Although the program officially ended in , there are still ways drivers can get cash for junk cars. Although the CARS program is currently over, car owners still can find ways to turn their junk cars into cash. For example, many cities and local car dealerships offer similar car retirement programs and pay money for recycling vehicles. Low-income individuals at up to percent of the poverty level may get more. Users' questions. And so [the company] put together this marketing program pretty quickly.
And then they followed it up with a program that offered some rebates on their car payments. MacDuffie: Yes. And, of course, some competitors have come in quickly with copycat programs. But [Hyundai] got the real benefit of it by being the first. Knowledge Wharton : And so, is speed part of the lesson — reaction time to these changes in the market?
MacDuffie: Well, I think speed is certainly important. One of the things that is undoubtedly hurting a company like Toyota right now is that they have a tradition of not doing layoffs. And so they had a lot of temporary workers in Japan at the start of this crisis. They did end the contracts for the temporary workers. You might say the fast thing to do would be to make those layoffs, to reduce those costs in the time of the downturn. And we may find that ultimately they … benefit, in terms of the commitment and motivation of the work force, and keeping the quality strong — all those things — in the long run.
Knowledge Wharton : Now, Nissan just this week announced that it would be introducing the first all-electric car in Europe, Japan, and the United States, in , far ahead of their original schedule, and I believe ahead of other manufacturers.
What do you make of that? Honda has certainly grabbed some advantage being right behind them. But for Nissan to develop its own versions, and bring it to market — years later — probably does not offer a lot of advantage. They licensed the technology from Toyota, actually.
But for them, the place they decided to make a mark and make a stand was with electrical. So, could be an interesting year in terms of the all-electric vehicles. And Toyota has been saying that they would have a plug-in hybrid by around that time. They just want to be sure it works. So, Nissan may actually sneak in there before Toyota. Knowledge Wharton : Are there other things that are going to keep people away from electric cars, other than just their own initial resistance to the idea?
The Volt has a design where there is a gasoline-powered engine, but it is used only to recharge the battery. So then, you can extend the range that way. You know, it does point out that infrastructure ultimately is going to be a huge part of making this whole electrification process very extensive. The best-known example of somebody out there talking about the whole range of these things is Shai Agassi from Better Place.
He wants to be in all aspects of providing the infrastructure for the electricity — becoming almost an energy provider to the users of [electric] automobiles. This is going to be a massive effort that will require government participation.
But there may be a public-private partnership that makes it happen. Knowledge Wharton : Is it possible to handicap the race for the new technologies for automobiles? Is the successor to the internal combustion engine more likely to be a fuel cell vehicle, an electric vehicle or something else? Biden also expressed support for a Schumer-style plan last year. As part of the plan, Schumer said Americans would receive a "substantial" and "deep" point-of-sale discount when trading in a gasoline- or diesel-powered car for a new EV.
Schumer's office did not immediately return Roadshow's request for comment on the proposal. The senator also wants to incentivize automakers to build zero-emissions vehicles in the US. In fact, he told the publication, "the ultimate goal is to have every car manufactured in America be electric by , and every car on the road be clean by While it remains to be seen what the Biden administration specifically wants from sweeping infrastructure investments, it will no doubt include investments for EV charging stations -- something the president spoke of often during the campaign.
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