Posted on 06/22/2007 5:38:46 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Washington - Rolling over intense opposition from car manufacturers, the Senate on Thursday approved the first substantial increase in mileage requirements for passenger cars in more than two decades.
The measure was part of a larger energy bill passed late Thursday by a vote of 65-27. The bill is expected to be taken up by the House next week.
The mileage measure was a major defeat for Detroit's Big Three automakers. If it becomes law, the provision would increase the combined average mileage of new cars and light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, up from about 25 mpg today.
The move to boost fuel economy standards is being watched warily in Janesville, home to a General Motors plant that turns out full-size, low-miles-per-gallon SUVs.
"It's kind of scary because you just don't know where it's really going to end up," said GM employee Rick Banach, 46, who took a job in Janesville after working more than 25 years at the Delphi Corp. plant in Oak Creek, which is expected to close as a result of Delphi's bankruptcy.
"I know right now there's a lot of emphasis on green . . . but I don't know if tagging the domestic automakers with this type of legislation is the answer to it," Banach said.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
Cafe worked so well when they did it before. Look at all the SUV’s it placed on the road.
I suppose this time we will all be driving tractor-trailers.
We need to stop passing stupid laws and start firing stupid lawmakers.
Sigh. Move government regulations will solve everything. - Why not 100?
Next it will be mandated pedal power and selling your carbon credits to the Chinese.
Buy a horse!
They moved the limit up to 10,000 pounds GVW, so you are going to have to buy the big trucks and reduce the spring rates. Other than that, business as usual.
I agree with the fire the bozos part ... it really is getting tiring, the Democrats have only been working at screwing up the country for a few months.
No word on where the technology is going to come from to get cars to these ridiculous MPG figures. Maybe Sen Botoxer has something she hasn’t told us. The only way to achieve this MPG range is to build flat little cars, which now consume about 10,000 people a year. Anything less than 4,000 pounds GVW is headed into death trap category.
Jill Claybrook gave us CAFE which killed the full framed V8 Station Wagon and gave birth to the Mini Van. It was wimpy and olks found the Jeep Waggoner and that let to even more SUV's/
The problem has always been CAFE. The big 3 want a version that relies on category types, get they get the blanket umbrella again.
I fear the 4 door king cab work truck that carries 6 and pulls the Bobcat is dead. You think things are bad here in Michigan now, they have really screwed the pooch with this one....
How about releasing restrictions and fines and letting Americans do what they do best, invent.
How about releasing restrictions and fines and letting Americans do what they do best, invent.
Yup, no more SUVs, no more police cruiser tails, no more armored limos, no more Cadis - let's see if that lasts the week. Oh, right, Senators don't have to live like the rest of us.
sure, force the manufacturers to make smaller and smaller
cars to meet the higher MPG standard = more deaths on the
road = fat cats in Congress will continue to drive in their
limos.
...clown cars
I’m still waiting to see the celebs at the next awards show arrive in priuses to the red carpet. Red. Such an appropriate color for these Blame America First people. If you hate the country so much. . .GTFO!!!
Wow....2020....that is so close I can taste it.
> No word on where the technology is going to come
> from to get cars to these ridiculous MPG figures.
1.5 to 2.0 liter turbos do 35mpg and are very peppy.
I own two, neither of which I can presently replace.
In one case (VW Jetta TDI wagon) it’s because of
another government mandate (EPA Tier II ULSD fuel).
In the other (Chrysler minivan) it’s because C
hasn’t made any more since 1990, and they refuse
to sell their CRD here (Common Rail Diesel, popular
in Europe).
35mpg does not require huckster hybrids. All it
really requires is some market demand for small
block turbos (rated for extended use at 100%
duty cycle in turbo mode). All the car makers
know how to do this.
They think you won’t pay the little extra for
turbo, or will only buy it on a large displacement
engine that hardly needs it in the first place.
Probably with a blanket exception for alternative-fueled vehicles (all-ethanol, all-veggie-oil, natural gas, rechargeable electric). The big limos will use alternative fuels.
Even those VW diesels won’t make 35mpg combined on the new EPA test.
35mpg does not require huckster hybrids, but 35mpg in anything outside of the clowncar class surely does.
Support for this garbage is a combination of urban libs with no kids in 600sf apartments who can get by fine in a clown car and the scientifically illiterate who think all it takes is a new law to make their car get twice the mileage it does now.
do I hear 200 mpg???
No, it is a major defeat for consumers who want to carry cargo, or 4 adults, or children in carseats, or drive off the pavement, or survive being hit by a drunk driver. Automakers are not the victims.
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