To add to David's point: Last Superbowl had an add from one of the "truck" manufacturers, showing side-by side two scenes: Young man standing next to their new model "manly" (oversized) truck and the same young man standing next to a bland family sedan (which could have been an EV). Caption: Who do you find sexier? It had nothing to do with the fact that the sedan is the smarter choice in almost all cases of passenger transport, but the advertisers know that people want a certain image and they play on that image, allowing them to sell the vehicles that make them the most money, not the vehicles that are best for their customers.
That is the power of advertising *and* greed. Cor van de Water Chief Scientist Proxim Wireless office +1 408 383 7626 Skype: cor_van_de_water XoIP +31 87 784 1130 private: cvandewater.info www.proxim.com This email message (including any attachments) contains confidential and proprietary information of Proxim Wireless Corporation. If you received this message in error, please delete it and notify the sender. Any unauthorized use, disclosure, distribution, or copying of any part of this message is prohibited. -----Original Message----- From: EV [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of EVDL Administrator via EV Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2015 8:18 AM To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List Subject: Re: [EVDL] EVLN: GM Would Be Smart To Launch An e-Pickup TruckBefore Tesla On 24 Oct 2015 at 6:44, dovepa via EV wrote: > No one creates a market IMO. Apologies for going a bit off topic here, but it's to make a point. I'm not an economist so maybe I have my terminology wrong. I don't know that it was actually "creating a market," but consider what the big automakers did in promoting trucks and SUVs. Until the 1980s, pickup trucks were for craftsmen and farmers. The poor adolescent rural kid who had to drive his date to the dance in his dad's pickup truck was a standing joke. Meanwhile, SUVs (Jeep, IH Scout, Land Rover, Nissan Patrol, Toyota Land Cruiser) were noisy and rode rough; they were mostly for sportsmen. Detroit wasn't happy. They made big profits on big, gas hungry cars, but those cars were subject to the US "gas guzzler" tax, which hurt sales. They'd even had to downsize the Cadillac and Lincoln. Then they hit on the idea of pushing big, gas-hungry TRUCKS, which weren't subject to the gas guzzler tax because they were supposedly work vehicles. IIRC Dodge was one of the first to "civilize" a pickup truck with a fancier interior, softer springs, and noise proofing. (They also made a pickup with a vinyl roof at one time!) There was a long line of ads showing how trucks and SUVs could fit into a suburban lifestyle. And what do you know - truck sales took off. Today the top selling vehicles are often trucks. That's the power of advertising. So IF the automakers truly wanted to create demand for EVs (which as I say may not be the same thing as "creating a market"), either passenger car or truck, they know how to do it. But right now there's no incentive for them to do so. It's interesting to contemplate though. What if building their compliance EVs drove down EV component prices to the point where they were making MORE profit on EVs than on ICEVs? David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA EVDL Administrator = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = EVDL Information: http://www.evdl.org/help/ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Note: mail sent to "evpost" and "etpost" addresses will not reach me. To send a private message, please obtain my email address from the webpage http://www.evdl.org/help/ . = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
