Is this the end of the SUV? [Canada promises to get most people into 46 mpg sub-compacts]

The Globe and Mail ^ | 5/19/05 | RICHARD GILBERT

[YOUGOTIT]

Since many of the SUVs and other large cars are manufactured in Canada and then shipped to the US when will they shut down their manufacturing plants and return the jobs to the US and Detroit?

Close down the northern border.

[NoCanDo]

Caca peu! Kyoto strikes suddenly without warning. Let's get that 4 billion Canadian government commitment off their backs and onto the backs of business and the taxpayer where it rightfully belongs. May God in his mercy grant me patience! Hei, we be in da big doo-doo dere jean-guy!!

[doc30]

I'm not so sure. Canadians are pushovers when it comes to taxes. They've never stopped or repealed a tax of any type. The people will ove a tax that 'punishes' SUV owners, simply out of jealosy. People don't want to be considered trouble makers or undesireables by being labeled against something that is a common good. The people don't care that tax dollars were laundered to the Liberals. They support the criminals in this matter, why would they oppose anything they do?

[elli1]

...Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Canada and the Canadian Automotive Industry...

Canadian Automotive Industry?

[RJL]

The suburbs will fade, city living will become even more attractive and, given a chance, public transit will bloom.

Above is what this is really all about, every liberals wet dream. It has nothing to do with cars or mileage standards.

[doc30]

yup - big auto manufacturing industry in Canada. It's one of the driving forces behind the original Free Trade Agreement (before Mexico joined). Also, the reason the border was opened quickly after 9/11. The auto industries in Canada and the U.S. are so intertwined that closing the border shut down the economied of Canada and half the mid west U.S. becasue the auto industries couldn't get parts across the border for their just in time inventories.

[Little Ray]

Exactly. As batchlor my car was a Tracker - great for 1 or 2 people and cargo, but unusable for 4 people and groceries or luggage.

[doc30]

The problem is that it won't work in most of the country. It's all open spaces. Toronto, Vancounver and Montreal may be like that, but the rest of the small cities could never hope to be a liberal's urban paradise - cities too small for mass transit to be cost effective. Unless cars prices are doubled by taxes and gas to consumers becomes $10 per liter.

[Truth29]

If you can't get out because of the snow in your new fuel efficient skateboard, the Liberal party will have to step in and provide a government subside to pay you for your missed days. Sounds like another opportunity for the Liberals to tax more and establish another government department. </sarcasm

[bfree]

The 2009 model SUV's will be a huge seller, probably setting a all time record.

[MD_Willington_1976]

Good luck with that, most work trucks don't exactly fit the profile...being from an Industrial town (Campbell River, BC) I have to say that the inmates are truly running the asylum up there...glad I'm not up there anymore...

[Monterrosa-24]

"...At some point before 2010, the world's oil production will cease keeping up with demand. We'll see crude oil at $200 a barrel, and gasoline at $2 a litre..."

Before 2010??? Maybe but quite doubtful. There are lots of variables and this article doesn't consider possibilities, it only makes blanket statements.

One should consider passengers per mile with mpg. Thus a seven passenger car (filled) that gets 24 mpg highway is better than two smaller cars carrying seven people that get 40 miles per gallon each.

[MD_Willington_1976]

Doesn't consider that a load of the world oil is locked up in the tarsands and off the coast of Canada...more morons in Ontario that think that anything beyond the confines of Toronto is "out in the wild"

[RJL]

Unless cars prices are doubled by taxes and gas to consumers becomes $10 per liter.

Sadly, I'm sure the liberals would have no problem with that.

As government courtiers they would have Limos and SUV available on request.

[laredo44]

General Motors and Ford already face the possibility of one day going bankrupt because customers are buying fewer of their highly profitable SUVs.

Ford and GM are indeed facing bankruptcy but not for the reason the author/clown cites. Sounds like he's trolling for a job at Newsweek.

[Charles Martel]

Canada promises to get most people into 46-mpg Sub-Compacts

So... the "motor law" looms.

*****

"I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car
A brilliant red Barchetta
From a better vanished time
I fire up the willing engine
Responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly crime"

*****

[DugwayDuke]

"If properly structured, such a scheme could sweep older vehicles off the road and dramatically shift the balance of new purchases toward gas-misers, all without costing taxpayers a penny."

Won't cost a penney? Really?

"The auto industry would make up for lost SUV profits with new volume. If average vehicle life were shortened from 15 to 10 years, the auto industry would produce a third more cars each year, other things being equal."

So buying a new car every 15 years instead of 10, won't cost a penney? Really?

[Heartofsong83]

Wouldn't SUV's become MORE attractive if fuel economy is improved?

[kempo]

If canada's car start getting 46 mpg that means we will have more gas to put in our SUVs. How nice of them.

[Pessimist]

Maybe we can make some beneficial trades with our Canadian friends!

How about one 10 yr old SUV for 100 full flush toilets?