No wonder GM is losing green
Watching Mythbusters tonight, I saw a commercial for General Motors in its latest effort to get people to buy its automobiles.
And once again, they’ve lost the mark.
Here’s the web site GM is promoting (which redirects to its own web site): www.livegreengoyellow.com. Note: The site plays music and doesn’t have an off button, so keep that in mind if you’re at work or something. Hey GM, music on a web site in this fashion is a no-no.
My employer recently completed an in-house study about commuting and alternative fuel possibilities. When all was said and done, can you guess the one factor those surveyed said would cause them to look into alternative transportation?
If you guessed money, you’re pretty smart. Much smarter than GM.
GM’s commercial focused heavily about “reducing dependence on foreign oil” and “clean emissions.” The commercial showed young adults running around giving yellow T-shirts to people from all walks of life, praising E85, which is made from corn. The ad goes on to praise a fuel that can be “regrown every year.”
That’s great. How much does it cost? Until GM and other people promoting E85 as a viable fuel source can tell me how it will save me money, I really don’t care. And neither does a majority of the public. Cut to the chase, money talks in America. And youthful T-shirt wearing green freaks isn’t going to get me to a GM lot anytime soon.
Stupid GM. It’s no wonder GM is losing green, and I don’t mean anything environmental friendliness.
Greg Said,
February 12, 2006 @ 11:07 pm
Hey Eric,
I was swinging by your website and I decided to chime in about the whole E85 fuel thing. As an actual owner of an E85 flex fuel truck (’99 Ford Ranger) I think it’s a pretty good idea. When I have seen E85 fuel it is generally cheaper by 10 cents to about $1.00. The main thing I like about the whole deal though is that we could start giving the money usually directed towards our “friends” in the Middle East to the farmers here in the states. It would help our country, and as a bonus farmers are much less likely to fly planes into our buildings.
Check out this website for more info.
http://www.e85fuel.com
Greg
The Grubesteak Said,
February 13, 2006 @ 1:03 am
Greg,
I don’t disagree with you, although I have some questions regarding E85’s efficiency and how modern engines hold up to having a corn by-product run through the system.
But you brought up money, which goes back to my point (sorry if I wasn’t clear the first time). The only way auto manufacturers are going to get the typical American’s attention is if they start taking money. In the end, I just want to get from one point to the other, at the cheapest way possible. Clean air is a bonus!
Mike Said,
February 13, 2006 @ 8:27 am
Just out of curiosity Steak, did you buy your iPod because it was the cheapest way to listen to music, or whatever your latest Mac computer was because it was the cheapest computer you could buy? In fact was the “savings” you got from buying these devices a factor at all? Did they get you from no music to music (a to b) for the cheapest price?
Maybe you will answer yes to both of those questions and blow my whole argument out of the water, but I’m hoping most will get my point. The idea that the only thing that sells products is that they are the cheapest or the most cost savings is asinine. Every day hundreds of cars are sold that are not the cheapest model. Every year tens of thousands of SUV’s are sold that are the exact opposite of your philosophy about getting from point a to point b as cheap as possible.
Does that mean it’s right? NO, clearly not. Does that mean that marketers should ignore the financial aspects of some product? Hell no. But lets face the facts. Alternative fuels are not the CHEAPEST way to operate a vehicle right now. What will it take?
It will take more advances in the technology and a proliferation of alternative fuel vehicles as well as an easy way to fuel them up…ANYWHERE, including route 66 so I don’t get stranded in the middle of the desert because some station doesn’t like the idea of storing large bladders of Hydrogen right at the curbside.
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With all products (and shame on you Steak, you should know this) there are what we call early adopters. These are the people who buy into a technology early and when it may still be somewhat buggy and likely still pretty expensive. So what is wrong with these nut-jobs? Well, you should get on your knees and kiss their feet because it was the initial capital and feedback they supplied that made everything from DVD’s to notebook computers to iPod’s possible. This is the stage we are at with Alternative fuel vehicles. Without early adopters there will be no proliferation of the technology and the price will never come down significantly.
So if you don’t want to buy an alternative fuel vehicle (and e85 vehicles aren’t even dedicated alternative fuel - they are FLEXFUEL…so you can use your precious fossil fuels as long as you want) don’t. Don’t be an early adopter. Save your money, pay off your loans, pay cash for things - that is wonderful. Sincerely, that is a wonderful choice. HOWEVER, I hope that helps to explain why some “crazy company” would actually dare to promote a campaign that doesn’t happen to mention monetary rewards in its commercials.
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GM didn’t mention financial benefits because quite honestly, that isn’t the stage the technology is at right now. They are promoting it anyway in the hope that not all americans will base their spending solely on chosing the cheapest option. The rest of america can only pray that GM is right, that enough people will chose to be early adopters.
