Quote Originally Posted by Devils Horse View Post
According to the story, one key event that made this company fail was GM selecting a South Korean company over these guys to supply the batteries for their Volt product. Nobody at GM should ever complain about Americans not buying American cars.
When a foreign car maker's product is superior to a domestic, and at an equal or better price point, I can't fault people for buying the better mousetrap. Build a better mousetrap with just as much value if you want loyalty.

It's any company's job to build the best product at the best value to the consumer. If the South Koreans build a better battery than the Americans, or had the better track record to rest all of GM's laurels on, than so be it. In a battery powered car, the battery is pretty dang important. Is GM supposed to lay their nuts on the table for unknown A123, just because they are an American Company and got a chunk of money from the Obama? Gamble on a company that hasn't proven itself in the battery business, to provide the key component for the vehicle that was supposed to be GM's savior? If A123 goes bankrupt and their products fail, GM is screwed.

I can't say that I blame them for going with the more established company. Somebody at GM didn't believe in the sustainability of A123...and guess what? They were right.

A123 got a chunk of cash and went belly-up...but I'll bet not many of their executives missed many paychecks.

Another example of why government needs to stay the heck out of private enterprise. If you want to be the battery supplier for GM, build your way up to it and earn it...don't just expect it to be handed to you because you got a bunch of money from the U.S. Government. GM has a business to run, and selecting key component suppliers is huge.