“CAFE def has to go, but so do the special California regulations and standards.
Manufacturers can’t be successful while excluding the California market, and as a result, their cars suffer across the board, in all states.
Not sure how to get around this.”
Easy. Americans in the rest of the USA can demand to buy cars with no CA crap on it.
Just like buying a lawnmower, they sell mowers that can’t be sold in CA, and it says so on the label.
I agree that seems to be the solution, but from what I’ve read, CA is such a big part of the market, it’s not cost effective to build CA-specific cars. It’s not quite doubling the number of models you have to produce, but it’s significant.
Maybe the approach is to not build CA-friendly cars. If enough residents get upset about fewer car choices, maybe they’ll vote for change.