Segway's Personal Electronic Vehicle: Nothing Says Success Like Teaming Up with GM

Hey, so Segway and GM are going to work to produce a new two-person Segway-ish quasi-car. For what, you might ask? It doesn’t look like a particularly comfortable way to commute, and neither does it seem likely to work well in urban settings, where pedestrians and cyclists get along just fine under their own power, thank you. As Atrios says:

I think a big problem for vehicles like this is that they aren’t all that compatible with the existing universe of roads and cars.

I can think of one setting (other than beach communities and golf courses, maybe) where vehicles like this might work on a mass scale — densifying suburbs. It’s fine to run transit lines through suburbs, and build dense TOD around stations, and replace strip malls with mixed-use, walkable mini-neighborhoods, but the question remains — how do you get all the thousands of people in homes that aren’t a comfortable walk from retail and transit centers to those places? Cars are an option, but cars are extremely bulky. That bulk means more traffic and more parking, and also does very little to address all the emissions and gas-cost problems we face.

But small personal electric vehicles could fill that niche. They could also facilitate car-sharing in the suburbs, which might be logistically impossible otherwise. There’s still the question of where the things travel, but that’s probably more manageable in driveable suburbs. They a) tend to have perpetually empty sidewalks which could suffice as PEV paths, and b) have wide roads that could easily accommodate PEV lanes.

I last wrote about smaller stocks making more sense than larger ones just a bit early in late January. The call ended up being right, but for the wrong reason I suppose. In any event, the relationship is back to where it was then, and I believe that this could be an opportunity. Specifically, in a market that is relatively overbought, there are many smaller companies that are quite oversold due to tax-loss selling and perhaps window-dressing. The portfolio I manage has a few of these! I have been adding to some of these names in my model portfolios as well. Additionally, there are many stocks that are in a corrective phase but that look attractive.

I believe that as the calendar turns, investors will be taking a closer look at laggards as well as increasing their tolerance for illiquidity that is typically associated with smaller stocks. Smaller stocks typically have slightly higher PE ratios but are valued similarly to larger ones on a debt-adjusted basis. I guess I am looking for the January effect to work, but noting that sometimes it comes early.

I last wrote about smaller stocks making more sense than larger ones just a bit early in late January. The call ended up being right, but for the wrong reason I suppose. In any event, the relationship is back to where it was then, and I believe that this could be an opportunity. Specifically, in a market that is relatively overbought, there are many smaller companies that are quite oversold due to tax-loss selling and perhaps window-dressing. The portfolio I manage has a few of these! I have been adding to some of these names in my model portfolios as well. Additionally, there are many stocks that are in a corrective phase but that look attractive.

I believe that as the calendar turns, investors will be taking a closer look at laggards as well as increasing their tolerance for illiquidity that is typically associated with smaller stocks. Smaller stocks typically have slightly higher PE ratios but are valued similarly to larger ones on a debt-adjusted basis. I guess I am looking for the January effect to work, but noting that sometimes it comes early.

Is this a good idea, on net? I don’t know. But as a potential market, I think it might work.

Comments

[Carousel:]

there's a new concept in the automotive business
it's 2 seated, 2 wheeled, and too ambitious
General Motors fearing their time is over
is desperate to meet their innovation quota

partnered with Segway trying to make headway
came up with something just a little more deadly
works like the other one except that you sit
and ride around praying that you don't get hit

To listen to me rap my opinion, visit:

www.youtube.com/watch?...

Apr 08 02:09 AM

[John Petersen:]

The PUMA may well prove to be the best EV idea in years. All of the others use batteries to move a couple hundred pounds of passenger and a couple thousand pounds of vehicle at highway speeds. With a curb weight of 300 pounds and room for two, the PUMA is an ultra-efficient use of batteries. The manufacturer of the Li-ion batteries used in the PUMA is Valence Technology. For more detail, see my instablog on the PUMA:

seekingalpha.com/autho...

Apr 08 02:33 AM

[Wayfarer:]

The market for this product starts in Asian cities. Eventually, variations on this are likely over much of the world. Small towns in Europe without much traffic and where bicycles are common would provide a good market.

Apr 08 09:31 AM

[MikeCooper:]

As much as I love to see GM finally trying to think out of the box, I just don't see the market for this at all. PUMAs will not be allowed on sidewalks for many good reasons. That means it will share the road with the big vehicles Americans still love to buy.

It's hard to predict what transportation would look like if oil prices hovered up around $100 for a year or more. Perhaps this is it. But there is no money in solving tomorrow's problems today. GM should be partnering with any of the small plug-in hybrid firms to green-up their line of SUVs. That's where the market is now.

Apr 08 10:53 AM

[William Taylor:]

It will be a spectacular failure just like the Segway. Sure a few thousand nuts will embrace it but to me it just does not make any sense.

Apr 08 11:58 AM

[Andy_in_973:]

Interestingly, my wife described it as a motorized rickshaw the first time she saw it. Good concept, but it looks like it was designed by a committee. Maybe it should be called the BORE --- Based On a Rickshaw (Electric).

Apr 08 12:06 PM

[slowdown:]

We already have hybrid trucks and SUV's...we also have Flex fuel trucks/SUV's and cars. Aside from and electric truck that no one will buy...there isn't much else to do until the Volt arrives.


On Apr 08 10:53 AM MikeCooper wrote:

> As much as I love to see GM finally trying to think out of the box,
> I just don't see the market for this at all. PUMAs will not be allowed
> on sidewalks for many good reasons. That means it will share the
> road with the big vehicles Americans still love to buy.
>
> It's hard to predict what transportation would look like if oil prices
> hovered up around $100 for a year or more. Perhaps this is it. But
> there is no money in solving tomorrow's problems today. GM should
> be partnering with any of the small plug-in hybrid firms to green-up
> their line of SUVs. That's where the market is now.

Apr 08 10:50 PM

[andrewandrew:]

biking in the rain sucks

Apr 09 09:03 AM