From: "George M. Anderson" <george@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Jan Steinman wrote:
>
> ... That gas-hog
> SUV you bought when gas was $0.99 a gallon won't be such a deal when
> gas costs as much as it does in Europe today -- $3 to $4 a gallon.
Oh, gawd, not another anti-SUV Storm Trooper
No, just an anti-subsidized gas Storm Trooper!
Detroit used to say they couldn't make passenger cars that got 27.5
mpg, but Congress said, "Thou Shalt." But Detriot said, "Please
exempt the piddly 120f working trucks from Corporate Average Fuel
Economy (CAFE) standards, so farmers and ranchers won't go bankrupt."
Then the automakers began to exploit the CAFE loopholes by building
high-powered passenger vehicles that fit the definition of "truck,"
to the point that nearly 1 of every 2 vehicles sold today are exempt
from federal fuel efficiency standards for passenger vehicles. The
average SUV milage is currently only 14 mpg. I am not making this up!
They could make fuel-efficient SUVs if they wanted to, or if
consumers demanded it, which they would if US gasoline cost as much
as it does in the rest of the world -- THAT was my point!
Is there something in the water here? One person thinks I'm
anti-military, the next thinks I'm anti-SUV? I've got to get better
at making my point before I alienate everyone on this list... :-)
FWIW: I drive a sort-of SUV that gets 30mpg on the highway. I even
pulled a 16' camping trailer 1000 miles with it last week, and still
got over 22 mpg, while maintaining the speed limit over all the
mountain passes. It can be done, but consumers won't demand it while
gasoline is artificially priced low.
Future historians will look back and exclaim, "Petroleum was such a
useful raw material -- why did they burn it all up?" :-)
Obligatory sort-of Olympus content: when we burn up all the
petroleum, they'll have to once again make cameras out of metal, and
the single-digit OM bodies will again be in style! :-)
: Jan Steinman <mailto:Jan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
: Bytesmiths <http://www.bytesmiths.com>
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