Filed under: Trends, Government/Legal, Green
Bush administration may raise car, truck fuel standard
Automakers will be more closely watching the federal government over the next few months as environmental groups continue to report that President George Bush is considering raising Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards on all vehicles sold in the U.S.
According to the United Press International, a preliminary version of the standard would require all cars and trucks to raise their fuel economy from 22.5 mpg in 2008 to around 24 mpg by 2011. Also under consideration is including larger SUVs and vans as affected vehicles for the first time as well. Regardless, the increased standard will raise automakers' costs.
UPDATE: Heavy duty pickups may be exempt after all.[Source: Detroit News via UPI; Automotive News; PhotoDisc, Matt Ray/EHP]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GrowUp 9:07AM (3/27/2006)
2011? Go higher, president. They need a real challenge to the mpg status quo.
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Gunnar Heinrich 9:09AM (3/27/2006)
Notice how the emphasis seems to fall on the car manufacturers and not the oil companies in gov't policy. The prices on oil could come down.
Still, car companies should be producing more fuel efficient cars.
http://www.automobilesdeluxe.blogspot.com
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Jeff the Baptist 9:11AM (3/27/2006)
If they really wanted to make an impact, they should just re-regulate so that CAFE applied to all passenger vehicles instead of just all cars. This would place most SUVs (and "trucks" like the dodge magnum) under the umbrella, but leave most working vehicles out.
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Howard Kerr 9:19AM (3/27/2006)
Even though the president recently said we need to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, I doubt we will see a SIGNIFICANT change in MPG standards. The Bush administration, and indeed the Rupublican party, is "tied" to the idea....."let the free market sort things out". In other words "don't make it tough for industry/big campaign contributors, but let the little guy/consumers deal with any and all painful fallout". By the way, the news this week is that gas prices are up $0.10 to $0.15 for all grades of gas....even though inventories are reported by the media as being on the high side of normal for this time of year.
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Mike Homeniuk 9:43AM (3/27/2006)
Food for thought....
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=e49ea39a-fc32-4568-ad01-c8add48b2582
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Mike Homeniuk 9:48AM (3/27/2006)
From the National Post article:
"Imagine that. Bump up the average pickup's fuel economy from 22.5 miles per gallon to just more than 23 and the U.S. could stop importing oil from Iraq. Bump it up another 8% or so and the U.S. wouldn't need any Persian Gulf oil."
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Mike 9:59AM (3/27/2006)
AHHHHHHH!!!!! IT'S A RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY!!!!!!!!! BIG OIL RUNS THE WHITE HOUSE!!!!!!!! BUSH IS ONLY PRESIDENT TO KEEP THE POOR MAN DOWN AND BIG OIL RICH!!!!!!!! THE WAR IN IRAQ IS ALL ABOUT OIL!!!!!!
Wait.... everyone be quiet.... the black helicopters are back.... quick get the tin foil...
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Scott 11:21AM (3/27/2006)
This is a joke. Preston Tucker was getting 30 mpg in the 50's. We should be getting 40 mpg by now.
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Walter H, Johnson 11:58AM (3/27/2006)
Now that "Peak Oil" has been reached, how long will it take the oil business and the "administration" to realize that horendous profits will accompany large hikes in fuel prices as we slowly run down the remaining oil ?
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Corey W. 12:03PM (3/27/2006)
This is how the free market works, in the end, the consumer has the last word. If you're tired of high gas prices/low gas mileage vehicles.... USE LESS GAS, STOP BUYING THESE GAS GUZZLERS!! Stop blaming the government, stop blaming IRAQ.....etc.
BTW: They don't need black helicopters any more, you're tracked by your assigned IP address and cell phone signal.
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Steve B. 1:20PM (3/27/2006)
The solution is easy. Vehicles which cannot meet passenger car requirements shouldn't be allowed to be registered as consumer vehicles, period. Businesses could still buy 3500 series trucks for their heavy duty needs, as well as self-employed bluecollars tradesmen. Joe Accountant in the suburb of Pleasant Meadows, USA wouldn't be allowed to register his Canyonero as a passenger car unless it met all requirements.
Let the free market sort it out? The free market needs oversight; The free market favored slavery. It favored 80 hour workweeks for laboreres. It favored large-scale, innovation-stifling monopolies. The "free-market" needs some regulation to protect it from itself.
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Matt B 1:52PM (3/27/2006)
The free market does not need oversight. The free market didn't favor slavery. In fact, if it wasn't for government protection, slavery would have died out(Slaves were less productive workers than wage workers, for one. And while the labor was free, they still had to be fed and housed. That wasn't free.) It did not favor 80 hour workweek, it favored a 45 hour one. All government regulation in the free market does is to make everything more expensive, and usually has the opposite effect of the intended goal.
Raise the fuel standard will only increase auto prices. And since people get more to the gallon, they will drive more. And since less gas is being bought, gas prices will increase. In the end, it will only hurt the economy, and do nothing for the environment.
Its good that oil companies are making money. They can (and are) now using that money to explore for more oil, and even R&D other sources of energy from different fossil fuel types.
They are not making "horrendous" profits. They profits are on the low end of the spectrum for businesses- percentage wise. Gas prices are not high because they are gouging us- that would make no sense for them to do so. Its because of government regulations and taxes. At least 50% of gas prices are due to either taxes, or complying with government regulations. THAT'S the problem.
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iQuack 4:55PM (3/27/2006)
Oh, here we go again! The Republicans are trying to act like Democrats by controlling everything.
CAFE standards had the unintended consequence of encouraging people to buy trucks and their SUV offspring when cars were downsized in the late '70s and beyond. Now the roads are clogged with monster trucks driven by ditzy girls on their cell phones--no commercial use at all.
Best to let people buy what they want to buy and not force auto makers to produce economy cars--buyers will voluntarily purchase economy cars when gas prices rise high enough.
Government diddling does more harm than good in this instance. CAFE is a bust and should be dropped entirely.
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Vince 5:50PM (3/27/2006)
Sigh... All those who talk up free market ideology know so little of economics...
To them, I present: The Prisoner's Dilemma!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoners_dilemma
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iQuack 7:35PM (3/27/2006)
Well......SIGH (I can sigh, too), free market economics and its corollary, private property, make more sense than alternatives.
Go here and scroll down to Myth #1--Sharing:
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=448934&page=3
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Andrew 8:00PM (3/27/2006)
CAFE standards have at least two issues.
First they conserve much less gas than people think. Most people assume that when standards are raised people won't change their behavior. In fact American love their big iron and will find a way to buy it. First thing they simply keep old SUV's and trucks on the road longer, maintaining them indefinitely. These older cars and trucks cause a lot more pollution. Secondly there will always be a need for big vehicles (actually hauling stuff) and people will simply buy dump trucks, combines, whatever it takes to get crappy gas mileage.
Perhaps the biggest problem with effective CAFE standards is that they would accelerate Ford and Chevy's economic crisis. These companies have billions of legacy costs and only can make money on vehicles with poor fuel economy. Take away the poor economy market and the results would be economically and politically unacceptable.
Sure SUV's and full size trucks are a waste for most people. But we need them to keep the big_2 in business a few years longer.
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Ed 10:12PM (4/04/2006)
If the average truck becomes like the Subaru Brat and VW rabbit pickup of old, I'll just keep my older truck on the road that much longer...opting to refurbish it rather than replace it. 20 years from now, you will be surprised to see how many 1980s-1990s truck will remain on the road because of CAFE...
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