Obama Harming U.S. Auto Industry With His Focus on EVs, Big Parts Supplier Says
By Scott Doggett August 6, 2010
U.S. policy-makers are hampering the ability of U.S. auto industry to compete globally by focusing on electric vehicles while "ignoring" other advanced vehicle technologies, the CEO of a top parts supplier says.
BorgWarner CEO Tim Manganello told the Center for Automotive Research's Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, MI, on Thursday that "the U.S. government is going a bit too far in trying to dictate the powertrain technologies of the future."
"It's difficult to compete globally when governments try to pick the winning technologies and the direction changes from administration to administration," he said, referring to the Obama administration's focus on EV development.
In contrast, the administration has shown relatively little interest in other technologies such as clean diesel, Manganello said.
He noted if diesels had a 33 percent market share, the U.S. could save 1.4 million barrels of oil a day, which is more than the U.S. imports from Saudi Arabia.
His comments came a week after President Obama praised electric-drive vehicles in a speech at a General Motors plant where workers are building the extended-range electric Chevrolet Volt.
At the same Traverse City event, BMW North American CEO Jim O'Donnell said the U.S. government is "being a bit unfair" to diesel as a technology choice.
And Hyundai executive John Krafcik said governments should "not mandate certain technology solutions. It almost never works."
LEAVE A COMMENT
These guys have their own interests in mind, and nothing else. The argument that the government is picking technology is bogus. It's the lobbyists are picking technology. Look at the ethanol subsidies. Look at the practically non-existent gasoline tax. The companies tied to fossil fuel have had an unfair advantage for so long that it's completely taken for granted. EVs are the future (no matter what the energy source is), and the sooner we get there the better. This is just the usual practice of business resisting any kind of regulation, even if it will help them down the line. They just can't operate any other way unless shareholders start to value long-term success over short-term profits, and that ain't gonna happen.
It's not the focus on EV's that's harming the auto industry...
ADD A COMMENT