Comments on: Hey, Wanna Buy a Minicar?

By: Bob Laipply

Bob Laipply — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 12:37:11 +0000

Thank you Sarah. I would hope that someone close to Bob Lutz could pin him down on his comments. It’s very disconcerting to read that the “car guy” at G.M. is downplaying the potential for these cars in the U.S. market. I think Toyota and Honda were very concerned to see these fresh forward looking designs come from G.M.

By: Sarah Goodyear

Sarah Goodyear — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 20:36:17 +0000

That’s an interesting comment from Lutz about the safety standards. Designer David Lyon told me specifically that the concept cars were compatible with US specs.

By: Bob Laipply

Bob Laipply — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 15:09:55 +0000

Please read this article in the Detroit news. We need these cars here in the U.S. It does not look like G.M will sell them here.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070404/AUTO04/704040451/1364
From article “In an interview with reporters after revealing the three concept cars, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said it currently was unlikely that GM will build any of the triplet concepts for sale in the United States, unless there was a dramatic prolonged increase in fuel prices or an “unforeseen” change in fashion for small cars here. He also said the vehicles could be priced starting at $10,000 and could be built in either China or India. All of the triplets would get in the high 40 or 50 mile per gallon fuel economy range.
Lutz noted that the vehicles aren’t currently being designed to meet rigorous U.S. safety requirements, another sign the company isn’t likely to bring any of the three vehicles designed at GM’s South Korean design studio to the U.S. market.”
For G.M. to change its image these are exactly the cars they need to sell in the U.S. Please help publicize this.
You can also vote here:
http://info.detnews.com/autostalk/lettersindex.cfm?topic=Mini_Chevys&forum=autostalk

By: Angus Grieve-Smith

Angus Grieve-Smith — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 01:08:45 +0000

God forbid that the car company executives should be guided by any consideration beyond the bottom line!

Minicars definitely are less deadly, less polluting and less wasteful of oil and space (how many of them can fit in the parking space of a Hummer?). But is the decrease in destructiveness, pollution and waste significant enough to be worth any effort on the part of environmentalists, or should we be concentrating our efforts on transit and human-powered transportation? I don’t know the answer; what do you all think?

By: VDH

VDH — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:15:50 +0000

What’s so surprising about anyone saying that the mass public in the US is resistant to buying small cars?

Every major car manufacturer has a full range of vehicles when it comes to size and yet which vehicles sell the most by a huge margin? Pickups followed by large midsize cars (Accord, Camry, Altima) that do not sell well in Europe at all due to their size and thirst.

When the Golf/Rabbit sells around 500,000 units a year in Europe but only manages 28,000 units a year in the US then there must be more to selling small cars than simply providing them in the first place.

Face it, Americans love their big cars and trucks and only legislation and taxation will change buying habits. You can’t blame the car companies for providing what the public wants.

By: kent beuchert

kent beuchert — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:55:18 +0000

The Chevy VOLT has cemented GM as the leader in a technology that, unlike the overpriced and
underacheiving Toyota and Honda hybrids, will ACTUALLY make a significant difference in
foreign oil dependence. Those who make claims about carbon reduction results WILL be disappointed liars. Again. Well, they probably swallowed the 1001 lies contained in the most fictitious “documentary” ever put on film (“Who (should be ‘What’) Killed the Electric car?” – hint :it rhymes with battery).

By: Boogiedown

Boogiedown — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:06:08 +0000

Hey Random, fail to see how mini cars are NOT relevant in NYC…would you mind explaining? I had a Mini Cooper when they first came out, and guess what? It was too big!

By: Ian D

Ian D — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:44:12 +0000

Thanks for the coverage – there’s no rational person who can say, “All Americans should just not have a car.”

Towards the end of Sarah’s reporting, I hear the same echos as in “Who Killed the Electric Car?” With waiting lists of thousands of people, after producing only hundreds of cars, GM says “but we’ve only sold hundreds – see, it’s not being embraced; there’s insufficient demand.”

Is Detroit driving us down the same dead-end? Saying “we tried” and then pushing Hummers and Caddies with slogans like, “you won’t even feel it when you run over the kid who’s walking home from day care!”

By: random

random — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:31:14 +0000

Indeed. Let’s keep in mind that … this is _New York City_ … where mini cars are still wildly out of place. Your coverage, with its tacit assumption that mini cars are a good idea, is much more relevant to cities like Dallas and L.A. or the vast suburbs. New York City is a city apart from the rest.

By: Kmax

Kmax — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:30:55 +0000

I think those cars actually look amazing and as a city dweller I would absolutely consider getting one. As long as I can throw some gear in it and a bike on top I’m game! To me in the city it’s all about compact maneuverability and the mini’s have that for sure. For the right price I’d be all over one of those even though I basically detest GM as a company.

By: Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:28:46 +0000

But we told Sarah to bring her own supper in a brown paper bag so she remains un-bought.

By: Orcutt

Orcutt — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:12:13 +0000

You covered it, so clearly the VIP-gee whiz treatment works!