U.S. President Barack Obama has recently ordered another round of Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. hybrid vehicles. This so far has been his administration’s fourth purchase from the same brand since his election as president, thus giving a rise to federal automotive purchases while consumer demand for vehicles continue to dwindle. The U.S. General Services Administration, which carries the sole responsibility of providing transportation to the government, has now bought a total of 14,584 GM and Ford hybrid vehicles since Obama took office last year.
This figure comes from Bloomberg as authorized by a Freedom of Information Act request. The total number of vehicles that would include other brands now stand at 63,434 according to Autodate Corp.’s data compilation. Meanwhile, J.D. Power & Associates Director of Forecasting Jeff Schuster predicts that despite the administration’s continued endorsement of the Ford and GM brands, consumer demand will continue to slide without either adequate increases in petroleum prices or further government crutching. Thus, hybrid technology will continue to be at the background of the automotive market until either of the two conditions is met.
Data shows that GM and Ford hybrids now comprise 10 percent of the administration’s total automotive purchase over the past couple of fiscal annum, which is almost an 11 percent growth from two years ago. This proves that the government is investing heavily on hybrid technology despite its failing to capture market attention for the past ten years since its introduction. For three consecutive years in a row, hybrid vehicles sales continue to plummet despite government making further plans to purchase electric vehicles in the near future.