Are tax breaks the answer to gain entry into the electric vehicle marketplace. Short term thinking, let the market decide!

It seems as if we always look to our government to bail industry out. How short term thinking is it to lobby congress to gain large tax breaks so that big business can get a price point, whatever happened to the free market, commerce and capitalism. The marketplace will determine if GM is pricing the vehicle right, if you design a vehicle that people want and desire and it has the appropriate comfort levels and design that has appeal, I do not believe there will be a shortage of customers lining up to purchase the Volt.

I have heard from countless people that say they want one [Volt] and they will pay way more than the sub $30,000.00 that GM wishes to price the vehicle. Why? Because initially the vehicle has some style and appeal, all based on the press that GM is serving up. If GM delivers on its performance promises and the final production version maintains its initial design cues, they should have a winner, without government assistance. The $7,000.00 they are asking for could and should be passed on to the customer, I have read and heard that GM wants the price point under $25,000.00, so my simple math is $25,000.00 plus $7,000.00 equals $32,000.00. I believe the public would bite the bullet and pay, then with production they can drive the battery cost down even lower for future lower priced "babyvolts".

Our U.S. energy policies should be focused on other things like, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, expanding refineries, nuclear energy, solar/wind/oceanic power. Because the eventual problems with our energy consumption , even with hybrid technology and electric technology is foreign/crude oil, coal and the like, we are still powering up our electric grids with "OIL". So more electric vehicles on our roads today means more oil being used right now, we have to change our long term energy policies period.

Otherwise the foreign and domestic oil dependence cycle continues....

Enjoy Today!
Kevin Kimbrough
That Car Guy

>>>>Check out the article below for more thoughts and opinion:

No $30K Chevy Volt without Congress' help
by Sam Abuelsamid

Since the inception of the Chevy Volt program in 2006, GM's goal has been to offer the range extended electric vehicle for a sub-$30,000 price point. That level has always been seen as the threshold to get high-volume sales of an electric car. Unfortunately, lithium ion batteries remain far too expensive to be able to sell the car at that price profitably. GM has always indicated that they expect the car to remain a money loser in the early years of production, but given the financial difficulties of all the domestic automakers, they can only go so far in subsidizing the car. In order to help make the Volt less financially painful both for the manufacturer and consumers, GM is lobbying Congress to pass a new batch of tax breaks for plug-in vehicles. There has been on-going debate in Congress for some time about tax credits for plug-in hybrids and GM wants to make sure that ER-EVs are specifically included. A credit of $7,000 for the purchase of such a vehicle seems to be the target point. According to GM sources cited by Automotive News (subs req'd) a $30,000 price seems unlikely unless tax credits are passed by Congress and the White House. The House of Representatives already passed a bill last week that included PHEV tax breaks but the White House has threatened a veto. More than likely, nothing will happen until early in 2009 when a new President is in office.

*Courtesy Autoblog Green

Sphere: Related Content