New CAFE Standards: 42 MPG Cars, 26 MPG Trucks by 2016

[Bond]

It's the 70's all over again.
Just when we 'peak', they take it away from us!

[light-my-firebyrd]

i won't turn this into a policitcal statement but the facts are facts.
TOO MUCH government involvement for something that absolutely needs no intervention. I am so damn tired of our President and the rest of the cronies get their noses involved into the car business. No need to push 45 mpg cars on me as i don't need it. I don't care if my car gets 17 city/ 25 highway.

[LadiesMan217]

Originally Posted by One Mean Chevy

I my book a truck is not a "Truck" unless its BOF, the Cab and Bed are Separate.

What do I drive? A car?

[BigRigMike]

Originally Posted by lakestar

In the past, I believe companies with total volume under 50,000 units were excluded so that rich politicians and movie stars could still drive their super cars. I would assume that won't change.

Most of the low volume exotics get such poor fuel economy that they get hit with the gas guzzler tax instead of CAFE fines. And I think the cutoff is 50-60,000 because I believe that Porshce is over that mark and they wanted the rules changed that if you have less than 0.6% market share then you are excluded.

[Punk_rider]

This is why GM NEEDS to make the Z28 as fast as possible!

[BigRigMike]

Originally Posted by fireresq157

On another note they changed the formula for MPG last year backhandedly and now their increasing the MPG minimum rating. What does that matter you say? Well a car that 2 years ago was rated for 30MPG now is rated at 25. So something meeting the new standards would have been rated at 40+mpg 2 years ago. If the Camaro survives it will be on a smaller lighter platform with a much smaller engine, The 3.6 V6 might end up as the top dog engine.

CAFE does not equal EPA rating. CAFE is closer to the old fuel economy numbers so when you see 29 mpg on the EPA sticker it is actually much higher in CAFE numbers.

[mlee]

Looks like I'm going to have to put another one on order... This 35K V8 is getting to be a better deal all the time...

[theholycow]

This is almost as bad as the brake weight thread. There's even more misinformation in here than there was there...

Originally Posted by RickyTheStorm

From my understanding the emissions regulations are applied to one vehicle in the class. [...] My guess, at least one vehicle in each class must meet the requirements. However, I am not an expert by any means, I didn't even watch or read his actual plan.

When did we start talking about emissions?

Originally Posted by 2010SS6SPD

I believe the 35 mpg has to be an average for the total car and truck lineup for each company. So this shouldnt be a problem. We wont see the V8 go away for quite some time.

CAFE divides a manufacturers' products into three lines: Domestic cars, foreign cars (or cars with lots of foreign parts), and trucks.
From http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/CARS/rules/CAFE/overview.htm
"For passenger cars, a vehicle, irrespective of who makes it, is considered as part of the “domestic fleet” if 75% or more of the cost of the content is either U.S. or Canadian in origin. If not, it is considered an import."

Originally Posted by gtahvit

However, Something to consider. No Car company can meet the CAFE Standards as of now. And GM is actually the closest and will be even closer when the Volt is released.

According to http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/CARS/rules/CAFE/overview.htm
"The penalty for failing to meet CAFE standards recently increased from $5.00 to $5.50 per tenth of a mile per gallon for each tenth under the target value times the total volume of those vehicles manufactured for a given model year.

Since 1983, manufacturers have paid more than $500 million in civil penalties. Most European manufacturers regularly pay CAFE civil penalties ranging from less than $1 million to more than $20 million annually. Asian and domestic manufacturers have never paid a civil penalty."

[nards444]

I dont see why there is a complaint for better gas milage. Theres nothing in there that says HP and performance is going to be taken away. To me this gives the car companies a goal to strive for and work for to make our pockets deeper with cash we could save on gas. Do you really think they are going to make something that gets 40mpg but only has 100hp and put in a camaro. I dont think so. In reality if the deadline comes and this isnt met by the majority of manufactures you think the govt is just going to shut them down and not sell any cars till they get the required standard? GM and all companies for that fact including Jap cars did not research engines that get good gas mileage during the 90's and early 2000's. Now they are getting bit for it. In all reality most people can not afford nor can this economy 4 dollars a gallon on cars that get less than 20mpg. Most of us here might be able to do it for a while, but after a while I bet you change your habits. And eventually you will be affected because you saw how fuel affected our whole economy. I just cant stand the people that sit there and say oh they are going to take away abortion or guns are going to get taken away, they do this because their mommy and daddy thought the same way. Common sense should drive any decision, not oh MPG has to be raised in cars, that means my camaro will get taken away and it will never get built again, come on!!!

