[usa1]

Let's see how we got here.

- Watch your competition bring out hybrid technology.
- Miss the shift in the marketplace that was about the happen. (No one in GM ever heard of peak oil apparently)
- Bad mouth the competition's hybrid tech saying the economics are all wrong.
- Watch hybrid sales take off.
- Rush half baked hybrid vehicles (mild hybrid AKA BAS) to the market.
- Watch mild hybrid sales go no where.
- Develop a new plug in hybrid technology that will leap frog the competition
- Introduce the idea YEARS before the plug in hybrid technology is ready.
- Hype the plug in hybrid technology as the biggest news in power train technology in decades
- Hype the plug in tech as being years ahead of the competition
- Hype the new tech more
- Hype the new tech even more
- Hype the new tech in excruciating detail and include it in ads
- Share every bit of information about the new tech with the world and the competition
- Talk about the new tech as the second coming
- Start to temper the hype by saying it will cost $35K to $40K
- Temper the hype more by saying the volume will be very low
- Listen to how your competition will beat you to the marketplace in plug in tech
- Starting talking in terms of how this is not a race

I don't like how this is heading for GM.

I've been saying for years that GM, Lutz, Waggoner, etc. should STFU about future products, hype the stuff you have and are selling TODAY (even if it is crap compared to the new stuff), work on the new stuff out of the spotlight so the competition doesn't know where you are heading years in advance, and bring it out AHEAD of the competition with minimal introduction lead time.

Mark