Posted on 07/02/2009 12:38:51 PM PDT by SonOfDarkSkies
General Motors can survive bankruptcy far more easily than it can survive President Barack Obama's ambitious fuel economy standards, which mandate that all new vehicles average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.
The actual Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) results will depend on the mixture of fuel-thrifty and fuel-thirsty vehicles consumers choose to buy from each manufacturer -- not on what producers hope to sell. That means only those companies most successful in selling the smallest cars with the smallest engines will, in the future, be allowed to sell the more profitable larger pickups and SUVs and more powerful luxury and sports cars.
Sales of Toyota's Prius, Yaris, Corolla and Scion, for example, allow and encourage Toyota to market more Lexus 460s, Sequoia SUVs and Tundra pickups in the U.S. without incurring fines. Hyundai's success selling Accent and Elantra compacts allows it to sell 368-horsepower Genesis sedans.
Similarly, Ford has the Toyota-licensed hybrid Fusion and will soon produce the European Ford Fiesta in Mexico. Chrysler will soon have Fiats. But what does GM have?
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
>> The actual Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) results will depend on the mixture of fuel-thrifty and fuel-thirsty vehicles consumers choose to buy from each manufacturer — not on what producers hope to sell. That means only those companies most successful in selling the smallest cars with the smallest engines will, in the future, be allowed to sell the more profitable larger pickups and SUVs and more powerful luxury and sports cars.
Ha ha...
what will ACTUALLY happen is a huge resurging interest in used cars and car maintenance.
And maybe other alternatives like kit cars.
In 1985 GM made a car that got 100mpg but couldn’t put it into production because of all thr safety crap the feds required you can’t have mpg and safert both pick one and go with it. strange the feds don’t require safety bumpers,air bags on motorcycles?.
In 1985 GM made a car that got 100mpg but couldn’t put it into production because of all thr safety crap the feds required you can’t have mpg and safert both pick one and go with it. strange the feds don’t require safety bumpers,air bags on motorcycles?.
And maybe other alternatives like kit cars.
Then Obama will just pass a "Used Car Kit and Trade Law".;-)
I guess this will help to see who really wants to sell cars.
GM intends to replace the Cadillac DTS with a car on the same platform as the Malibu. I guess The One got the Biggest Caddy Ever Made and now there’s no more large luxury car for anyone else. The Suburban is going to fade into history thanks to CAFE. One of the longest continually produced nameplates will be gone because of anthropogenic global warming hysterics.
I like my Town Car.
The UAW and government are at fault. Primarily the government. The government is a concentrated form of the evil of man.
>> Then Obama will just pass a “Used Car Kit and Trade Law”.;-)
Yeah, prolly so... but maybe we can buy some time that way.
Seriously, when Bambi messes with America’s ride, he’s sticking his nose (ears?) into a dangerous populist hornet’s nest. I don’t think this will end well for him.
You ask what GM has? Easy..not one chance in hell. Very few sane people are going to let the bureaucrat dictate the car they buy. People will buy the car they need for their own life style.
I proudly drive a 1992 Olds Station Wagon, just a little smaller than Rhode Island. Taxes are cheap, insurance in cheap, tons of room, great safety at 75mph (normal traffic speed), room for a 6’5” driver and $.78 depreciation per month.
The government is concerned with consumption of gasoline, but I ask does it care about the consumption of human life caught in accidents in these tiny, tinny cars?
Can anyone tell me ‘how’ the average fuel efficiency number works?
Do they have to ‘offer’ vehicles for sale that meet the overall fuel efficiency average;
or does the fuel efficiency for the vehicles they actually sell have to meet the average?
Thanks in advance...
>all new vehicles average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.
Confusing, isn’t it?
The law actually reads that the combined fleet must meet that average, not every auto.
So, if they sell 10 different autos, and add up how many of what are sold, then the average of all of that must meet CAFE 35.5.
Good luck with that.
They will need to offer package deals. Buy a three cylinder mini car that gets 50mpg and they will then allow you to buy a suburban hybrid that gets 25mpg. You have to sell the mini to somebody at a loss. Sounds like a plan to me..plus it torpedo’s the other makers of small cars by dumping cheap little ones on the market.
I believe it’s what they actually sell, but I’ll have to defer to others.
In either case though, the whole crazy scheme is based on the assumption that every manufacturer can or should offer a full range of vehicles.
So, the $$ GM spent in vain trying to sell tiny cars - a market segment they were never good at, and probably never will be - could have been used to improve the fuel economy of the larger vehicles and SUVs and pickup trucks they are (comparably) better skilled at building (or it could have given them better profits so they didn’t need $billions in bailouts from us).
The goal has never been better economy though. The goal has always been control. Any pretext for more control is fine, whether or not that pretext is ever met.
Where is the constitutional authority for the imposition of CAFE standards?
That’s what I am wondering...
With every big-a$$ truck I sell, I give away a companion go-cart...
w/ average fuel efficiency = CAFE.
Maybe... but the strong likelihood is that if GM can't compete under the new CAFE standards, the feds will find a way to justify having NHTSA grant GM a waiver of the CAFE requirements.
Either that, or every pickup truck comes with a moped.
GM under government leadership will trot out some glorified golf cart and the sure loser Chevy Volt and then wonder why buyers aren’t interested. GM is toast.
This is a distorted report. GM markets a tiny car here and in Europe. Here it’s called the Aveo. Next biggest car sold in quantity is the little Cobalt.
Ford happens to be heavily dependent on the hulking F-150 truck and high HP Mustang. The rest of its line are no econocars. I guess they ditched their gigantic truck/SUVs like the Excursion (Excrusion?) and Expedition.
Where does the WSJ get their misinformation? ABC gets theirs at the White House.
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