Since GM is having trouble selling EVs, it’s not surprising to learn it is buying out the dealerships that can’t sell them.
The trade publication Automotive News reports that GM is offering to pay any of its 880 Cadillac dealers as much as $500,000 to close their doors – in order to leave fewer Cadillac stores, so that when Cadillac “transitions” to selling nothing but EVs by 2030 (there’s that date again) it’ll look like Cadillac is selling more EVs.
Kruschev used the same trick to make Western observers think he had a huge fleet of intercontinental bombers by flying the same six airplanes in a wide loop over Moscow for their viewing edification.
Meanwhile, the same GM that is paying dealers to close will be increasing what it spends on EV development by 35 percent to $27 billion over the next two years, probably because of the apparent selection of the new El Presidente, who has promised to “mandate” a market for EVs (assuming he doesn’t forget what he promised).
GM CEO Mary Barra is chomping at the bit – or rather, urging American drivers be “mandated” to chomp on the bit: “We are confident that . . . we can collaboratively find the pathway that will deliver an all-electric future,” she warbled the other day.
This is as remarkable as it is political – as well as contra everything economical.
GM’s bizarre assumption is that people who’ve shied away from buying any of the electric cars it has sold so far are going to buy more of them just because the government ordered them built.
But it’s not so bizarre when you consider that by 2030 not much else that isn’t electric will be built and the few that aren’t will be on obviously short time since by 2040, say, they will have been driven off the roads entirely by regulatory fiat and extortionate/punitive gas and registration fees.
What that means is that people who aren’t stupid are apt to shy away from buying not-electric cars long before 2030 gets here because whatever they buy within the next few years that isn’t electric is likely to experience horrific depreciation as the market becomes aware of their imminent mandated obsolescence.
Consider, for instance, the effect on the resale value of a non-electric car purchased for $35k in 2021 when it becomes common knowledge that by the time it is nine years old it will cost $5,000 annually to keep plates on it – “polluter taxes” – or $10 a gallon to feed it, also via taxes designed to “nudge” people out of cars with engines and into cars with motors.
And leashes.
The EV being tethered to its plug-in source and more deeply, to a less-fungible energy source that is harder to store and easier to control (especially vs. diesel – which accounts for the systematic effort to get rid of diesel-powered vehicles).
Also intrinsic to the EV is that it is electronic as well as electric. The distinction is important.
Electric motors are controlled by the electronics which control the charge cycle and determine how far the electrically powered vehicle goes, this control exerted by other-than-the-owner.
People don’t see that aspect of it yet, even though it is in plain sight – like the agenda being implemented, to coincide with the arrival of 2030. Like the “Great Reset” that’s much discussed but not acknowledged, even by the technocrats who openly use the term and then deny they ever said it.
This column has been trying to get across for decades that the goal of all of this is not “clean” transport. It is controlled transport. Physically – via the electronic means just discussed – and also by the economic means, partially discussed.
The rest of that discussion is, simply, that electric cars will not sell in large numbers because they cannot sell in large numbers and that is because the car buying public cannot simply absorb paying a third to half again as much to drive an electric car, no matter how “clean” or “cool” it may be.
The “solution”- making non-electric cars just as expensive – isn’t going to work, in the sense that making cars as a general item more expensive isn’t going to make it easier for more people to buy them.
Thus, the economic solution:
Get them paying monthly, forever. No more ownership – no matter how long you pay. Just serial debt in exchange for access to transportation as defined, delimited and controlled by the owner thereof, which probably won’t be you.
The very affluent may still own cars – and for them there will be a handful of boutique Caddy stores, probably free of Face Diaper decrees, too – very much in the way that in the dystopian future portrayed in the ’90s sci-fi movie, Demolition Man, going to one of the very few Taco Bell restaurants still open was a rare privilege indeed.
. . .
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GM CEO Mary Barra is chomping at the bit – or rather, urging American drivers be “mandated” to chomp on the bit
OK Eric, the term is champing, not chomping. Soon enough you will become familiar with horse terms as that is what you will have.
With he price of oats soaring, you will not be affording a horse.
Roger that, Erie – I should have known!
