Comments on: 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid Goes on Sale for $71,685

By: ThombDbhomb

ThombDbhomb — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 02:30:57 +0000

#61 MDDave

As it turns out, I live 4 blocks from work and I have two nice bicycles and two “beater” bicycles.

By: Tagamet

Tagamet — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:17:53 +0000

dagwood@79
Thanks for the reply. I’m not sure, but you may get a more direct “GM ear” at the GMnext.com site. Either way, I’m pretty sure that they follow the remarks here, too.
Be well,
Tag

By: dagwood55

dagwood55 — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:53:29 +0000

tagamet wrote, “Dagwood,
Two questions: A) Are you on the waiting list? and B) If you believe what you’re saying, why are you wasting your time here?
Be well,
You’re burning a lot of karma on all that pessimism.
Tag”

A) Of course not. I have no intention of getting on the waiting list for any car. If GM – or any other car maker – is serious about getting business, they’ll make cars available to people who want them. I’m not on the waiting list for the improved Prius, either. But Toyota is scaling production to 460K/year in ’09 and again to perhaps 700K/year in ’10, so availability will not be an issue (moreover, they ship in volume TODAY). Some of the demand for hybrids will be supplied by the ’09 Honda AntiPrius.

B) I hope to enlist other people to kick GM’s ass the way it needs kicking to save GM. You’ll notice that a major part of GM’s plan for salvation includes tax credits if – oops, WHEN, sorry – the Volt ships and a bailout loan – a big one – in advance of that. Unless they build a good conventional small car at a profit, none of that will happen. And I’m confident that GM will use a giant government backed loan to improve their road dinosaur offerings, rather than get more small cars on the market faster. Look at the Beat fiasco. “Do you want one? Which one? Vote! Oops… sorry… we didn’t design any of those for the US market.” Look at Lutz’ recent statements on the Cruze and Cobalt… “the Cobalt is just now coming into its own…” This is a signal that the Cruze is, at best, on the back burner and the overweight, overpowered, oversized Cobalt will continue to carry the flag for GM.

Luckily, I don’t believe in any concept of “karma.” I believe in embracing reality. And pessimists are rarely disappointed.

By: BillInInd

BillInInd — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:53:41 +0000

It used to be that a business could totally write off an Escalade. A business can still write off most of what an Escalade costs. See http://www.bankrate.com/brm/itax/biz_tips/20030403a1.asp

I do hope if a government subsidy is given to hybrids that they tie it to mpg. I believe that 40mpg ought to be the baseline. Let’s start getting serious about getting off of oil. A subsidy for a 20mpg Hybrid would be a joke.

By: Tagamet

Tagamet — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:30:03 +0000

Dagwood@72 said:

I said:
“GM is building this because they don’t know how to build a small car that will sell and can’t be troubled trying.”

#57, Tagamet replied:
“How about the VOLT?”

How about it? Can I buy it? For how much?
Until they offer it in showrooms, in quantity, then we do not know if GM has finally figured out how to build a small car that will sell.
And I should have added “in quantity, for a reasonable price, profitably.” They are, to date, all over none of that.

Dagwood,
Two questions:
Are you on the waiting list?

and

If you believe what you’re saying, why are you wasting your time here?

Be well,
You’re burning a lot of karma on all that pessimism.
Tag