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Technology Stocks : Orbital Engine (OE) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John R Resseger who wrote (4728)	8/18/2001 3:58:43 PM
From: q39	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4908

They need a reliable supply chain. The only manufacturer now is Synerject. OE has not successfully signed a second manufacturer as the second supplier would require a guarantee of making money to set up a line and no car manufacturer has yet committed to production levels to justify that. Catch 22. Ford/GM are reluctant to improve their gasoline mileage and show they have the capability of doing so, as they fear Congress will mandate they do so. It concerns them that perhaps consumers will not be able to calculate that the $500 or so the better fuel economy (and better performance) costs them will easily pay for itself in a couple of years. They also recognize that some people think that better mileage equates to poorer performance. They also maximize profits by stamping out the same or similar stuff year after year. They hope to delay any required improvements as long as possible. How far will they go? The GM website (last I looked) summarized their opposition to CAFE increases by saying that investing in tweaks to the ICE will prevent them from developing emissionless powerplants of equal performance (in other words, Congress will keep them from developing perpetual motion machines). They are all about short-term profits, not truth and not 3 years. It is true that OCP and the improvement in fuel economy and emissions characteristics would probably enable them to compete more effectively in the US and internationally. They truly would have a leg up globally using OCP as none of the HPDI systems appear to be able to work with US gas and most hardly keep their improved efficiency for long with European gas. I absolutely think OCP would improve their competitiveness and a quick adoption would give them a couple of years head start. I am afraid though they are very short sighted.