Why are American automakers special?

The Big Three attempt to persuade other states of the danger of fuel efficiency standards

Posted by David Roberts at 1:09 PM on 29 Jan 2008

Automakers are ramping up their PR effort to persuade states not to adopt California's auto emission standards, which they fear will survive the Bush administration's latest monkey wrench. But their arguments are as silly as ever:

Dave McCurdy, chief executive of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers ... said the California-inspired initiative would result in a "patchwork quilt of inconsistent and competing fuel economy programs" that would lead to "confusion, inefficiency, and uncertainty for automakers and consumers."

Is this supposed to persuade any of those wavering states? For one thing, it's not true, and for another, why should states care if it is?

It's not true in that states adopting Cali's standard will represent over half the U.S. population. Cali's standard will become the dominant standard. There will also be, in remaining states, a lower standard.

That's two standards, not some sort of bewildering "patchwork." Two. And guess what? If automakers create cars that meet the tougher standard, they'll also meet the looser standard. So how are the standards "competing"? How will they make automakers inefficient? Where do the confusion and uncertainty come in? It might be a tough target to meet, especially at first, but I don't see why it should be so difficult to understand. It ain't rocket science.

Even if McCurdy's points were valid -- even if Cali's standard would pose a serious obstacle to American automakers -- why is that supposed to be a dispositive argument in states outside of Michigan? It's not exactly politically correct to say it, I guess, but relative to the welfare of their own citizens and the health of the world's atmosphere, why should other states particularly care about the fate of American automakers? They'll get good cars one way or the other. Plenty of foreign automakers have assembly plants in the U.S. anyway, so there will still be jobs. A particular class of blue collar worker in Michigan might go through a rough transition, but people are going through rough transitions all over the place, as we speak.

It baffles me that some industries think they are special, that they should be protected from those mean ol' forces of progress, that they are delicate flowers whose integrity must be preserved at all costs.

It's call "creative destruction," folks. Look it up.

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Technically

Technically there are already 4 CAFE standards

Domestic Cars
Domestic Trucks
Import Cars
Import Trucks

And then there's a CAFE loophole for flex-fuel vehicles.

It's kind of a silly argument that car companies can't deal with complex fuel economy standards, when they are the ones expliciting pushing for complex standards in the first place.
(Abeit the complexity essentially makes the overall standard weaker)

by GreyFlcn at 2:32 PM on 29 Jan 2008

Big 2-1/2

The Big Three dinosaurs should remember back to just after the 73 oil embargo when they could not get a 4 cylinder that would last 100,000 miles out until the oil embargo was over and the oil prices had already started down. Their first attempt the Vega was found dead all over the highway. The Japanese slammed the U.S. with dependable fuel efficient cars at the same time American cars were falling apart going down the Highway. They will not be a huge drop in oil prices to save them this time. No behemoths loaded with options will have the same appeal with gas over $3.00 for regular. The SUV days are long gone and Madison Ave will not be able to go back to the lead sled days again. Here are a few names I remember, Studebacker, Hudson, AMC, car divisions like Plymouth, Oldsmobile. Toyota number two now over Ford. The real quality is job one car maker and plenty of models that get over 30 miles per gallon. It has taken over 30 years for the American big three to learn this lesson and it seem they still do not have it down yet. Produce a high milage dependable car you can make some money on to sell to the American public or go the way of AMC.

The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.

by Pompey Road at 2:41 PM on 29 Jan 2008

ADVERTISING POLICY

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