A friend of mine who, among other things, has had

A friend of mine who, among other things, has had a racing team and raced cars himself, said that 20 years ago if some big company got involved with such a technology, they would have squashed it rather than have tried to develop it.
More recently there are companies willing and able to try to advance alternative technologies, as witnessed by the development of things like battery and hybrid engines to name a couple.
The Coates technology isn't too late because of the various uses for it. You may never see it being the norm for the car in your garage but when it comes to things such as generators as an example, it still has great potential. Only time will tell however.
In the past, and I've been around longer than a decade now with Coates, I've read where George has referenced a company "plan". In a recent PR for the first time that I can recall, he referred to a "5 Year Plan". This rang a bell with me as a former corporate executive type. I've written it before but any "real" company using standard business tactics has a 5 Year Plan that starts with a Mission Statement and is tweaked as time goes on to reflect changes to the business and its' market.
The reason I bring this up is that it gives me a belief that Coates International has come around to be more than a hobby shop and is positioning itself as a very viable operation. I've been waiting a long time, along with quite a few others, to see this company flourish. The reference to a 5 Year Plan, along with the "feel" of the PR about the Chinese delegations visit, gives me more faith in the direction of this firm than I've had in some time.