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Projecting from GM Sierra production in a year, and a comment elsewhere that the Edition 1 reserve was one year's production, this could be as many as 200 thous

Projecting from GM Sierra production in a year, and a comment elsewhere that the Edition 1 reserve was one year's production, this could be as many as 200 thousand Hummer EV Edition 1, each at $112K per. To put this in perspective, there are perhaps 171,670 homeless families in America, according to https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness-2020/ https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homeless.... That means each person who reserved an Edition 1 could have bought a $30k car instead and the rest of the money could have bought a house for a homeless, resulting in no homeless families in our country. We need to get our priorities straight. I am all for EVs, but we need them mandated as the norm, not luxury status symbols that cost as much as a house. When they are mandated and gas models aren't sold then manufacturers will make cheaper models to meet the market's demand.

selectodude 6y ago
>I am all for EVs, but we need them mandated as the norm, not luxury status symbols that cost as much as a house. When they are mandated and gas models aren't sold then manufacturers will make cheaper models to meet the market's demand. That isn't how that works. You can't just make something cheaper by fiat. It takes time, demand and technological advancement. Banning new ICE vehicles unilaterally will make it so nobody can afford a new car.
Zenbit_UX 6y ago
> That means each person who reserved an Edition 1 could have bought a $30k car instead and the rest of the money could have bought a house for a homeless, resulting in no homeless families in our country. And does that have to do with the price of butter?
goshx 6y ago
They said it was a limited edition and do you really think so many people would be willing to spend $100k plus? GM also admitted they don't have a real, working hummer EV at this point. All the numbers are "GM Estimates", so I highly doubt they'd offer more than 1000 units on something they might not be able to achieve. edit: heck, even the number of motors is "estimated"
DavidPeiffer 6y ago
>That means each person who reserved an Edition 1 could have bought a $30k car instead and the rest of the money could have bought a house for a homeless, resulting in no homeless families in our country. We need to get our priorities straight. Priorities are definitely not straight in this country, but I'd bet 95% of those sold are going to be financed. Very few people have 100k liquid, and even fewer are willing to drop it on a car. Your point stands though, those people didn't finance a 30k car and agree to pay 82k via convenient monthly payments over a number of years to end homelessness. This brings up another point - why are massive new vehicles seen as such a status symbol in the US? 120 month loans on a rapidly depreciating asset are insane, same with rolling over debt from prior vehicles. Millions of people have 7+ year car loans which are holding them back from achieving economic stability. They won't have positive equity in the vehicle until the last couple years of the loan, by which point their vehicle needs have likely changed and they've already gotten a different car.
danans 6y ago
> That means each person who reserved an Edition 1 could have bought a $30k car instead and the rest of the money could have bought a house for a homeless, Instead of attempting to control the luxury purchasing habits of the wealthy, we should instead just tax them more (their income/wealth, not the sale) rather than relying on their selective and conditional charity. I doubt the sales of these would drop much if we did.
jm4 6y ago
This is ridiculous on so many levels. Who are you to tell someone else how they should spend their money? Not sure how you arrived at your estimate of production either. Are you basing it on how many units they produced of some completely different and somewhat popular vehicle?
traviswt 6y ago
If we could just hand housing to homeless persons to solve the problem, it would have been solved long ago. Mental health is the true issue, and that is far trickier with no purely monetary solution (you get into conflicts with personal autonomy and freedom quickly). If you see a problem that could be obviously, easily solved, especially with nothing but money, then maybe it's wise for you to assume that you're underestimating the problem.
- amanaplanacanal 6y ago
  Actually some places have started just giving the homeless housing. It turns out it’s much easier to get other services to someone with a stable living environment.
neogodless 6y ago
The GMC Sierra is half of the GM truck twins, and when combined with the Chevrolet Silverado are some of the absolute highest selling vehicles in the United States, more then the single model Ford F150. To put it another way, the production of the Sierra is a horrible place to start assumptions for how many units of a novelty/niche six-figure electric SUV will be produced. It's a bit like saying "there are a lot of Corollas, I bet they'll sell a few million Lexus LFAs!"
pluto9 6y ago
While I personally agree that buying a 6-figure vehicle is excessive, you can make this argument about anything that you don't strictly need for survival. What's the threshold for something to be a "luxury status symbol", and who gets to decide that? My vehicle cost roughly $18,000 and I considered that expensive. Does that mean I get to scold you for thinking people "need" a $30K vehicle?

