and fear mongering. 

[Jaeger]

GM played up range anxiety for sure, but they certainly didn't invent it.

It's ironic.  The term was first used towards GMs EV-1.  Now GM wants to trademark the term for "promoting public awareness of electric vehicle capabilities".  Oh..and fear mongering. 

You're serious - they actually wanted to trademark the term, and that was their explanation?  Far out, man. 

Sir O - they may not have invented the term, but having played it up to the extent they have, they now find themselves hoist on their own petard, so to speak.  That's all I'm saying.  All their range-anxiety slurs turned out to be boomerang-shaped. 

Jaeger

[rrocket]

You're serious - they actually wanted to trademark the term, and that was their explanation?  Far out, man. 

I was not joking:  http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2010/09/01/general-motors-wants-trademark-for-range-anxiety/

[Jaeger]

You're serious - they actually wanted to trademark the term, and that was their explanation?  Far out, man. 

I was not joking:  http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2010/09/01/general-motors-wants-trademark-for-range-anxiety/

Wow.  The irony of that seems inescapable to me.  Though it clearly escapes some.

Jaeger

[Mike]

They will market it fine, no one will really care but a few in a small minority.  Every company contradicts itself through marketing.  Marketing 101 - make your product right now appeal more then the other guys.  Next year, you market the hell out of the next product.  Even if you sell fullsize V8 SUV's and hybrids, you market them against each other.

Nissan recently made a commercial mocking specifically hybrids and in general gasoline vehicles?  The same Nissan that made Hybrids and sells 99.9% of its vehicles with a gas engine?  Where was the cynical 'evil empire' post about that?

[rrocket]

They will market it fine, no one will really care but a few in a small minority.  Every company contradicts itself through marketing.  Marketing 101 - make your product right now appeal more then the other guys.  Next year, you market the hell out of the next product.  Even if you sell fullsize V8 SUV's and hybrids, you market them against each other.

Nissan recently made a commercial mocking specifically hybrids and in general gasoline vehicles?  The same Nissan that made Hybrids and sells 99.9% of its vehicles with a gas engine?  Where was the cynical 'evil empire' post about that?

The commercial (like GMs) was tongue in cheek (as most are).  Carlos Ghosn said that he didn't want to build "just another hybrid" or a "range extender".  That's far different from publicly mocking hybrids or range extending cars like the Volt.  He said he wanted a pure electric car and one that was zero emissions all the time, not just some of the time.  At no point has Ghosn said Nissan was going to be 100% right now.  If he did, then that would be a similar flip flop to what GM is doing. 

What GM is doing is a 180 degree flip flop from what their brass have been saying publicly.  Ghosn building gas hybrids along side plug-in EVs is much different.  Just like GM building a plug-in beside their "soft" hybrid SUVs is different.

I think if Toyota decided to completely abandon hybrids and EVs would be a similar type of flipflop because they have been so outspoken on both.

[inco]

GM is just responding to a developing market and wants to play there. Things change and companies move where consumers want to spend. Not a big deal and while it is opposite of their previous position, it only means even the stupid can learn. 

[Shnak]

Just goes to show how much of a bad approach the Volt is... horrible fuel consumption once its batteries are depleted, too complex, too expensive, too heavy, etc, etc.

[Jaeger]

GM is just responding to a developing market and wants to play there. Things change and companies move where consumers want to spend. Not a big deal and while it is opposite of their previous position, it only means even the stupid can learn. 

Think they'll try to patent that phrase? 

Jaeger

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Hey look, the GM trolls are out.

Toyota had advertising explaining how their compact pickup was all a person needed, then they came out with the larger T100 and explained how it was right sized, then they finally caved completely and brought out the Tundra.

BMW and Mercedes, amongst others, had ruled out hybrids in favour of clean diesel tech, now they are both have them.

GM is no different than any other conglomerate in changing their product line as market conditions shift. Haters will see that as hypocritical. Of course, if they didn't respond to the market and pure electrics take off, then they would be accused of not responding to market conditions. GM in some eyes can do no right. Most people could not care less.

[Shnak]

Hey look, the GM trolls are out.

Toyota had advertising explaining how their compact pickup was all a person needed, then they came out with the larger T100 and explained how it was right sized, then they finally caved completely and brought out the Tundra.

BMW and Mercedes, amongst others, had ruled out hybrids in favour of clean diesel tech, now they are both have them.

GM is no different than any other conglomerate in changing their product line as market conditions shift. Haters will see that as hypocritical. Of course, if they didn't respond to the market and pure electrics take off, then they would be accused of not responding to market conditions. GM in some eyes can do no right. Most people could not care less.

Sure, but the difference is the timeline... the Volt hasn't even been on the market for a full year, and already, GM is saying it's a bad product that doesn't respond to their customers' needs and that they're working on something better instead.

[Mike]

Hey look, the GM trolls are out.

Toyota had advertising explaining how their compact pickup was all a person needed, then they came out with the larger T100 and explained how it was right sized, then they finally caved completely and brought out the Tundra.

BMW and Mercedes, amongst others, had ruled out hybrids in favour of clean diesel tech, now they are both have them.

GM is no different than any other conglomerate in changing their product line as market conditions shift. Haters will see that as hypocritical. Of course, if they didn't respond to the market and pure electrics take off, then they would be accused of not responding to market conditions. GM in some eyes can do no right. Most people could not care less.

Sure, but the difference is the timeline... the Volt hasn't even been on the market for a full year, and already, GM is saying it's a bad product that doesn't respond to their customers' needs and that they're working on something better instead.

Sorry, I missed where GM said this?  I believe they are making a complimentary product like so many other companies do, but it is GM, so alas, it is horrible, wrong, stupid, misguided, out of touch, etc.

[tpl]

GM are just trying to fill every niche as they have always done. 

[Shnak]

Hey look, the GM trolls are out.

Toyota had advertising explaining how their compact pickup was all a person needed, then they came out with the larger T100 and explained how it was right sized, then they finally caved completely and brought out the Tundra.

BMW and Mercedes, amongst others, had ruled out hybrids in favour of clean diesel tech, now they are both have them.

GM is no different than any other conglomerate in changing their product line as market conditions shift. Haters will see that as hypocritical. Of course, if they didn't respond to the market and pure electrics take off, then they would be accused of not responding to market conditions. GM in some eyes can do no right. Most people could not care less.

Sure, but the difference is the timeline... the Volt hasn't even been on the market for a full year, and already, GM is saying it's a bad product that doesn't respond to their customers' needs and that they're working on something better instead.

Sorry, I missed where GM said this?  I believe they are making a complimentary product like so many other companies do, but it is GM, so alas, it is horrible, wrong, stupid, misguided, out of touch, etc.

So, GM will give away a Spart EV to everyone who's bought a Volt?