FIAT Losing Money On Every 500e Electric Car

It seems that Chrysler's Italian savior has adopted the Big 3 policy of losing money on cars they sell but making it up in volume.

The Detroit News: Marchionne: Fiat loses $14K on every electric 500

So why are they selling the 500e when every car is a $14k hit to the bottom line?

Basically it's due to perverse environmental incentives and regulations with which the company must comply.

Marchionne last year had estimated the company would lose about $10,000 on each subcompact 500e, which went on sale last summer and was created to comply with California’s zero-emissions vehicle rule. Fiat will expand sales to Oregon this summer.

Without the regulation, it's unlikely FIAT would willingly produce a loss-leader car like the 500e.

The Fiat 500e, has a starting price of $32,300, but can be purchased for as little as $19,300 when accounting for tax credits and incentives.

In other words, the rest of the US via the electric vehicle income tax credit is subsidizing California car buyers picking up electric vehicles for below cost. The vehicle is only environmentally (and that's only if you don't look to where the electricity in the electric car comes from) but not economically viable.

On top of losing on the 500e, FIAT must also buy emissions credits:

FCA — which has had to buy emissions credits to comply with U.S. guidelines

FIAT has found itself fouled by government fiat.

EPA Rejects Revising Ethanol, Eschews Email Production

The EPA is refusing to reduce the increase of mandated amount of ethanol in gasoline even as Congress requests they do so because of both the shortage of corn due to crop issues and that the new mandate will likely harm gas-powered engines.

EPA, always ready to help out corn farmers and greenies at the expense of everyone else. That the EPA declares their increased amount mandate was not found by them to be stopped as they didn't find evidence to support a finding of severe "economic harm" is hardly comforting. Nevermind, that automakers have declared the new ethanol 15 mixture will harm vehicles older than the 2013 models. Then again, that will force Americans to buy new cars - that should increase economic progress!

On top of the gasoline issue, Republicans in Congress have requested the EPA turn over the contents of its secret email accounts - accounts designed to get around FOIA.

Most transparent administration evah folks.

EPA To Make The Rare Wisconsin-Michigan Badger Extinct?

The coal-fired steamship S.S. Badger to be precise.

The Detroit News: Full Stop: S.S. Badger could end historic journey in December

The ship, launched in 1952, is a registered historic site in both states and regularly ferries passengers and vehicles back and forth contributing millions to both states' economies.

This could all end on Dec. 19 if the Badger's parent company, Lake Michigan Carferry Service, doesn't come up with a way to stop dumping the boat's coal ash discharge into the waters of Lake Michigan.

The Environmental Protection Agency is currently reviewing an application by LMC that, if approved, would give the Badger a permit to continue operating past the Dec. 19 deadline, if the company sets a schedule for compliance with EPA water cleanliness restrictions.

Considering the Badger is the last coal-fired vessel in service on the lakes, the worry that one ship will harm the environmental balance of Lake Michigan is a bit overwrought, not to mention it save millions of gallons in fuel that vehicles would otherwise consume, and even carries windmill parts fer crying out loud:

The Badger not only transports people back and forth between Wisconsin and Michigan on a four-hour, 60-mile cruise, but it also transports automobiles, tour buses and commercial trucks across Lake Michigan, Brown said. It is 1 1/2 times the size of a football field. Nickels said the Badger often carries the massive pieces of wind towers — huge windmills produced by Broadwind Energies, which is based in Manitowoc. If not for the ship, he said, those pieces would have to be driven on flatbed truck trailers on highways around the southern tip of Lake Michigan. Brown said LMC estimates that the Badger saves 1 million gallons of fuel each year from vehicles that can avoid driving around Lake Michigan.

One would think the EPA would grant an exemption considering the environmental benefits of the S.S. Badger far outweigh its costs.

Then again, expecting such rational decision making from a greenie dominated, anti-coal driven administration is likely asking for too much.