Detroit Auto Show 2009: Green Rules- Response (8)

This article was posted about the Detroit Auto Show and I think it gives a very good summary. Many other articles merely talked about a single car or company. I also happened to watch a TV program on the show and thought it was very interesting.

It is clear that many car companies are beginning to understand how their less fuel efficient vehicles have been hurting the environment and have been forcing consumers to pay more at the pump. I noticed that more than half of the vehicles shown were fully electric or hybrids. I even saw a fuel cell vehicle, however this is not mentioned in the article. I think one reason fuel cells are having a difficult time is because they are more expensive to make than electric vehicles and hydrogen is not easily available.

The article mentions tax breaks for green-technology. I think that there should be around a 10% tax break for gas vehicles that get more than 30 mpg. There should be a 20% tax break for hybrid vehicles. Finally, there should be a 30% tax break for electric and other alternatively fueled vehicles.

The reason for these tax breaks, is they will help people work towards alternatively powered vehicles, specifically electric. This will slow carbon emissions and help the economy because money won't be wasted on foreign oil. Some people expect oil prices to climb soon.

I think that Toyota's new Prius is a little disappointing. The car gets 50 mpg but this is not a huge improvement from their last model. On the other hand, This might be a chance for American car companies such as GM and Ford to get one up with their upcoming plug-in electrics. Although Toyota already has many hybrid on the market, I think that the Volt and Fusion will be very strong when they are released.

After seeing and reading about all of these new cars I think that Tesla's Roadster is the top performer. It has the longest range of any plug-in electric car that has been proposed. It also is the fastest and most powerful electric car out, and this makes it more popular than the others. The only drawback to the Roadster, is it is the most expensive at $109,000. Tesla has already sold over 150 of these cars to environmentally-interested celebrites and other people with money to spare.

I think that Tesla will continue to make profits with this car and I am very interested to hear that they are producing a $57,500 version and possibly a model under $30,000. I think it is great that Tesla is making popular and soon cheaper cars. If Tesla manufactures these newer models in large numbers, it is possible that they might be bought by one of the "Big Three." If they gain a lot of profits, and are not bought-out, there might be a "Big Four."

Overall, car companies are selling "greener" vehicles (though it is up to the comsumers to buy them). In my opinion the new Toyota Prius is a little bellow my expectations, but it is the strongest currently sold. Tesla is my bet for the future if it can scale up production. It is great that American companies are making progress as well.