GM's VP of Environment Says Prius Didn't Make Sense From a Business Perspective
If you missed the Frontline documentary "Heat"
on PBS last night, you likely slept much better than those of us who caught it.
The basic theme of the two-hour special, which can be seen in its entirety at pbs.org, is that if humans don't curb carbon-dioxide emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050, the consequences to life on Earth will be catastrophic.
And by the time the credits role, you're certain a catastrophy of planetary proportions is in Earth's future.
The documentary's reporter, Martin Smith, conducted many interviews. One, with Beth Lowery, General Motors' vice president for environment, energy and safety policy, was particularly interesting.
Here are snippets of that interview:
Smith: Why did Toyota beat you to the Prius?
Lowery: Actually, Toyota and General Motors worked together on a number of technologies over time. Toyota looked at the hybrids and the Prius from an overall standpoint, knew there would be the loss of money for some time on the cost of that, but looked at it from an overall marketing and image standpoint, and General Motors really looked at it from a business [perspective]: Can this vehicle make money? Now certainly --
Smith: If General Motors looks at things from a business point of view, why did Toyota just report a record quarter and General Motors just report a record loss?
Lowery: I was referring to [the] decision made with respect to hybrids.
Smith: I know. But you're standing on the reputation of the company to look at these things from an economic point of view. You said, "Toyota looked at the Prius from a point of view of PR and image." But yet Toyota is eating your lunch.
Lowery: Well, as I mentioned before, General Motors is very committed to reducing emissions. We're very focused on bringing products to market that are going to satisfy the customers -- not only in the U.S. but globally. And so we'll be the first company to sell a million vehicles, for example, in the Chinese market, which we think is a very important developing market, [where] we just announced an energy center, a research center, making sure that as that country is developing personal mobility, that we're addressing these issues. So I think it's very important to look at General Motors as a global company, what our commitment is on these issues.
Smith: What's your biggest selling car in China?
Lowery: Buick.
Smith: And how many miles per gallon does a Buick get?
Lowery: Actually, for the Chinese model, I don't know for sure what it is.
Smith: But it's a big car.
Lowery: Actually, it's a vehicle that the Chinese market has asked for. And certainly --
Smith: Right, but people ask for crack. I mean, it doesn't mean that we give them whatever they ask for. I mean, there is -- what you say -- corporate responsibility to give people choices that help solve what has become a planetary problem of great urgency.
Lowery: Right. And again, I'm very proud of where General Motors is with respect to providing choices in the marketplace. I don't know of another company --
Smith: You want to still give General Motors an A? Or maybe an A-minus?
Lowery: I don't know of another company that has this much on the plate to really address these issues, not only from products we offer, but also all the various aspects of the best R&D, and what we're doing from an education and public policy standpoint. So we'll continue to be part of the solution, and letting people help us, and understand, in dialogues across the globe with respect to how we all work together to solve this issue.
- Posted by
- Scott Doggett October 22, 2008, 8:41 AM
- Permalink
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, China, Emissions, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hybrid, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota
- Technorati Tags:
- Beth Lowery, CAFE, Carbon Dioxide, Emissions, Frontline, General Motors, GM, Hybrid, Martin Smith, Prius, Toyota
Thanks for posting this. I watched most of the doc last night. It was very eye-opening.
I hope more people will go watch it.
nf
I watched part of the so called documentary last night. It was so slanted that I thought it might be a Michael Moore production.
It's not worth getting my dander in a fluff, other than to say I'm very disappointed in Frontline.
I just like that the interviewer compared giving the Chinese Buicks to giving a crack-addict crack! Also the question about how if the Prius was so bad from a business standpoint, why did Toyota have their best quarter ever and GM not?
"a planetary problem of great urgency"
I got a chuckle out of this. The sky is falling! HEHE
Nice interview in showing the attitude at GM. The interview was definitely hostile but it is telling that GM takes no accountablility for past mistakes. Typical and telling in that they will never change or be a part of the solution until there are some big changes in upper management
I disagree with the complimentary posts about this "interview". This was more of a witch hunt than an interview, much akin to something I'd expect to see on Maury or Springer. It's pretty easy to see, even if you just look at the posted dialog above, that Ms. Lowery never really was provided much opportunity to even reply, once Smith asked each accusatory 'questions'.
He might as well have been airing a monologue.
I believe the Toyota Prius is a valuable asset to Toyota. If Gas Prices are just going to rise again, Hybrids will be a car buyer's best option.
I think in the next 2-3 years, Hybrids like Toyota's Prius will become even bigger sellers than cars that only ran on gasoline.
So Toyota made the right move in a business perspective since now more than ever people want Hybrids and other cars with more than 30mpg on the highway more than gas-guzzling SUVs and V8 cars with less than 20mpg on the highway.
I just read a new book that was very eye-opening. Hybrids are an uneccessary step in the evolution of cars. We can go 100% electric now. Check this book out. I already mailed my letter to Obama! http://www.amazon.com/Two-Cents-per-Mile-President/dp/0615293913/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245854577&sr=8-1