96capricemgr

Looking back I was not clear in my earlier post, what I meant to say was even the big three are in and out of this market with vehicles that can spread their R&D over a much larger civilian market.

I just don't see a dedicated company being able to support itself.

I think 94FBIRD hit the nail on the head with the Solyndra comparison.

Don't get me wrong I think a new car plant in Indian would be a good thing, but not this one, not one doomed to failure.

Z28x

Not really, Solyndra went under because the Chinese government is subsidizing their solar companies so much that no one can compete. Their goal is to under cut everyone to the point that no one can compete with China and they have a monopoly on Solar. It is reported that the Chinese are selling solar at a 50% loss, once they own the market they will raise the prices to where they are profitable.

For Carbon to be like Solyndra you would need GM to sell Caprices for $10,000 to police departments. The US gov't could have saved Solyndra if they put tariffs on Chinese solar to the point where there product cost what it actually cost to produce.

Z28Wilson

I think the point is that it would be another disasterous public investment, regardless of the details. The smart money wasn't on Solyndra and it isn't on Carbon either.

jproz1167

What does it matter if it can run till 250k miles since most cops trash there new cars within a year hahaha

96capricemgr

b-bodies no problem hitting 250K
With reasonable car most vehicles can hit that.

guionM

I don't think you may be very aware how law enforcement uses their cars.

First of all, they don't "trash" their cars.

Second, if they have a car that only lasts a year, you can bet your life they won't buy another vehicle from that company.

Third, police don't "trash" meaning purposely run them into the ground jumping curbs and throwing over clifts. That's in movies. You don't believe what you see in movies, do you?

Law enforcement vehicles do have to stand up to heavy usage, though. That's the whole purpose of police packages.

The biggest challenge to police packages is cooling and electrical output. An Nevada State Police car or California Highway Patrol repetitiously sitting at the side of the road idling in 110 degree heat with the AC blasting, interrupted by the occasional 110-120 mph blasts from that same standstill to sit idling in heat again while writing a ticket is enough to fry most normal cars cooling systems. The additional electrical equptment on police cars today demand larger output alternators than you need simply to pump your 20 disc CD changer for your stereo. Better brakes or at least pads that hold up longer are a given.

As far as chassis durability, most cities have bad streets that in a rush to get to a destination, most times patches and potholes are taken a bit harder than you or I would take them in our family car. They aren't "trashing" their cars when they are rushing to your location after, say, being mugged or lying in an intersection after a hit and run.

Typically, most law enforcement agencies have a specified service life for their vehicles. CHP used to be about 80K miles but after budget cuts is running about 110K now. Most cities are more cash strapped, and tend to replace as needed but still have a level at which they take their cars out of service. Typically at a point where they can still sell them off. Then you have some agencies like the LAPD that have refurbished LT1 Caprices to extend their life, and have shops dedicated specifically to keeping Crown Vics going.




For the record, the only Cop cars I've personally seen having 250K miles on it were detective cars or vehicles that had a easy and good life and are 10 years old. Carbon's claim that their cars will last 250K miles is a bold claim

How do they know?

Have they given it the same extreme tests that the big makers 3 give their cars? I don't believe for a moment that they have tested a Carbon for 250,000 miles. It falls into that same claim that they had these dozens of agencies that "Reserved" cars.... only to find out that these were simply non-binding expressions of intrests (even if these were actual reservations, do you think any agency would buy a car that is so hard to get they need to get reservations in order to purchase??).