Do you thing auto manufacturers should sell "green" vehicles at cost?
I believe they should. Their factories and products have created alot of polution and alot of wealth for their executives. I believe it is time for them to give back to the citizens and offer all green cars at cost. This would dramatically improve the chances of lower-income people purchasing green cars!
Okay Okay! They need to make a profit, they still should lower their prices!
I understand your point… but no, that’s just not possible.
All of the car companies would go out of business. It takes TONS of money to develop new technologies such as hybrid, hydrogen, fuel cell etc. This money has to come from somewhere. Many car companies are struggling to stay in business as it is. Let alone "giving" their cars away.
Your idea is a nice one, but it isn’t realistic. In the long run, no new green technology would be produced because the auto companies couldn’t afford to develop even cleaner products.
A more realistic approach would be to have laws passed requiring better fuel economy. Then car makers would be forced to produce greener products. However… with a president with strong oil ties in charge, this probably wont happen in the near future.
no, they should not. You have no understanding of economics.
If auto makers can’t make a profit on "green" cars, then they have no incentive to manufacture them. We as consumers need to show more interest in these cars, then more will be built. The more there are, the less they will cost.
Who would you like to force them to do that? The government? Really bad idea.
More reasonable ideas.
The government should require vehicles to get better gas mileage. People should buy green cars, and stop buying vehicles that are way too big for anything they actually do with them. If they sell more green cars the price goes down.
No… auto manufacturers are in the business to make money.
In Canada, however, a rebate of $2000 Cdn is given if you buy a very low fuel consumption vehicle such as Prius; $1000 Cdn for moderate fuel-savers such as Corolla – and ADD a ‘fine’ to high fuel consuming vehicles such as a Hummer…..
nope – that’s ridiculous – they won’t be in business for long if they’re selling things at cost – What is THE primary reason that a company exists? – TO MAKE MONEY. I, personally wouldn’t accept a ‘green’ vehicle even if they gave it away. I like red.
Why not below cost? Why not for free? (Answer: Because they’re in business to make money, which is the root of all good).
why should they- they should make some kind of profit. who do you think should pay for the lower-income people car insurance and up-keep on the car. i worked 3 jobs-saved and paid cash for my car-no handouts-
Hey, here’s a novel idea, why not some of these lower income people getting higher paying jobs, like at say, auto manufactureing plants.
These cars are expensive because it takes a lot of people to build them, not just at the plant, but all the other parts suppliers as well. Then there are unions that drive the cost up as well, because now the guy that puts your lug nuts on gets paid 35 dollars an hour to know how to use an impact wrench instead of the 6.50 an hour that he’s actually worth. Blame mandatory socialism while you are crying about low wages and expensive cars.
They have also shelled out a lot. And at cost are you considering the Research and Development of a viable eco car.Give back to the citizens? They only sold what people wanted. Besides executives they also gave a living wage to a lot of employees. Then too they have a lot of stockholders that would lose a good chunk of their retirement funds with that kind of zero profit margin.
I believe ‘green’ manufacturers should be given every incentive to do thier work, perhaps they should get paid more?
In that way they would be encouraged to promote it more, make less of the nastys and therefore up production.
‘Economies of scale’ is the serious answer.
They dont "owe" the citizens anything ok. They didnt hold a gun to your head and force you to buy a vehicle so they could get wealthy off if it. They produce a product, we choose to buy it, they make money, thats how it works.
As far as green cars being affordable, its a new technology thats why its so expensive. Its also a risk because we dont know that the concept of the green car is gonna take off and be a profitable venture. For every environmentalist hippie, there are other consumers, such as myself, who actually like gas powered vehicles.
I will tell you what, the day they make a "green" car with as much horsepower as my 2007 mustang, maybe i will be interested… till then…