Limbaugh rips new Chevy Volt
A lot of publications are reporting that Rush Limbaugh was highly critical of the new Chevrolet Volt. As a public service, Allpar is presenting Mr. Limbaugh’s comments:
“Everybody’s all excited today, the Chevy Volt has been announced a price at 41 grand. However, you can get it for less — there’s a $7500 tax credit which means that Obama and the government are admitting that nobody wants this, nobody wants it. We gotta give you a $7500 discount. Why don’t you try this, Mr. Obama, and the rest of you at Obama Motors, just put it out there at 41 grand and let the market decide. I’m going to be very honest with you people about something. General Motors about a year ago, after Obama took ‘em over, we didn’t make a big deal about this, but General Motors at the time, before Obama took over the company, we were participating in an advertising campaign, and they wanted us to continue, and it was a large financial commitment that they were making. We turned it down. I turned it down because I could not honestly recommend — I knew this was coming. I’m not going to recommend people go buy an electric car that gets 40 miles to a charge. That would shoot my credibility. It takes three to four hours to charge the thing, 40 miles to the charge. And then there’s a backup gas tank that gives you 375 miles.
“So who’s kidding who here? And all this is 41 grand. This is the most expensive Chevrolet outside a Corvette. All the while Obama wants to get rid of coal. Where does he think we’re going to get the electricity to fire these things up? And unless I’ve missed something, I don’t know where the charging stations are. The charging station is your house, so that 40-mile range has gotta include you getting home and then staying home for three to four hours to charge the thing. It’s 20-mile range. So I’m saying to myself, I can’t in good conscience recommend that. I wish ‘em luck, don’t misunderstand here, but we turned down big money. My sales staff is among the most successful and at times the angriest because we turn down things. General Motors was not happy, Obama Motors. Yeah, it was going to be live endorsement type things, and it was a year ago, and I said, “I’m sorry, no hard feelings here, but I’m not going to put myself in a position here after years and years of having the position I’ve got on fossil fuels and the environment and so forth, all of it, can you imagine me coming in, ‘Hey, folks, guess what? The Chevy Volt’s out.’” I would be so embarrassed. (interruption) I don’t know, 30, 40 years out do I see it being viable? I don’t know.
“People ask me about satellite radio, do you see that being viable. I don’t know. I think technological advances are occurring so rapidly that there might be something down the road that would render electric as old hat, but before electric can take hold. The key here in all of this is batteries. I don’t know about you, but we talk about technological advances. I’m wondering why, no matter what the device, I have to charge the battery every four or five hours, whether it’s a car, whether it’s a cell phone, whatever it is. Why can’t we get a battery that lasts a week on something? I don’t know. I’m not technologically advanced. But it’s energy, and it’s not easy to produce energy. It’s very difficult. And the battery here is the same thing with the Prius. You know, these batteries, and then when they wear out you have to replace them, look at the potential environmental disaster that throwing the battery away is. But you talk about viability, if Obama’s gonna shut down the coal industry, and if we’re gonna start producing electricity with windmills and solar panels, I’m sorry, there isn’t going to be any electricity to drive a car with.
“We get these smart grids and these smart thermostats where the authorities — I’m seeing that word more and more in the media, the authorities, the authorities can regulate the thermostat in your house. It ain’t going to happen. I will go to jail. That just is not going to happen. But if it does happen there isn’t going to be enough energy, you won’t have to worry about the government because there won’t be any power coming to your house if they get rid of coal. So, will the electric car become viable? If you look at this regime’s environmental plans, there is not going to be any electricity to charge these cars with. All I’m saying is, you put this car out there and — and look, I have nothing against — don’t misunderstand here. If you want one, go get it, fine and dandy. I’m just saying if you put a price point of $41,000 on this and take away that $7500 come-on, let the market decide and I have a feeling I know what would end up at this point in our history with the electric car.
“We know Al Gore tried this long ago. They tried to force us into these things long ago, and we didn’t want them. And that just made them mad, just made ‘em madder. Fuel cells, that was supposed to be a big innovation. What it all points out is that energy, the production, the creation, production of energy is not insignificant a thing. It is a very difficult thing. That’s why we go down 5,000 feet to get oil. We need it, and there’s nothing better than oil to fuel our growth and our needs. And we’re sounded by nincompoops who want to eliminate it, just take us all back to the Stone Age days of poverty in the name of saving something. Anyway, quick time-out. Lot to do here, folks. They can’t find the oil. The Washington Post, the New York Times cannot find the oil in the Gulf. They are worried and they’re angry.
