codyg1985’s Think Tank

General Motors is offering a gas cap of $1.99 per gallon to California and Florida customers that purchase certain vehicles that are notorious for getting mediocre gas mileage. Customers must sign up for the On-Star service in order to recieve the gas incentive:

The offer is good for 2006 and 2007 model year vehicles. In California, eligible vehicles are the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban sport utility vehicles and Impala and Monte Carlo sedans; the GMC Yukon and Yukon XL SUVs; the Hummer H2 and H3 SUVs; the Cadillac SRX SUV; and the Pontiac Grand Prix and Buick LaCrosse sedans.

In Florida, eligible vehicles are the Impala, Monte Carlo, Grand Prix and LaCrosse. Customers must buy or lease an eligible vehicle between May 25 and July 5 and enroll in the OnStar diagnostic service, which automatically runs checks on the vehicle and sends e-mail notices to owners each month.

Each month for one year, GM will give drivers a credit on a prepaid card based on their estimated fuel usage. Fuel usage will be calculated by the miles they drive, as recorded by OnStar, and the vehicle’s fuel economy rating.

Why isn’t GM offering incentives to make hybrids and economical cars cheaper instead of offering incentives to drive gas guzzlers that will only make gasoline that much more expensive for the rest of us. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and there certainly is not such as thing as free (or reduced price gas) in this sense. Sure, these customers won’t have to pay more than two bucks per gallon for gasoline, but the rest of us will have to pay more in gas in the long run. If people can get gas today for cheaper than market prices, then the consumption of gas will only increase. And we all know what supply and demand dictates for the price of that resource to do afterwards.