

e-mails turned over as part of house investigation


Source: Detroit News

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RE: We hear this propaganda a lot
By mindless1 on 3/14/2012 7:54:47 PM , Rating: 2
Actually, it wasn't "the people" who mandated things safety related, and it's doubtful any of these safety features have impacted vehicle cost as much as the new fuel economy standards proposed.

Of course they care about vehicle affordability, they're in it to sell cars. Price cars higher and what happens? People hold off purchasing a new vehicle for longer, offsetting the potential fuel and pollution savings by driving their older vehicle instead of whatever more efficient vehicle they'd buy without it having to meet the proposed standards.

Same is true RIGHT NOW. If the government would butt out of the auto industry they could make less expensive, lighter cars that sell better getting more of the old clunkers off the road, saving fuel AND money AND jobs AND pollution.

It's very simple. Let consumer choice determine what automakers build. If "the people" actually want these things then that's what they'll buy given a choice.

I for one feel that automakers do know their market better than the government does. Why were SUVs king? Because that's what people CHOSE to buy. Why are they not selling as well now? Obviously it's the price of gas but also that the average SUV owner keeps the vehicle longer than the average car owner.

You wrote SUVs are essentially trucks with very little thinking behind them. WRONG! Trucks exist to serve a utilitarian purpose and are designed towards that end. Their purpose has not changed and so the design didn't need to either.

One other reason they remained behind cars technology wise is that in the global market supply chains aren't as available so a design needed to be easier to service and use the same parts for more years.

The government keeps pushing that we need to use less fuel, but did you know the actual change in fuel consumption (including ALL uses of oil) will be a very small % ? A trivial one?

It could turn out that getting higher MPG merely means that given a particular amount of disposible income people can spend on fuel, they'd simply drive more miles.

I haven't even gotten into the issue of a more complex vehicle tending to be more expensive to service and more prone to failure, putting it in the junk yard sooner with all else being equal.

It's quite possible that absolutely nothing positive comes out of the new fuel efficiency standards.

RE: We hear this propaganda a lot



By Dan Banana on 4/1/2012 11:01:03 AM , Rating: 2

Don't people ever tire of this adolescent Ayn Rand fantasy that if corporations were just left alone they would meet the needs of their customers? Where is the evidence of that? It's as if the financial disaster of 2008 that was mainly due to a deregulated financial industry never happened.

