Climate Denial Crock of the Week

One thing Climate deniers seem to hate even more than a black president is the electric hybrid Chevy Volt. Newt Gingrich put his finger on the anxiety of a particular slice of his demographic when he recently told an audience, “You can’t put a gun rack in a Chevy Volt.”

Above, a Volt owner takes exception.

GM responded directly  to the ‘gun rack” comment,

Huffington Post: 

General Motors shot back at Newt Gingrich Tuesday, openly mocking his stump speech allegation that the Chevy Volt is an “Obama car” because “you can’t put a gun rack in a Volt.”

“Actually, you can,” wrote GM’s head of communications, Selim Bingol, on the company’sblog. “But the real question is, ‘Why would you?'”

Gingrich made a stir last week during a speech in Georgia when he observed that the Volt isn’t a great car for a gun rack. “We believe in the right to bear arms and we like to bear the arms in our trucks,” he said, according to The Detroit News.

“That’s like saying, ‘You can’t put training wheels on a Harley,'” Bingol said. “There are better places for gun racks and training wheels — pickup trucks and little Schwinns, respectively. Seriously, when is the last time you saw a gun rack in ANY sedan?”

A concentrated attack from the increasingly irrational far right media may have had an impact on sales, but GM states that they are still committed to the Volt and the technology that it represents.

AutoBlog Green:

General Motors CEO Dan Akerson told San Francisco-area Chevrolet Volt owners that the automaker will continue to invest in and expand production of the extended-range plug-in vehicle, according to Green Car Reports.

Akerson, who met with about 30 Volt owners, said his company’s decision to stop production of the Volt for five weeks was a temporary one, and that GM briefly stopped production of other models such as theChevrolet Cruze to trim inventory, according to the website. Akerson said the shut-down was preferable to attempting to move Volt sales through heavy discounts and incentives.

Last week, GM decided to shut down Volt production for five weeks because of sluggish sales, as there’s reportedly a five-month supply of the models at Chevy dealerships throughout the U.S. That shut down is slated to start March 19 and end April 23.

Last year, GM missed its goal to sell 10,000 Volts during its first full year on the market, selling only 7,671 units. But last month, GM sold 1,023 Volts, up from 603 in January. Additionally, the car, along with its sister model Opel Ampera, also recently was awarded the 2012 European Car of the Year. Last year, the Volt won North American Car of the Year as well as car-of-the-year awards from Motor Trend and Automobile.

As the video above shows, Volt owners are becoming the best salespeople for the electric hybrids, and a new series of ads from GM seeks to underline that point.

The historical lesson that GM has, hopefully, learned, is that shaping policy around next quarter’s numbers is a good way to drive your company in to bankruptcy.  Toyota provided a good example with its slow, initially unprofitable, development of the Prius – which now dominates the high mileage, hybrid category. Electric and hybrid cars are clearly the future, as this season’s rocketing gas prices clearly show.  The companies that demonstrate mastery of that technology will be the companies that win the future.

The pudgy Gingrich is a perfect poster boy, actually, for the testosterone-challenged insecure middle-aged males who make up for their insecurities by tuning in Rush Limbaugh, bashing women and minorities, and ostentatiously flaunting such phallic symbols as gun racks and giant SUVs.

My no-frills cheap solution to those in the Limbaugh/Gingrich crowd that have something they want to tell the world, but can’t afford the giant, gas-guzzling assault vehicle to send the message – would be cheap 10 dollar  bumper sticker  – one that says “I have a small penis”.