Daniel Akst of The New York Times makes with more of that good-old "out of the box thinking" in a column that poses the question: "What if a major automaker decided to reinvent itself as the world's first and only green car company, producing only hybrid, clean-diesel and other high-efficiency vehicles?" Notwithstanding social arguments — considering it ran the paper's business section — the business arguments involve driving down the cost of producing hybrids through economies of scale and tremendous marketing appeal. Actually, it's not as completely insane as it sounds (though it completely fails to grasp the influence of enthusiasts, who'd have to be won over in a big way). Here's an idea. They can just say they're environmentally conscious. It worked for BP's North Sea sludge-fest. And maybe they can start by ditching the royal blue in their logos.
The Green Machine That Could Be Detroit [The New York Times (sub. req.) via Treehugger]
Related:
NYT Rails Against "Powerful" Hybrids [internal]