Today is getting to be crazy .
Many are looking at or buying smaller
vehicles , but, they have their problems to . Can't carry as much or as many .
Don't hold the road as well in winter conditions , or
even wet roads.
Don't have as comfortable a ride as the bigger cars .
Hybrid and or
alternative fuel vehicles are being developed
or experimented with , although , at least a couple years off
or longer . Firefly Energy - http://www.fireflyenergy.com/
is developing a Better lead acid battery using
carbon
nanostructure as at least one of the plate assemblies
making the battery lighter , but longer lasting
and
more powerfull , but not in to production as of this
date . Lithium-ion batteries are being developed
with
great difficulty in making them safe enough
especially for use in a road vehicle .
And then we have the political
and oil company roadblocks
to hold things up , or totally block a sensible solution .
Some tout Hydrogen as the eventual Fuel of the future
but , again , more problems . And now a financial meltdown, which is slowing the car and other type of vehicle buying . This is killing the automotive manufacturing sector . The manufacturers are asking for government help , but , will it help ??
Both G.M. and Chrysler went in to Chapter eleven bankruptcy protection , as of June 2009 , Chrysler has emerged with the support of Fiat
and the U.S. and Canadian Governments . G.M. has apparently sold Hummer to a Chinese manufacturer and has sold SAAB
to a Swedish sports car manufacturer .
At this time G.M. is trying to sell Opel , which includes Vauxhall . Opel has some major plants in Germany , so , since the German
Government has been and will support Opel , the favored bidder is Magna ( a Canadian parts manufacturer ) , although G.M. appears
to be favoring another bidder RJ something from Belgium . The German government is not in favor of this bidder , because of the proposed plans put forward by them .
G.M. may want to buy back at some time and it seems that Magna might not be interested in this .
On top of all of that , Magna has a Russian bank as a backer , which seems to scare G.M. .
Update - November 7, 2009 - G.M. has declined to go thru with the sale of Opel , apparently they are going to finance and run it themselves .
This has upset the German workers at least , because now everything is up in the air again , and they do not have a share in the company
at this time , which was to be part of the deal as well .
Updated June 17 , 2009