Obama administration is all about purchasing hybrids for the government

US President Barack Obama looks at the Chevrolet Volt

The government is certainly the main catalyst keeping the hybrid car market alive, but not in the way you may think. Since President Obama took office, the government has purchased 1/4 of the hybrid cars purchased in this country. The General Services Administration, the government agency responsible for fleet management, bought at least 14,584 hybrid vehicles in the past two fiscal years.

“This is the beginning,” a spokeswoman for the agency said. “Our main goal is to increase the fuel efficiency of the federal fleet. The other goal is to drive the market toward cleaner technologies. It’s in the early stages of the government acquiring more hybrids and in larger quantities.”

One major hurdle with hybrid vehicles remains the fact that they are not price competitive, and although government purchasing and funding of researching helps, ultimately, the market will have to exist without the government crutch.

The government hybrid fleet comes almost exclusively from GM and Ford, with only 22 vehicles coming from non-American manufacturers.

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Bloomberg