This is interesting. The cynical side of me says Honda or Toyota will have something similar in production years before GM... <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-jHFT1X1JDI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-jHFT1X1JDI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
One copy and it costs 5 million quid. Sounds like GM. The Volt - a car whose price will cause you to never recoup the extra cost in fuel savings.
So far that sounds like everyone. I think it's been a lose-lose (the consumer AND the manufacturer) situation for everyone except maybe Toyota and the Prius. And there's conflicting opinions on the Prius' profitability.
True. There are plenty of decent cars that get in the mid 30s on highway MPG (Civic, Camry, etc.). They are far less complex and a lot less expensive than these not-ready-for-primetime hybrids. A Toyota or Honda can go 250-300K miles. One wonders how far these current-generation Prius and Insights will go before needing expensive work and battery replacements, in addition to their much higher price. It is a good area to research, but they are beta testing this stuff on people who will likely never save a dime considering what they paid. When they make these things get 60 MPG, last 200K miles, and only add $2,000 to the price and ownership cost of their car, THEN I will consider one. Frankly, they should have focused on CNG vehicles. They put out much less CO2 than other fuels, we are sitting on huge quantities of lowcost domestic natural gas, it burns cleaner in the engine, and there are actually places you can refuel. A REALLY good city car, at minimum.
No. It's a look into the future and a cool bit of gear. GM may not be able to monetize the ideas as effectively as another maker but that doesn't change the fact that this is what tech innovation looks like.