Electric Cars for the Middle Class
It appears that companies are realizing that zero emission electric vehicles should not just be for the “rich”. In May, Nissan announced that it would begin electric cars in the U.S. to be available in 2010. This week, they announced they would mass produce a zero-emissions electric car by 2012 that would be affordable. However, during a Nissan shareholder’s call Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn refused to speculate on the sticker price.
According to an Associated Press article, Ghosn said, “If it’s not affordable, it’s not gonna work. We are not going to come with a very high price. We are gonna come with a reasonable price,” he said. “We are here to mass market them.”
What I want to know is what the company will consider affordable now that America’s economic turmoil continues to spiral downward.
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Nissan plans to produce an electric vehicle for Japan this August and then set its sites on America. Ghosn did confirm that Nissan plans to have the zero emission vehicles manufactured in America. This is great news for all the skilled auto workers who are out of work.
Now while all electric vehicles are seeming to gain traction in the U.S. it appears that hybrid vehicles are beginning to gain some traction overseas. The Indian company Tata Motors is capitalizing on success with the petrol-efficient Nano to build electric and hybrid cars with their first electric car to be sold in the Netherlands.
In addition, Hyundai and Kia, both Korean car makers, are also planning to compete against Toyota and Honda by entering the hybrid and electric market. Mitsubishi recently announced it will begin mass producing the I-MiEV and is expected to hit the market next month.
With oil prices trending upward, and worldwide government incentives on the rise for alternative vehicles, especially utilizing electric and hybrid technologies, it looks like the race is on to see who can mass produce and sell the most electric and hybrid vehicles the fastest.
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June 26th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
“Skilled auto worker is an oxymoron.” There ain’t no such thing. There are preposterously overpaid UAW auto workers, but no sane company would ever hire them. Their autoworking skill consists of how to bolt a fender on. They cost over $125K per year. How would you like to hire one to work in your yard? Didn’t think so.
June 28th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Still leaving the fry dumpers and register operators of the world out in the cold. I wonder when the used zero emission car market will dip below the 7k point.
July 1st, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Tom, are you a little bitter, judgmental much? You might be right to a degree, but these are people… with families and lives… just like you. Wouldn’t it be more productive to retrain/reintegrate than to deride and hate?
P.S. Don’t blame the workers anyway, they didn’t design the production process to be suitable for monkeys. Do you think they want to do one simple job over and over and over? Blame Henry Ford…
August 10th, 2009 at 4:09 am
[...] study finds that hybrid sales have not replaced gas guzzling SUVS, but rather have replaced small, relatively fuel-efficient, [...]