EDITORIAL: Time to end the madness of EV sales subsidies

“Gotta-have” products and features sell themselves in this industry. More than 100 years ago, it didn't take much coaxing for people to want a vehicle equipped with one of the new electric starters. If your daily driving began with the gritty hand-crank ritual, an e-starter was the high tech to have. Electric starters quickly became a gut-punch to the era's nascent electric-vehicle (EV) industry, which lost a competitive advantage - particularly with female customers who had been a strong fan base. Once gasoline stations began springing up near and far, bringing even more convenience to the IC engine, EVs were doomed.

Decades later as competition intensified, “gotta-have” features were no longer enough to move the metal. The famous “buy a car, get a check” marketing schtick that 1980s Chrysler boss Lee Iacocca used (with wild success) to hawk K-cars unfortunately created a new consumer mindset: Pay me to buy your product. Putting “money on the hood” still rules retail sales. The OEMs that have largely escaped the cash-back game make iconic, unique and compelling products that sell themselves. Have you ever seen the local Apple store use cash-back deals to sell iPhones and iPads? Me neither.