http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/10276
"Hybrids' halo
Commentary By BETSY HART
What is it with the halos following the hybrids?
There you are, in a group of folks having a perfectly rational discussion, . . ."
This article was a hack job that copied from "Reason" magazine that took dictation from "CNW Marketing." Those of us familar with the term "being Swift boated" have seen the pattern often enough to know what follows. Basicly, a lie is posted in one forum and then the 'chorus' picks up the lie from these secondary sources and it echos across all media. It is the propaganda version of money laundering.
The right answer is to challenge them, fast and hard, and hit them where it hurts, "fact checking." So this was e-mailed to Peter Copeland, Editor, of Scripts news service.
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Dear Editor,
Certainly Betsy Hart is welcome to her opinions in "Hybrids' Halo" but stating factual errors that are easily resolved by a news service search is plainly wrong. In her article, Ms. Hart states:
"(Car companies take losses on the cars.)" - Ignores Toyota's announcement of making a profit on each Prius sold. It takes a while for any new enterprise to make a profit but Toyota's balance sheet is well in the black with the Prius startup costs already being paid off by their sales.
"Hybrids cost about $6,000 more to make than simular gas-powered car . . ." - Attributed to _Reason_ magazine, it only takes a simple call to any local Toyota dealer or web search to find the price difference between a Toyota Camry XLE, $22,795, and Toyota Camry Hybrid, $25,900, a difference of only $3,115. When the standard features of the Toyota Camry Hybrid are added to the Toyota Camry XLE, the difference drops to about $1,500. Call the local Toyota dealer and let a salesman provide the two quotes, it is their job.
". . .sales of hybrids have dropped every month this year compared to the same month last year. " - ignores the catestrophic drop of non-hybrids. In the case of GM, it threatens their existence as a company and the investors are forcing GM management to seek help from Nissan. Then there is this article from MSNBC, "GM sales decline sharpy in June - Ford, DaimlerChrysler also report lower sales; Toyota surges."
". . . they don't last nearly as long as gas-powered cars (around 100,000 vs. 300,000 miles)" - yet the Department of Energy conducted a fleet study of hybrids, INL/CON-05-00964, and ended the study at 160,000 miles with hybrid vehicles still performing at nearly the same levels as new.
Betsy is certainly welcome to her opinion but not to misrepresenting the facts. What is sad is these few examples of false claims from her "Hybrids' halo" piece are easily verified by doing an internet search for sources. Betsy's problem came from a failure to fact-check the flawed "CNW Marketing" claims and sources who use "CNW Marketing" in their reports.
Robert J. Wilson
Huntsville, AL
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