Go Go Green Cars

Happy Christmas everyone and we hope you didn’t overdose too much on food and drink as well as Santa delivering what you wanted!

The New Year is creeping up on us and 2009 is now a few moments away.

Now is the very best time of year to go looking at what deals are available on the car dealers lots – it’s a new year and a whole new set of sales incentives are available as 2008 is consigned to history and America gets to do it all over again!

Car prices are dropping like a rock given the economy but we all need to drive; now you can negotiate a great deal on whatever vehicle you are interested in simply because of the time of year and the very real desire of dealers to get cars moving off the lot but also the necessity being imposed from the very highest levels in Washington DC for car buyers to get a the best value for money deal possible while that great big car industry bail out is still being considered.

If you are looking for a hybrid, regular gas or diesel fuel or going green all the way – you really are in the driving seat when it comes to making a deal.

Do your research in between the turkey and cranberry and go prepared to the dealer with what you are looking for and have a budget in mind when you do.  Show you mean business to the sales representative and you are bound to stimulate their interest in selling you the vehicle you are looking for – don’t forget to focus on the optional extras you are looking for as this is something car makers and dealers are looking to use to make profit and is where you will find they are willing to negotiate great value deals with you.

With developments in the US auto industry dominating media headlines with whether the proposed car bail out plan is going to be passed or not and whether in fact this will only be the first installment of many others down the road, let’s take a moment and look at what is happening elsewhere in the world.

We’ve already touched on the terrible state of the car industry across the world is in and that this is not simply a problem unique to the United States.  Japanese and Korean car makers are seriously feeling the credit crunch and though they have better cash reserves, they are suffering badly and R&D has already been axed in many firms as a response to the economic and financial crisis.

In Europe, the situation is not so clear; the car makers there are not in such dire straits as their American counterparts (if you ignore Land Rover and Jaguar) but there’s a government which is more prone to fund the private sector with subsidies and loans than ours.

On the table right now is a EU 40 billion R&D development package (about $40 billion) simply to fund the development of green cars and this is being earmarked from an existing EU 140 billion economic stimulus package already approved.  Though much is made of the stringent emission tests carried out in the US, there are much tighter environmental issues and regulations that govern the European Union throughout the entire manufacturing, distribution and driving process when it comes to motor vehicles and this is before the much tougher EU emissions regulations come into force in 2010.

Given that much of the existing car fleet in the European Union will not meet these new high standards and the necessity for economic stimulation it is highly likely that this EU 40 billion is going to get passed despite anti-competition issues.

…and where does that leave America in developing a commercially viable green alternative or will we be driving around in VW’s, Fiats. Renaults and Peugeots instead of a Kansas City Cadillac in 10 years time?