Mr Wagoner Drives To Washington

Image by Getty Images via DaylifAfter the big disaster of the Big 3 Automakers taking private jets to the bailout hearings they all axed flying back for round 2 in private jets. Jim Wagoner of GM drove from Detroit in the new Chevy Malibu Hybrid So I decided to read a bit more about the Chevy Malibu Hybrid. First of all I went to the Chevrolet website which right away states that the Malibu Hybrid has "Very limited availability". That doesn't sound so good. Maybe that is because they are just selling like gangbusters and has nothing to do with lack of production Second the hybrid starts at $26,225 with is $4,000 more then the regular Malibu. With the hybrid you get 33 MPG highway compared to 30 MPG highway for the regular Malibu.
$4,000 for 3 MPG on the highway. Hmm...this is where tax incentives from government need to come in or federal bailout money needs to fix. One idea would be that the part of the bailout plan the government would pay the current sticker price difference to the Big 3 for each Hybrid sold to the public. So, Joe the Plumber could go to his local Chevy dealer and get to pick the Hybrid or Non-Hybrid for the same price. If he buys the non-hybrid then GM gets 0 from the government. If he buys the hybrid then GM would either get $4,000 back in either cash for survival or some sort of tax credit. Now on some hybrids the buyer gets a tax credit come April when they do taxes but no one thinks about that when signing the loan papers for the car. Let's just save us all the trouble and give the buyers tax cuts. Now this would not be to just the Big 3. This would be to any car company for any Hybrid car manufactured in North America. Yeah, including Mexico and Canada. Hey, free trade works. Plus various components are still made in America by American workers.