In a week where gas doesn’t look likely to drop below a buck a litre, John at Dymaxion World mourns a botched opportunity to move California (and then North America) to electric cars. General Motors merits special derision for crushing every one of its popular EV1s. (Check out this follow-up post for a cogent argument on why electric beats the alternatives.)
Meanwhile, if you lived in China, you could pick up a small van for only about $5,000 US that gets the kind of fuel economy you’d usually associate with hybrids or sub-subcompacts. The maker? A subsidiary of, yes, General Motors.
Sadly, as WorldChanging reports, GM’s old innovation-killing ways may be rearing their heads again.
According to today’s New York Times, the GM executive in China who conceived of and shepherded the Sunshine design “resigned” — the clear implication was that the resignation was not entirely willing — and there are signs that GM is looking to exert more control from Detroit over its wayward subsidiary in Liuzhou.
You don’t suppose that what’s good for General Motors maybe isn’t good for the rest of us..?
Updated: Definitely check out Liuzhou Laowai’s take on this story, which suggests the big success story is the Chevrolet Spark.
a) Wuling is NOT a subsiduary of GM as such. GM own a minority share. The majority shareholder is SAIC.
b) GM did NOT introduce the Wuling minivan. Wuling had been making them for twenty years before GM came on the scene.
c) The Wuling minivan is locally regarded as a wheelbarrow with an engine (of sorts). They are condsidered dangerous, unreliable and short lived.
All in all, the NYT article is seriously flawed.
Thanks for coming by to comment. It’s great to get a perspective from someone a little closer to the situation!
You don’t suppose that what’s good for General Motors maybe isn’t good for the rest of us..?
Probably because the person who first uttered that phrase was the then-President of General Motors.
Incidentally, in the 1950s, GM was also responsible for buying and then dismantling the transit system in Los Angeles.