What's the point, some might ask, of being a president, if you can't get what you want? After approving the spending of billions for the automotive industry bailout and an extra few more millions for the purchase of hybrid vehicles for US government fleets, president Obama wanted a hybrid presidential limo for himself. Imagine, the first African American president to ride around in the first hybrid presidential limo... Wouldn't that be something?
Well, no, the Secret Service reckoned when they said no to the president.
"I asked can we make these cars hybrids. Secret Service said no," president Obama was quoted as saying by ABC News. "Now, the reason is not because Secret Service are bad guys. It's because the cars that I'm in are like tanks."
Like tanks... So what? Remember a story we covered back in August last year? Here it is: the US Army's Ground Systems Power and Energy Laboratory (GSPEL) announced they will build hybrid-electric and fuel-cell military tanks. Just a thought...
Point is, we can quite see how being a hybrid reduces the security level of a vehicle... Unless they know something we don't... Conspiracy theorists, go to work.
So, president Obama is left with the Cadillac Presidential Limousine, a.k.a. the Beast. A combination between a Cadillac and GMC truck, with zero eco-friendly capabilities, but quite a few safety features. In essence, the evolution of the presidential limo will hence stop here, for now. Surely, a hybrid or even an electric one will be eventually approved.
Well, no, the Secret Service reckoned when they said no to the president.
"I asked can we make these cars hybrids. Secret Service said no," president Obama was quoted as saying by ABC News. "Now, the reason is not because Secret Service are bad guys. It's because the cars that I'm in are like tanks."
Like tanks... So what? Remember a story we covered back in August last year? Here it is: the US Army's Ground Systems Power and Energy Laboratory (GSPEL) announced they will build hybrid-electric and fuel-cell military tanks. Just a thought...
Point is, we can quite see how being a hybrid reduces the security level of a vehicle... Unless they know something we don't... Conspiracy theorists, go to work.
So, president Obama is left with the Cadillac Presidential Limousine, a.k.a. the Beast. A combination between a Cadillac and GMC truck, with zero eco-friendly capabilities, but quite a few safety features. In essence, the evolution of the presidential limo will hence stop here, for now. Surely, a hybrid or even an electric one will be eventually approved.