Quote:
Originally Posted by GTAHVIT
This is the core of my rant earlier... Whether or not the Gov should be involved.
CAFE = my wood burning stove example... there are better ways to motivate industry to find alternatives and increase fuel economy... I would argue that the fact that oil is a limited resource is motivation enough for the automotive industry... but things like CAFE constrain the development by placing a ridiculous requirement existing technology instead of supporting IRAD.
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I think you're agreeing with me...
I don't think oil being a "limited" resource is motivation for the auto industry at all.
The auto industry should cater to their consumers, just like any other industry does. You build what the people want, and they'll buy it, en masse. So, until gas hits $10+ per gallon, the auto industry shouldn't have to worry about ultra-high fuel efficient vehicles until the consumers demand it.
And that's the basic principal that Akerson was touching on. If gas prices were at $10 or $15 per gallon, probably 90% of the American people would be demanding that the vehicles they buy should be ultra efficient. And the auto industry would be doing everything they could to meet that demand, otherwise they would be out of business.
But instead, the government is going to implement an arbitrary standard that all automobiles meet these rediculous efficiency ratings. So, now the consumer is going to be demanding a product that the industry will be unable to provide because it can't meet these restrictions. In effect, the government will indirectly put every car manufacturer out of business.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 8cd03gro
Hmm, you must have missed this part of my post - "Even so, who said Bill Ford Jr. was correct then?"
I don't agree with it at ANY time from anyone, however, when will gas prices be high enough in his eyes? Even since Mullaly said it in 2007, gas prices have risen over 30% and sales of compact, fuel efficient vehicles have exploded. We may as well just match gold prices, then we can all invest in Huffy bikes and make billions. Oh, by the way, we did already pay for the technology mandated by CAFE (which is not yet decided to be 62mpg, but nice cherry-picking to make your point) or did you forget about the $49 billion USD we all just gave to GM?
Now, even if you don't agree at all with anything I just said, let me ask you something very serious: Do you honestly think raising gas taxes by a DOLLAR is remotely sane? Since 1932 the fed gas tax has been increased 17.4c/gal, but this guy wants to increase the tax by $1/gal. That's absolute insanity. What happens to all the families that can't afford to buy a new vehicle and instantly have to pay 25% more to commute to and from work and school every day?
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8cd03gro missed the point. No one is pushing for an added gas tax. This is just a theoretical debate on how an entire consumer base could be moved to demand only fuel efficient vehicles.
