I don't neccessarily agree with Arnie all of the time, but this is cool!

The Govenator has spoken, and The Big Three (soon to be
reduced to "Girly Men") better take heed. The first
three Asian manufacturers to standardize the PHEV while
being first to market and implement its capability, will be the ones to unseat those who now have been put on notice. Thanks
Arnie for clearing the air. Oh, by the way, where is the
"Hyrdogen Highway?". We can't afford any more mishaps in Washington, can you endorse legislation for different color codes for fuel recepticles. Lets say Red for hydrogen and
yellow for electricity and maybe add some lightning bolts for
those quick charge 220/440V outlets. Seems there has been a
little mix up recently on what goes where. After all, you
remember what happened the last time a "Richard" was Commander in Theif.

With respect to the Goovenor - he is rattling the cages and carries the clout of the world's 7th largest economy. He might take a swing at our darling Toyota for its gas swilling 12 MPG Tundra coming soon to a highway near you.

You know, Arnie, if you'd tell CARB to relax some of those insane NOx emission standards, you'd get some very efficient diesels on the road. You have to choose which ecological problem you want the state to address: A local smog problem or a global climate change one.

Choose.

Cervus, sounds like you work for GM? Pick what? They both need to be adressed. Get off your high horse.

READ NEWSWEEK!!!! great articles about him and what he's doing. i don't agree with his consumption-as-usual stance, because it puts all the responsibility on the automakers to save us. you mean to say consumers never make bad choices? you mean to say that parasitic overconsumption will become okay if we can neutralize it with cleaner technology? as long as the general populace grows up with commercials in place of consciences, and as long as those making the car commercials are bending to the will of the oil lobby, we'll keep on getting new subcompacts that fail to break the 40 mpg barrier, but that can haul our boats and compensate for our gender-identity issues.

Gerald:

I'm sorry, I just don't see where you're coming from. You don't seem to think that these very real problems the domestic automakers face are a big deal. You're wrong. GM employed a significant percentage of the workforce in the 50s and 60s. Those people are retired and taking pensions and health care from the company right now, to the tune of two thousand dollars per vehicle when you count their current workforce. That's more than ten percent of the cost of a new Cobalt.

"All of what's being asked is that they start making 40mpg or higher vehicles that folks will buy"

Developing a new vehicle for mass production is not cheap or simple. It costs billions in development, testing, and factory tooling costs. It amounts to a huge risk for the company for a vehicle that will have a very low profit margin, if any, in an already-crowded market segment. It amounts to a huge risk. There's no way to guarantee people will actually buy what you're selling

There's a reason why the Chevy Aveo is built in South Korea. It's why that if any of the minicar concepts GM recently showed go into production, they won't be built here.

Maybe the domestics don't really know how to make smaller, efficient cars. American tastes in vehicles have historically trended towards larger, more powerful engines and body styles. We also have larger families than Europeans, which means minvans (though that particular segment is a dying breed because it's "uncool") or large station wagons. Or SUVs.

But all you have to do is look at the sales figures to know what consumers are choosing: More Honda, Toyota. Less GM, Ford, DCX. I see quite a few Yaris on the road, and my Corolla is one of thousands. San Diego's climate is perfect for motorcycles and scooters, and I see more of those also.

What Arnie is asking of the automakers may not be possible, given the challenges they face on other fronts. Old companies like these have decades of baggage that younger ones do not. And the choices they've made over that time are coming back to bite them. If they're now too large to adapt to changing market conditions, then they will pay that price and go out of business.

Cervus: Excuses, excuses. On the subject of smaller cars: If GM has to “outsource” their small car manufacturing, then the company’s done for! Though it does take a lot of money to develop a care and GM does have to deal with worker’s costs, which are not the reason why they aren't producing better fuel efficient vehicles. Take the Chevrolet Volt. Although GM insists the concept car would be shipped in 2010, somehow I get the feeling that they are praying they never have to ship or/and market it. Imagine what the Volt would do to their “conventional” car sales or to our dependence on foreign oil: Since it’s a plug-in hybrid, your house is essentially the “gas station” and you won’t end up going to a “7-Eleven” type gas station a lot. Also, lesser motor oil and lubricant changes, thereby lessening the immediate need for auto parts. Moreover, the car could be set up to run on either E85 or E100. In short, the only way that the Volt would be shipped is if Congress and the President sign off on law bumping fuel-efficiency to 40mpg. The Volt is simply tomorrow’s EV-1, a 150mpg "vapor car".

In the end gm and gang will keep only the us factories that produce high margin cars and trucks. Everything rlse will br made elsewhere. Eventualy they will come back but most likely with only totaly new plant designs that are massively atomated.

What has skiwed this process down is not the car makers but congress avoiding as much as possible the catacysmic job losses and union anialation that would result.
From massive factories in mexico and china they are ptrpping fir that time to come SOON.