Locked in our Russian 1960’s style all concrete apartments, in a big city guarded by blm and antifa thugs, with no jobs and a $1,000/month government handout, who will need a car? There will be no place to go and no money to use to get there anyway. This is Schwab’s and Gates’s vision by 2030…you will own nothing and be completely happy… or dead…same difference in my book. This is Gates’s dream of a complete shutdown of all CO2 in the world. Along the way will be vaccines filled with RNA altering drugs and nano-particles and even chipping that will be used to control you in every way imaginable. You will be a robotic zombie if you are able to survive the culling of the population. This is what fake Joey voters have decided will be best for your future. After seeing the near complete bowing down of the population to the fake pandemic, the fake fear, masking, distancing, shutdowns, isolation and the destruction of thousands and thousands of businesses and jobs, I have little hope mankind will fight back until they are in shackles…far too late. Many people have bought into this fake covid nonsense hook, line and sinker and are willing to completely give up all freedom to do the bidding of the Marxist terrorists. Shameful and reprehensible. Maybe the Republicans will save us…dream on, after 2022, there will be no Republican party or any other party except the tyrannic social-crat party. There will be no more voting, guns, free speech or autonomy within this country. If there is voting, it won’t matter because 25 million immigrants from Mexico and other places will flood our country…all handsomely paid to vote for Democrats. The entire country is asleep, or most of it and they don’t have a clue of what’s on the horizon.
This is pravda, Tom – truth.
And it’s why it is time for the Orange Man to start cutting nuts, if he ever meant to do that. We’ll have an answer soon.
While we cannot change the habit of our ‘captains of industry’ to cozy up to big gov’s cockeyed schemes, we might remind opportunists like Mary Barra of GM’s once upon a time slogan; “It’s not just your car, it’s your freedom.”
No matter, the die is cast.
Hi Tired,
My professional association with GM goes back to the early ’90s, when I began writing about cars professionally. I have seen GM transition from being a company with mostly car guys – literally, car guys – running it to MBA/human resources/bureaucrat types like Barra, who are at best indifferent to cars but passionate about social engineering. Under Barra, GM hired its first vice president of diversity – his actual title – and hired a gay “journalist” (he published a blog devoted to gays and cars) as its regional public relations manager for Chevrolet.
I keep in touch with some of the now-retired GM execs and engineers who were once in charge of the company. They are appalled by what is going on; several of them have decided to never again buy a GM vehicle.
IIRC, back in the 1950s there was a propaganda campaign by the electrical industry to promote the “all electric home.” Didn’t happen, because chemical fuels are more efficient for such things as cooking and space heating.
The current fascination with “battery power” seems to me to be very similar. I predict that, eventually it will pass, because the laws of thermodynamics are immutable. The only real question is how much damage will be done in the meantime. In this case, I fear the answer to that question is, “considerable,” because we have the power of government coercion enlisted in what can only be described as a religious quest. Virtue signalling, indeed.
Arrayed against that, of course, is the immense economic power of the so-called “fossil fuels” industry, namely Chevron, Exxon, BP, Shell, et al. These entities are not going to roll over and play dead anytime soon.
If you are skeptical of that, i suggest you check out the various YouTube videos of off shore oil platforms, and consider a) the level of technology and b) the amount of money, invested in these ventures. These corporations are serious, and they are in it for the long haul.
I expect that, in the long run, chemical fuels, whether hydrocarbons or pure hydrogen, will continue to dominate for transportation applications, because of their inherent efficiency.
JMO.
Which is not to say that wheel motors are going away. Quite the contrary. High torque at zero RPM is a great idea. I expect the future is hybrid power, defined as onboard conversion of chemically stored energy into electric power which drives electric wheel motors. Best of both worlds, IMO.
Of course, batteries are actually (electro)chemistry.
So, the only real question is, how do we most efficiently store energy in a mobile vehicle?
I have faith that science and the market, not government edict, will decide that, at least in the long run.
Love the description of Kerry as Lurch; it’s so deliciously spot on. But, as far as EVs go, the meat of the matter is there’ll never be any real distinction between one maker’s and another’s except for different minor styling differences. Otherwise they’ll be built with off-the-shelf components. I do think the the future holds mass immiseration for Americans as our top dog imperial power position slips away and general economic decline combined with an increasingly dysfunctional populace composed of people with steadily less in common results in a dramatic lowering of material standards of living. This may put paid to what Jim Kunstler describes as “techno grandiosity” and make it necessary for people to utilize simpler vehicles to get around in. Puts me in mind of a 63 falcon 144 six and 3 speed column shift a friend of mine drove for years in the sixties.
Consider that a deterrent to auto travel may be badly deteriorated roads never to be repaired or plowed in the winter. And a huge tax on tires. And limited, government issued travel credits with individual, fee-based payments, via QR code, for trips to the hospital and other essential trips. And mandatory solar panels on the roof of the car.
We’re all clovers now.
