In this article, they discuss the GM Volt - a plugin electric car with a gas generator. It is a hybrid, but on the reverse. It is all electric with a gas generator to extend the milage (whereas a typical hybrid is a small gas engine with a supplemental electric engine for increased horsepower).

It tells about GM's attempt to break its old ways and attack the problem with free reign of its engineers on an aggressive time table. It speaks of a mindset changed from the "plan test research and then decide" to "we need it so let's just do it and find the solution".

American ingenuity hasn't disappeared. It just seems to have left most of the industrial plant and headed to the tech areas. If GM pulls this off, it would be neat if it would be an igniter for a return to more aggressive manufacturing and invention in the United States, a position we proudly lead for a century.

It will be nice to have mainstream manufacturers again be the innovators and not playing catch up.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/general-motors

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Czar of the 26th Ward.

Its possible. Japan whooped our asses 80s BUT we are slowly catching up.

Saftey, quality and economy were top priority to Japan....and they clobbered us with the Corolla, Civic, Accord, Camry etc.

America really started to catch up by 2000 or so. I'd still buy an Accord over a new Malibu....but I cant call the Malibu a POS anymore. I actually LOVE what Caddy has been doing lately.

GM is def trying now...we should be seeing some really cool cars in the next 10 years.

Hybrids were made early in the 20th century because electric cars were considered more reliable than gas powered cars but electricity to charge the batteries wasn't universally available. So some people bought hybrids:

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1131/

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If he ever had to eat his own words he'd die of malnutrition.
Colin P. Varga 1991

1. American ingenuity wasn't gone, it was just suppressed by oil companies and other such lobby groups fighting things like reduced emission standards and increased fuel economy.

2. American manufacturers are only building hybrids and talking about advancements like the Volt because the plan they have been sticking to for years has almost put them out of business.

3. I will believe GM when I see a Volt out on the street. Otherwise its all talk.

I think the US auto industry is a little late to the party and I don't see much ingenuity.

I believe I saw a story on 60 Minutes a few years back about the company that manufacturers electric golf carts. This company was trying to go into the auto business and they had a prototype electric car that met all the safety requirements of a gas car. As I remember it wasn't just the oil companies that were against electric cars the auto industry was against them too.

American ingenuity for 20 years or so has been all about creating money out of thin air and not actually producing anything (outsourcing industry and jobs). Finance capitalism and structured finance was the only ingenious thing we could come up with..now it's blowing up in our face. This is what we get for building our business models according to quarterly returns instead of long term strategies. It's also what we get for being greedy. Can we dig ourselves out of this hole...yes...is it going to be painful and will things get far worse before they get better..I hope not but it doesn't look good. As Winston Churchill said

"The Americans will always do the right thing.......... after they`ve exhausted all the alternatives".

Well, the auto industry has been in the pocket of the oil industry for years. That should be of no surprise to anyone.

That said, you cannot put all of the blame on oil companies and auto makers. People in this country, myself included, have been driving overpowered, over-sized gas-guzzlers for years. I don't blame GM and Ford for making monster SUV's because that is what the people demanded. They are in business to sell vehicles and that is what was selling. The mistake they made was not in building Expeditions and Suburbans, it was the fact that the rest of their lineups were stagnant, uninteresting and unreliable and uneconomical.

If the automakers and oil companies were shortsighted, not diversified and had a lousy business model which was quarterly based as opposed to being a sustained long term strategy...the primarily fault lies with the corporations in my book. This is like american parents blaming their children for wanting to consume sugary products after they develop diabetes at the age of 6 and tip the scales at 150 lbs. Well you wanted gummy bears fat boy/girl...you knew what was best for yourself....now take your insulin shots like a man while we deal with the healthcare costs ....

Ford designs great cars -- and then sells them only overseas. Why can't I buy a Mondeo sedan with the hatch?

You put it in a nutshell...also, we need to print our own money, and free ourselves form the usury system, which you've described...there is absolutley nothing to stop us from doing this, except conditioning and fear...we have a stong enough military to protect us from any ensuing 'global backlash':unfortunately, our military is being used as a mercenary force for these same globalists...we will need a strong leader to accomplish this...someone like an American Vladimir Putin...people will blanche at this idea, but it is the only way.