Corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) laws dictate the mileage each automaker’s fleet of vehicles must obtain in the U.S.
Neither Japan nor Europe have CAFE laws.
Of course, you don’t find many Ford Expeditions traveling in Tokyo or London like you do in the U.S. Fueling an Expedition takes a couple hours pay in the U.S., but a couple days pay in Japan or Europe.
Consumers in Japan and Europe don’t relish pouring a couple days pay into the tank, so they demand small, high-mileage vehicles.
Consumers in the U.S. don’t relish squeezing into a car the size of a suitcase and prefer a vehicle the size of a ship when it takes only a couple hours pay to fill it with energy.
Days ago the Senate rejected a plan that would have required the auto industry to produce a fleet of cars, trucks and sport-utility vehicles that averaged 36 m.p.g. by 2015, considerably tougher than current CAFE that demands a 27.5 m.p.g. average for cars and 20.7 m.p.g. for light trucks–minivans, pickups and sport-utility vehicles, such as the Expedition.
Senate rejection further polarized those who support higher-mileage vehicles as a way to conserve fuel from those who oppose higher-mileage vehicles because they would cost automakers millions to develop and force those who now assemble behemoths out of work.
Senate rejection was surprising because the brilliance of tougher CAFE laws is that it keeps responsibility for fuel conservation with the automakers who build the vehicles, rather than shifting it to the consumers who buy them and burn up the fuel. The Senate decided instead on developing a plan that calls for higher mileage without saying how much higher, other than the expectation it will be considerably less than 36 m.p.g.
The auto industry continues to be perceived as the villain, the consumer the victim. But if automakers are villains for building behemoth gas-guzzlers, what do you call the hundreds of thousands of consumers who buy them and burn limited supplies of fuel?
You call them voters.
Maybe that’s why the Senate backed off a stricter CAFE while not even considering an alternative plan to conserve fuel that the auto industry has favored for years–raising the federal tax on gas by 50 cents a gallon. The last increase was 0.1 cent, to 18.4 cents, in 1997 to help clean up leaking underground gas storage tanks.
Sure, the automakers probably would build fewer behemoths if gas cost more, but they still would build them. Until the government dictates that families with six kids must travel with only three of them, or that families who tow boats to a vacation retreat must walk to the neighborhood park and bond by tossing around a Frisbee, there will be a need for some vehicles that hold lots of people and tow heavy things and in doing so burn up lots of gas.
Though not a popular idea, a gas tax would allow consumers to make a choice in what they buy and automakers a choice in what they build rather than have the government dictate the terms.
A higher gas tax would penalize all consumers, those who drive behemoths and those who motor around in munchkin-size machines. Yet, supporters insist, if a 50-cent a gallon tax was used to fund cash incentives to consumers who purchase 30-50 m.p.g. vehicles, like a check for $2,000 or $3,000, the gas tax wouldn’t be so onerous for the conservation minded.
But no politician would dare support a higher gas tax and risk voter wrath. So CAFE wasn’t toughened, but it wasn’t abolished, either.
Starting in ’04 you’ll see big trucks switching to hybrid gas/electric power so they consume only about as much gas as a big sedan.
Maybe the Senate rejection was wise after all.
Belvidere secure
Speculation that the Belvidere assembly plant that builds the compact Neon is going to close because the next-generation Chrysler small car will be built elsewhere is unfounded, company insiders insist.
The next-generation Chrysler/Mitsubishi small car will be jointly developed off a Mitsubishi platform (not Lancer, rather a new platform) in the ’05-’06 timeframe.
But while a decision hasn’t been made where to build it, “we aren’t considering closing or idling capacity in any way at Belvidere; that plant is core to our business,” a source said.
Enough is enough
A criticism of Ford is that former President Jacques Nasser spent too much money acquiring other carmakers and too little developing vehicles.
But don’t tell Jim O’Connor, Ford division president, that he needs new vehicles pronto.
“We’ve got five of the top 10 sellers in the industry–the F-Series truck, Explorer, Taurus, Ranger and Focus–and have a new hatchback Focus, Mustang Cobra, Focus SVT and Expedition this year. So when people tell me, `You need new product’ I say, Come on!”
Firestone back at Ford
Recycled rubber from Firestone tires recalled from Ford Explorer sport-utes is being used to create the synthetic turf for the Detroit Lions new stadium that opens this fall, according to Wardsauto.com, the Web site for Ward’s Automotive News, a trade publication. The stadium is called Ford Field. The Lions are owned by William Clay Ford Sr., father of Bill Ford, chairman and chief executive of Ford Motor Co.