That’s what’s being done to “nudge” rural residents to move to the cities. Roads aren’t being maintained; you’re forbidden from connecting utilities to your house; and so on. That’s how UN Agenda 2030 is being implemented. It’s not TECHNICALLY illegal for you to live in the country, but you’ll have no infrastructure to do so.
Wait until you see what happens when Lurch (((Kerry))) is in charge of GoreBull warming.
In the future, what we will get is a fee service and you will have to use whatever crap (scooter) vehicle littering the landscape is available. That is if your social credit score allows you to travel.
If government had taken over the auto industry in 1920, today we’d all be driving Model-T cars — and saying, “If it weren’t for the government, we’d have no cars at all.” — Harry Browne, former Libertarian Presidential Candidate
The issue in this article is, “Who runs your God damn life ?”
Our founding principles were based on the idea that, with very minimal interference, government must stay out of our lives. This was the philosophy of Thomas Jefferson and others. Washington, Hamilton, Clay and Lincoln saw it differently.
We have been fed the bullshit about slavery and the Southern Session, but we left “the glorious union” over self-determination issues. Slavery was a giant wrong, but the rest of the western world did not need a war to end it. Nor did we.
Lincoln also said he did not want a war, but he wanted to run our southern lives. So, he had to kill us to save us. Ever heard that sentiment before ?
Slave labor was the concocted issue then, and now it is the environment and public health. War will also suffice, but in the end, it really is all about who runs your life, AKA: Autonomy.
In other words, we are back to slavery ! Toil endlessly for a living, but never really own anything. Rent but do not own your shelter, your means of transport, or your livelihood without a government permit.
The autonomy won, by men, at Yorktown, was stolen by government at Appomattox. Slavery was unleashed on all of us, and now we wear face masks, cannot meet for Thanksgiving or Christmas, must submit to dangerous vaccinations, and will be driving our transportation, such as it will be, using nuclear energy.
The question remains: Who runs your GD life ?
well its really been government motors since 2008. or communist motors, yes losing v8s and even these refrigerator appliance turbo 4s will be sad, Bidens pick of communists aint going to help. Derk times.
I’ve said ‘fuck it’, if you want to jail me for 30 days and make your life more miserable while I eat for free, go for it, stupid asses. I’m still going to sue your sorry worthless hides, so why don’t you kill me? Fudk this mask bullshit, goddamnit anyhow! lol
Seems the monniker “Government Motors” is no longer just a pejorative term…Let the Barra bootlicking with the Biden Fascistas commence!
The same dumb asses will also mandate (force) coal fired, natural gas, maybe nuclear and hydroelectric (can’t block the fish) plants to shut down. The new watermelon (environmental green on the outside and communist red on the inside) economy will produce the few rich elites and the rest of us serfs will be mired in poverty. The middle class will be destroyed. But anyway, you can cover all the available land with solar panels and wind turbines and it will not replace lost electricity capacity. Electricity will become scarce and be a costly luxury rendering EV’s useless to the masses and only available to politicians and corporatists alongside gasoline powered limos and large SUV’s. America in the late 2020’s will resemble the 60’s & 70’s China which will be mass transportation on bicycles (if you can afford one).
Bicycles may also be needed to generate electricity a la the movie Soylent Green, which has been in the zeitgeist lately. Set in 2022, some of the elements of the movie that had been taken as high camp in the past are now seen as prophetic. It’s people, Jim…
It will be just like the Soviet era, but worse. The elites driving around in Zil limousines while the peasants make do with public transport.
We won’t even have the option to drive a Trabant or a Lada.
It’s really sad and sinister what GM has become. I like to think I saw the writing on the wall approx. 5 years ago when I finally was able to shrug off the lifetime GM ownership (30-40 vehicles). From my 2007 GM on it was apparent to me something had changed in GM corporate policies, when all my GM’s wouldn’t drive the way I expected, even from 6.2L’s. But it still took me a while to shrug off the loyalty, probably because my dealer was very good to me. My families/biz fleet, once all GM, is now all FCA and a couple Fords. And I couldn’t be more car happy at the moment.
And my once great GM dealer/friend? just sold out, said he couldn’t take it anymore.
I suspect that the economic impact of the “Great Reset”, whether we get “reset” or not, may result in us being lucky if we can eat and sleep indoors, much less drive a motor vehicle. It’s fairly obvious that the goal of all the destruction being rained upon us is the extraction of what wealth is left among the 99.9%, to deliver it to the 0.1%. Perhaps the most dangerous is the cashless, digital currency move. Such will allow the 0.1% to extract your wealth at will. Hard to impose negative interest rates on cash, easy to do so on digital currency. I’m not optimistic about the world my grandchildren might live in. But,
Tyrants don’t create tyranny, submission does.