(Although I’m sure if you are interested you can find facts about the financial aspects on the internet, good Ol’ Google!)
End of Rant,
Mike
Greg Said,
February 13, 2006 @ 9:56 am
Howdy,
According to the rep I talked to on the phone from Ford, there is a bit of performance loss, but if you drive like an old man like me it’s not too much of a problem. =) As far as how an engine holds up, it does have to be a flex fuel type of engine. The e85 is not for all cars and from what I understand it can harm the engines of cars not prepared to burn it.
Economically, okay you got me. If you want to save money on gas the best way is to probably buy the most fuel efficient tin coffin that one can. The e85 is one of those “big picture” sorts of things, and transitioning into more renewable resources helps to solve our future fuel shortages.
When I was working with a chemist at KU on biodiesel (10% EtOH plus diesel) the logic he used for the importance of it was that if you are buring 10% less fossil fuel per tank, that’s 10% more you can use later. The fuel crunch is therefore 10% further away, not taking into account that more people begin using the more plentiful fuel, but resource distribution is a whole other topic alltogether!
The Grubesteak Said,
February 13, 2006 @ 10:28 am
Wow Mike, I had no idea you were so passionate about corn-based fuel!
1. Cool factor was a major influence in my purchase of the iPod, but so was my long-term money savings strategy. I figured out that after I bought a CD burner (which was a little expensive at the time) and blank CDs, that I’d be better off just buying something reusable like the iPod. It has paid for itself and then some. The PowerBook I bought at a discount. I wouldn’t have purchased it without the discount.
2. The “early adopters” in this game is way different than that of the technology sector. Personal computers have been around for, what, 50 years? The automobile has been around 100 years. Yet, automobiles have yet to evolve in great leaps. Oooo, they have airbags now. Big deal.
3. And as Greg mentioned, the evidence is … fuzzy. Some say that E85 runs great. Others say there’s a huge loss in power, which in turn eats us more energy to get the same result as traditional fuels.
Again, back to my original point: the time has come to get the masses on board, not just early adopters. Bush’s plan to reduce our oil addiction is too long. We need viable, immediate changes now. Otherwise we’re going to end up in more wars chasing after the black gold that fuels us.
Mike Said,
February 13, 2006 @ 4:25 pm
Indeed! Ok, I’m not actually all that fired up about ethanol. Mostly I was wanting to reply for the sake of getting a debate going about this.
What I’m more fired up about is getting alternative fuel of any kind to a mass market point. I fully understand that we aren’t there, but the money has to come from somewhere and if no one buys these initial cars then it’s going to be hard for the people who want to do research to get funding. And beyond research there’s the idea of marketability, once you can scale production up, you can drop cost due to quantity.
I should say that I completely agree with you on two points. When it comes to personally buying a car I view it as a way to get from point a to point b as cheaply as possible. I like the idea of having a sexy car, but just can’t bring myself to shell out too much more for it. Also, I agree that until it makes since financially there aren’t going to be very many of these sold. However, I wished to point out that their advertising campaign is clearly not focused at us but at people with more of the early adopter mentality (similar to the prius).
My understanding is that this latest round of e85 vehicles is much better than the original ones. Originally you could only switch over when you had like under an 1/8th of a tank, and then there were still special procedures you were supposed to follow. Mostly, it was intended that you would run one or the other and not switch back and forth. Supposedly these new ones you can top off with e85, even if you have like half a tank of regular in.
Cheers!
Ricki Said,
March 16, 2006 @ 12:54 pm
I can guarantee that an alternative fuel vehicle will sell alot faster than a non-flex fuel vehicle right now. No matter what the make or the model.
x*icecreamlover*x Said,
April 25, 2006 @ 4:41 pm
i dont get you people! “i just want to be cheap…. blah blah balh!!!” gosh! dont you care for the enviroment too?!?!?! look heres my opinion… i know maybe you guys dont want to hear it but ok w/e….
1) i would pay anything to have a clean enviroment… so my FUTURE kids can live!
2) i dont care about the money bc honestly i would much rather breath clean air than being diagnosed with lung cancer or w/e other thing you can get!
3) GM isnt really bieng stupid… you are! =)
4) i want clean air… “IF ITS [CHEAP] ITS A BONUS!”
5) btw it IS cheap!
6) in my opinion they arent trying to just get you to buy their cars but they want you to know that there are alternative fuels out there that we could use instead of making all this drama for fossil fuels that will eventually run out! ;]
7) stop bieng such babies, if you dont like the expenses stick to w/e you think is best!
honestly, for what im looking at ya’ll care mostly about money and the sexyness of the car =) but i dont really think yall care for the enviroment which is the thing we should be more worried about then comes $
The Grubesteak Said,
May 2, 2006 @ 9:00 am
You missed the point of the whole post ice cream lover, but thanks for commenting.