selectodude 6y ago

>I am all for EVs, but we need them mandated as the norm, not luxury status symbols that cost as much as a house. When they are mandated and gas models aren't sold then manufacturers will make cheaper models to meet the market's demand. That isn't how that works. You can't just make something cheaper by fiat. It takes time, demand and technological advancement. Banning new ICE vehicles unilaterally will make it so nobody can afford a new car.

Zenbit_UX 6y ago

goshx 6y ago

They said it was a limited edition and do you really think so many people would be willing to spend $100k plus? GM also admitted they don't have a real, working hummer EV at this point. All the numbers are "GM Estimates", so I highly doubt they'd offer more than 1000 units on something they might not be able to achieve. edit: heck, even the number of motors is "estimated"

DavidPeiffer 6y ago

>That means each person who reserved an Edition 1 could have bought a $30k car instead and the rest of the money could have bought a house for a homeless, resulting in no homeless families in our country. We need to get our priorities straight. Priorities are definitely not straight in this country, but I'd bet 95% of those sold are going to be financed. Very few people have 100k liquid, and even fewer are willing to drop it on a car. Your point stands though, those people didn't finance a 30k car and agree to pay 82k via convenient monthly payments over a number of years to end homelessness. This brings up another point - why are massive new vehicles seen as such a status symbol in the US? 120 month loans on a rapidly depreciating asset are insane, same with rolling over debt from prior vehicles. Millions of people have 7+ year car loans which are holding them back from achieving economic stability. They won't have positive equity in the vehicle until the last couple years of the loan, by which point their vehicle needs have likely changed and they've already gotten a different car.

danans 6y ago

> That means each person who reserved an Edition 1 could have bought a $30k car instead and the rest of the money could have bought a house for a homeless, Instead of attempting to control the luxury purchasing habits of the wealthy, we should instead just tax them more (their income/wealth, not the sale) rather than relying on their selective and conditional charity. I doubt the sales of these would drop much if we did.

jm4 6y ago

This is ridiculous on so many levels. Who are you to tell someone else how they should spend their money? Not sure how you arrived at your estimate of production either. Are you basing it on how many units they produced of some completely different and somewhat popular vehicle?

traviswt 6y ago

If we could just hand housing to homeless persons to solve the problem, it would have been solved long ago. Mental health is the true issue, and that is far trickier with no purely monetary solution (you get into conflicts with personal autonomy and freedom quickly). If you see a problem that could be obviously, easily solved, especially with nothing but money, then maybe it's wise for you to assume that you're underestimating the problem.

amanaplanacanal 6y ago
Actually some places have started just giving the homeless housing. It turns out it’s much easier to get other services to someone with a stable living environment.

neogodless 6y ago

The GMC Sierra is half of the GM truck twins, and when combined with the Chevrolet Silverado are some of the absolute highest selling vehicles in the United States, more then the single model Ford F150. To put it another way, the production of the Sierra is a horrible place to start assumptions for how many units of a novelty/niche six-figure electric SUV will be produced. It's a bit like saying "there are a lot of Corollas, I bet they'll sell a few million Lexus LFAs!"

pluto9 6y ago

While I personally agree that buying a 6-figure vehicle is excessive, you can make this argument about anything that you don't strictly need for survival. What's the threshold for something to be a "luxury status symbol", and who gets to decide that? My vehicle cost roughly $18,000 and I considered that expensive. Does that mean I get to scold you for thinking people "need" a $30K vehicle?