“What’s a Prius cost, ballpark? Yeah. Mmm-hmm. Okay, $30,000 for Prius (Allpar Note: the 2010 Prius base price is about $23,000), $41,000 for a Chevy Volt, and 10¢ for a red AIDS ribbon. Look how much the cost has gone up to show how much you care. You used to be able to show everybody how superior you were and how much you cared with a 10¢ red ribbon. Now you gotta spend 30 grand or 41 grand on a car to show everybody how much better you are than everybody else.
“Look, folks, I don’t mean to keep piling on here, but if you think the recalls are bad on the supposedly stuck accelerator pedals in the Toyota, wait ’til the recalls on the electric cars begin. We got a 40-mile range in the electric car. What happens if it gets stuck in a traffic jam? You know, the battery keeps going whether you’re moving or not. The battery continues to discharge whether you’re moving or not. Now, it probably doesn’t discharge as rapidly if you’re stalled in a traffic jam. The bottom line is before you know it you’re going to be turning on the gasoline powered part of the car and creating — as I say, ten cents and a red ribbon and you could show you cared more or are superior to everybody. Now look what it costs you liberals, 30 to 41 grand to show you’re superior, that you care more than the rest of us.
“Peter Whoriskey, the writer of the Washington Post story: “The long-anticipated Chevrolet Volt, General Motors’ electric car, will cost $41,000, the company announced Tuesday, leaving consumers to decide whether its environmental appeal is worth a price far above that of similarly sized conventional autos.” I read that and I say, “You could go out and spend a little bit more and get a real car.” Lexis, Mercedes, Infiniti, Beamer, just a little bit more and get a real car. “GM and Nissan are relying on a $7,500 federal tax credit for buyers of electric vehicles to offset some of the added cost, and they’re hoping that the allure of their novel power source,” the battery — would somebody tell me what’s new about a battery, what is novel about a battery? I mean cars have had batteries in them for I don’t know how long. There’s nothing new about having a battery in a car. What is new is having a battery power the whole damn thing. And so they’re hoping the allure of a novel power source, a battery — if any of you people think a battery is something novel and new, you deserve to be saddled with one of these. “They’re hoping that the allure of their novel power source will make up the rest.”
“Get rid of the tax credit and let’s see what the free market would say about this. “The Volt is a game-changing product,” says an Obama vehicles executive. The iPhone was a game-changing product, and it didn’t take a tax credit. And they sold over 90 million of the things. A game-changing product does not need a tax credit. They’re mutually exclusive.
“Back to the Washington Post story: “The Volt can travel 40 miles on its battery charge and an additional 340 miles on a gasoline-powered generator.” And they report this like it’s a positive. You know, people don’t buy cars for this reason. Cars are a symbol of freedom, not Central Planning. When’s the last time you ever heard anybody go, “Yeah, man, yeah, man, I’m going to buy this car because 40 miles to the charge and 340 miles on a gasoline-powered backup. Yeah, man, that’s me.” People don’t buy cars this way. “But some analysts said they doubt that electric cars can reach a broad audience in the near term. Hybrid cars took about eight years to reach the million-unit sales mark in the United States, according to Energy Department figures. ‘I’m not sure the Volt is going to be a volume vehicle,’ said George Magliano, director of automotive industry forecasting for North America at IHS Global Insight. ‘The technology still isn’t there to make them cheap. At the end of the day, the consumer pays a hefty premium to make a statement.’” Exactly right: a hefty premium, a hefty electric bill, and no charge stations.
“Again, I point out, it used to only cost a little red ribbon to show how much you cared, to make a statement. Ten cents, 25 cents. How many of you that wear whatever color ribbon it is, red, white, blue, yellow, black, how much did you actually pay? Most people gave you the ribbon. As far as you were concerned the ribbon was free. Now look what you have to do. You have to go 30 grand on a Prius, $41,000 on a Volt, to show how superior you are to people, to show how much you care and that they don’t. The only upside here is the price. The cost of liberals is also skyrocketing.
“I have a car that gets eight miles to the gallon, and I love it, and I’m happy. And the range, I’ll never get 300 miles to the gallon out of this thing if I’m doing highway or city, it won’t happen. I’ve checked it. I have a computer on there that tells me what the range is, and I think the top is 256. What’s yours? Now, I imagine if you’re driving around in a little putt-putt, but how big is your gas tank? It all depends on how much gasoline you can carry around. But my point is the backup on this thing is 340. Why wouldn’t you use the backup first and use the battery as the backup is the point? Well, because you’re making a statement, you’re out there saying you’re better than everybody else.”
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