“GM, Toyota venture into the unknown”
http://www.autonews.com/article/20081117/BLOG05/811170250
“Starting in late 2009, picking up speed through 2010 and especially in 2011, GM’s Chevrolet Volt and Toyota’s Prius-derived plug-in hybrids will arrive in markets in the United States and around the globe.”
They both has downsides and good points.
GM’s Volt can ran 40 miles with electricity. Toyota’s Prius can ran 10 miles with electricity; however, because the buttery is much lighter than Volt’s, its gasoline efficiency is much higher.
Pricing differs too. Volt costs about $40,000 where Prius is about the half of that price.
Now the economy is so bad, and GM is getting bailout money from government most likely.
Car industry is struggling as consumers spend less and less.
In my guess, economy is not gonna get back in late 2009 yet, thus, these new cars debut may be not really successful.
However, in the long run, the investment in these cars fueled by electricity is a must because gasoline is not going to last forever and also, our concern for environment is becoming bigger and bigger every year.
To keep the position of top car automaker, these companies can not neglect investing on product innovations.
I wonder how this recession is going to affect the car industry in terms of product competitive advantage because certainly this affects the ability of budgetting money for innovations.