[Shrug] Their loss. In 1973, when the Mideast oil cartel shut the petroleum spigot down to a trickle, owners of 13mpg US-made land yachts were putting their names on waiting lists to buy 30mpg small cars.
But it wasn't GM and Ford dealers that were collecting their "additional dealer markup," hundreds of dollars over sticker price. They didn't have small, fuel-efficient cars that anybody wanted to buy. Chevy Vegas? Ford Pintos? No thanks. It was Japanese automakers' dealers who won that round. Toyota Corollas, Datsun B210s, and Honda Civics got prepped with such high-profit extras as $250 radios, $70 floor mats, and $90 mud flaps, and then they flew out the shop doors. They never even saw the lot. Next time gasoline gets scarce, depending on how sensible GM is, it might be GM dealers poaching EV customers from Toyota. That would be ironic. However, I think it's more likely that the next beneficiary of a US (or worldwide) fuel crunch will be BYD, Geely, and other Chinese automakers. I expect that they'll be the ones unloading cargo ships full of EVs on these shores. 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 Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
