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GM Calls the Top for Oil

"Also everyone states that GM and the others where only building what the consumers wanted, well if GM and the others only built certain type of vehicles be then gas, diesel or hydrogen, or electric we would have bought them as we would have had no choice that is all there would be on the market."

That is completely nonsense. I, like so many people, want to buy a hybrid but are not willing to pay a huge premium for the hybrid technology. As a result, I will wait until the hyrbrid technology's premium declines to a level where it becomes a no-brainer to pay for the extra cost.

As for diesel, I would like to buy a diesel car and Mercedes has a product that can be sold in all 50 states. Unfortunately, while gas (87 octane) goes for $4.30 a gallon, diesel costs $5.00 a gallon and that alone will make the diesel engine uneconomical use to -- not to mention not all gas stations sell diesel. As for hydrogen (or natural gas) technology, there aren't enough refueling stations to allow to me to use a hydrogen car on extended trips.

Right now, the current refueling infrastructure in the US makes it compelling to buy a traditional gas-powered car, especially if you buy a used car. The costs of hybrid technology has reached the level, where it will displace a traditional gas-only vehicle.

Also, as I stated earlier, GM was willing in 2003 (almost 5 years ago) to selling hybrid vehicles so long as consumers were willing to step up to the plate and pay the premium. Obviously consumers didn't step up until recently.

GM Calls the Top for Oil

To IXLR8, the new Toyota Tundra is result of a paradigm shift at Toyota. In the past Toyota didn't want to compete against Ford & GM in full-size trucks -- that all changed when Toyota decided it wanted to the largest car manufacturer in the world. Plus the Tundra was a great way to bring competition to Ford after Toyota had taken so much car market share from Ford. Recall that the Ford Taurus (and Mercury Sable) was at one time the best selling passenger car in America.

GM Calls the Top for Oil

Having covered the auto industry for a few years -- I will say the auto industry are just like any other consumer manufacturer in that they give consumers what they want. GM, Ford, Chrysler wouldn't have built those SUV's and truks if the demand wasn't there. If you looked at the market studies, the market demographics, etc, the automakers have a good idea of what consumers want. Let's be fair to GM, Wagoner stated GM has the ability to produce as many as 1 million (mild) hybrids if consumers wanted that back in 2003 (source: www.usnews.com/usnews/...)

Here are the key words: "The world's largest automaker last month said it would put 1 million hybrid vehicles on the road by 2008, many of them the biggest trucks and SUVs in its fleet. That's if demand materializes." I still remember that speech. GM is huge on mild hybrid, i.e. stop and go technology. GM is also betting a huge amount on hydrogen / fuel cell technology. GM entered into the largest fuel cell project in 2003/2004 timeframe with Dow Chemical (source: www.dow.com/commitment...)

So the answer to your question: "When was the last time a US auto manufacturer got ANYTHING right?"

The get many things right -- the problem with any company is to forecast demand and when you have an industry that is capital intensive, highly unionized, selling expensive durable goods, facing huge amounts of regulation, it's not possible for a company to roll out new products on a dime. If consumers wanted mild hybrids back in 2003, GM would have built them.