[Fandango]

Did Fbodfather Chime in here yet? All I want to know is will there be V8 Camaros to buy in the next 3 years. I don't know about these new restrictions. Humans expend about 4% of the total contribution. So... what I want to know, If we breath about half the time we will make a bigger dent in the climate change in one year than the autos have contributed in 2 decades. That's right. Our population has grown. We contributed a net of 1.6 percent in the same time as autos have contibuted 1.5 percent of total CO2 emissions. FACT: In other words, Just breathing ourselves, we've done more damage to the earth than cars, or at least did the same damage since there are more people than cars on the planet. Oh, and it's not Global Warming anymore, it's "Climate Change" because temperatures in some parts of the world are declining. It's a balmy 62 degrees in Tampa FL today in May.

Don't make industry and business suffer when there is natural inevitable change in the earth. Nature is stronger than us.

[diddiyo]

Originally Posted by nards444

text

i'm with ya.

i love how everybody is bashing the decisions the government has made. if it wasn't for them, GM would be dead already because everything they improved over the last 20 years or so before the meltdown was the number of cup-holders.

having said that, i think that if people want a V8 powered 500hp car that gets 15mpg, then the car companies should be allowed to build it.

i also think this all could have been avoided with some kind of gas-tax-increase. you "need" a truck that gets 20mpg to get to the office every day or to carry your grocery bags? well then go ahead, but be prepared to pay at the pump.

it's not just about getting better gas mileage but also about using less oil in general and our dependence on foreign oil. i think there needs to be some kind of regulation, i'm just not sure if the direction the govt has chosen is the right way to do it...

[MrIcky]

There are some similarities between now and the 70's, but there are some huge technology differences too.

For instance, there are several cars right now that get ~30 highway MPG and will take a 60's-70's muscle car's lunch money. So V8s become a nostalgia argument. Can that sell enough cars to make it worthwhile at $4/gallon? Maybe yes for Vettes and up, maybe no below that mark.

***Politics, GW, Middle East, fill-in-the-blank be damned: if you really think this through, not just for you and your fun factor you have to realize that oil is finite and it does cause polution (even if it's only haze over a city- not GW). So fuel efficiency isn't a bad thing.

***You also have to realize that traditionally only 3 things really change transportation technologies: war, fuel price, and regulation.

It's not hard to see the pattern here- war, fuel price, regulation---pick any 2. Expect taxes on fuel as the economy recovers. Its never been so easy to be a futurist. Expect a small boon to the economy as cities and states get unfunded mandates to provide infrastructure for electric vehicles. Expect battery technology to get intense funding and coverage. Expect 100 mile electric vehicles that can recharge in an hour or 2 by 2016.

Then in 2020 expect to see a seismic shift to electrical power for cars with a full court press from government, the media, school- you name it.

[davidj]

One of my favorite songs is “Red Barchetta” Seems it might come to true.

[Geno]

Originally Posted by BigRigMike

I just some quick math and if they can increase mileage at a cost of $1,300 then you would be able to save that money in fuel costs in under 50,000 miles.

50,000 miles /42 mpg = 1,190 gallons of fuel
50,000 miles /27.5 mpg= 1,818 gallons of fuel

1,818 - 1190 = 628 gallons saved

628 gallons * $2.30 (Current gas price) = $1,444 saved

Granted this is just basic math and doesn't take into account time value of money or the fact that fuel prices could drop down or go back up to $4. But if you assume that a vehicle lasts for 200,000 miles you would save $5,776 in fuel costs if gas stays at $2.30.

HUMMMMMMM???????
Does anyone here really believe if the fuel consumption is less, the govt will be happy collecting less tax?????? No way Jose. You may get better mileage but the price will go up with higher taxes.
It's called "Just another Obama I can fool 'um plan!