This isn't "gunship in the night" and "railroad cars converted to prison boxcars for civilians" type stuff.

This isn't even that mysterious. There can be no doubt that even now fuel engine automobiles are the gravy train of any car company.

The question is why are the proffering up, at best, subpar 1970s electric car performance "for 2010" that they MUST know will fall flat on its face with those performance specs.

One must assume the intro is a sham for PR. But PR for what? Who is the sham for? Greenies will be ticked off and will never be happy even if GM produced cars that clean the air as you drive. (Remember that catalytic converter that was going to clean the air as you drive? Never heard of that again either.) The market might be influenced somewhat, but with those offerings - probably not.

That leaves me thinking the sham is just a symbolic shot across the bow of the oil companies. "See here...we could go into production soon...now lower those damn gas prices! We made you big...we can destroy you as well! But see these vehicles are intentionally harmless! But you get the message!"

Like a gun firing blanks just to get their attention.

It's not so much a conspiracy as it is the charted path for maxing the big money. We all know that building too good a mousetrap that catches all mice and never wears out is a good way for a company to bankrupt itself.