by Doug Clore

Created on: November 19, 2009

Hybrid cars can't save the US auto industry. There are several reasons people are buying fewer new American cars, and offering more hybrids will not solve any of them.

The high cost of a new car is one reason the US auto industry is failing. Even the low end of the pricing spectrum is far beyond the means of those who are either jobless or concerned about losing their jobs, not to mention those who are either homeless or concerned about losing their homes. Instead of hybrid cars offering a hopeful alternative to high pricing, they are still a higher initial expense than their non-hybrid counterparts. Rebates, tax credits, and efficient operation narrow the pricing gap, but the fact remains that in order to alleviate the cost problem, hybrids would have to be significantly LESS expensive, not simply comparable in price. In these devastating economic times, people are fixing up their old cars more and more. A potential customer who is concerned that he may lose his job any day is highly unlikely to feel comfortable about committing to five years or more of high monthly payments. When building hybrids successfully solves the employment and housing crisis, maybe it can be considered as a partial solution to the failing US auto industry.

The preference of many American car buyers for foreign vehicles is another reason the US auto industry is failing. It doesn't matter whether their preference is based on reputation, satisfaction, superior workmanship, better pricing, design, or color choices, the cold hard truth is that customers are choosing foreign built autos over the home grown variety in ever increasing numbers. When faced with the choice between an American hybrid and a foreign hybrid, this unfortunate preference remains, which leads to the conclusion that simply building the same type car as foreign automakers will not automatically (or immediately) translate to more sales, and will not thereby save the US auto industry.

Financial mismanagement is an additional reason the US auto industry is failing. US auto manufacturers could build all the hybrids they want in the years to come, but that will not change the fact that among other things, the pension funds have been mismanaged, rising costs of manufacturing have not been controlled responsibly, and research and development budgets have not kept pace with industry needs. Making a decision to build hybrids will do nothing but insure that US automakers will now be mismanaging production of hybrids rather than traditional gas-only automobiles.

Building hybrids will not even begin to address the fundamental problems causing the decline of the US auto industry.The sales slowdown due to a floundering economy and low consumer confidence, the ever-increasing preference for foreign vehicles by American car buyers, gross mismanagement of the US auto corporations, along with a myriad of additional issues, all appeared on the scene long before hybrid cars. Unfortunately for all of those affected, hybrid cars cannot save the US auto industry.

Sources:

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/hybridcars/articles/10 3708/article.html

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/11242

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