Public pressure and consumer purchasing choices might finally get U.S. automakers to stop making excuses and start raising the fuel efficiency on many of their vehicle models sold in America.
On Sunday, the New York Times reported: "The technology to make a more fuel-efficient car is no secret. Europe requires cars to get an average of 37.5 miles to the gallon. To compete there, Ford and General Motors sell a variety of small and mid-size cars and cross-over vehicles, some with diesel engines, which they don’t sell in the United States. Ford and G.M. build those vehicles in overseas plants to meet European standards … Standards are also higher in China, both the world’s second-biggest car market and G.M.’s second-biggest market. China’s first fuel standard, 30.2 miles per gallon for the typical car, was imposed in 2005, and will be raised to 36 miles per gallon in 2008."
However, the Big Automakers claim they can’t do the same here in the USA because “Americans won’t pay the sticker price for the billions of dollars they would have to invest to upgrade plants and build new ones to produce smaller cars”. They also say higher fuel standards would jeopardize the highly profitable market for pickups and sport utility vehicles, where they consistently beat foreign competitors.
Nonsense; these excuses don’t hold water, as the Tampa Tribune explains: "Sales of big trucks and SUVs are declining amid high gas prices while sales of hybrid cars are increasing. New and used vehicles that are experiencing the fastest sales declines and the fastest sales increases, including average retail value and gas mileage, are – fastest sales declines: 2003 Ford Explorer, $14,450, 14 mpg; 2003 Chevy Silverado, $17,700, 13 mpg; and 2003 Ford F-150 super cab long bed, $12,965, 16 mpg. Fastest sales increases: 2007 Toyota Prius, $22,175, 60 mpg; 2007 Ford Escape hybrid SUV, $25,655, 36 mpg; and 2007 Honda Civic hybrid, $22,600, 50 mpg."
Time for the Big Automakers to stop dragging their greedy corporate feet and put the same fuel efficiency technologies they use to sell their vehicles around the world into the models they sell here at home.