Maters don’t create slavery, slaves do.
It’s a numbers game.
The only way EVs would work is if the quantum glass batteries were perfected and used. They promise 1,000 mile range (NYC to Daytona, FL), 1 min recharge time, and less expensive vs. LiIon. They would then be superior to ICEVs, so they’d sell. OTOH, if EVs keep LiIon batteries, then ICEVs will be better.
I had to look up quantum glass batteries- looks like another vaporware type thing. The only way EV’s work is if our electrical generating capacity increases dramatically- haven’t done the math yet but tenfold seems about right- just to get back to where we are now.
I just don’t get what’s wrong with natural fuels.
Her Ernie,
Don’t worry. There’s this new magic material, unobtanium, it’ll be available soon and solve all of the problems.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Ernie,
Natural fuels, used to promote modern and efficient ICEVs, promote freedom. TPTB can’t have that! Hence, ICEVs have to go.
EVs don’t work until we get zero point or something that effectively is the same thing. they don’t have batteries, they don’t depend on generation capacity or the grid. They have their own module of antimatter or dilithium crystals or spinning mercury or whatever that generates the energy they need.
Hi Brent,
Of course – as you know – the point is precisely that they they don’t work. Because the point is to diminish and control mobility – and for that purpose, EVs work very well indeed.
Mr. Fusion will be running your deLorean any day now 🤣🤣🤣
Keep your eye on sodium ion batteries over the next few years….They are the real thing.
This is just incredibly diabolical.
All corporations are doing their part to further this evil agenda. They use the term “stakeholder capitalism”. That’s a very lovely euphemism for fascism, huh?
That next bag of Nestle-owned Purina dog food I open may contain sterilants. You know, raising animals is a big no-no for “sustainable” development.
God, this so depressing.
At some point reality has to set in for these elites……..
It’s just not “sustainable” (another destroyed word), even for the few elites.
These control freaks need to be stopped before they destroy everything. An all EV Cadillac really means NO Cadillac. No GM either. It’s never asked why electric is so much better for the “environment”.
No more Cadillac for me. I tried a CTS-V that would be a good car except for all of the crap. No one else will drive the car so do I need memory seats when a bar to move the seat will be enough. The switches and buttons are a pain for and old fart with diminished ability to go from short focus to the road.
What is the point of a failure prone clutch switch that disables the car? The gage shows no oil pressure so I suppose that is another sender to be replaced. What the hey? They ruined a manual gearbox car that should have been kept simple for those that are dumb enough to buy the coupe. Even moving the seat back forward to let the non-existent rear seat passenger is electric, and it quit. They put on electric door pull to get out of the damned thing.
I cannot imagine how pissed the guys that designed the base car can be when presented with the committee job that rolled out.
Also, dumping the unnecessary crud would have saved enough weight to negate the gas tank being full. Please consult your user manual to read the hieroglyphs to open the hood to check the fluids.
Clutch switch? Are you talking about the switch that won’t allow the car to be started unless the clutch is depressed? That’s a gift of CBS. After 60 minutes did their audi sudden acceleration “story”, the federal government mandated that cars could not be started unless the brake or clutch pedal was depressed.
Today, GM openly and proudly declared war on its customers:
‘In a letter to 11 environmental leaders, GM CEO Mary Barra writes, “We are confident that the Biden Administration, California, and the U.S. auto industry, which supports 10.3 million jobs, can collaboratively find the pathway that will deliver an ALL-ELECTRIC FUTURE.”
‘Barra said GM is “INSPIRED” by Biden’s Build Back Better plan, which looks to expand EV adoption, create one million jobs, install 550,000 charging stations, and “position American autoworkers and manufacturers to WIN THE RACE FOR ELECTRIFICATION.”
‘Biden, California and GM “are aligned to ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE” by reducing emissions, Barra also wrote.’
https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/general-motors/2020/11/23/gm-trump-california-emissions-biden/6394166002/
Growing up, my family owned nothing but GM cars. My first car was a Pontiac GTO. My longest-owned vehicle was a Chevy van.
NEVER AGAIN.
Effective today, GM is our implacable, malignant enemy, intent on destroying the value and use of IC-engined vehicles.
To paraphrase the West Point cadet honor code, I will neither drive a GM car, nor tolerate those who do.