I don’t think people will be lining up in droves to buy a family car that can’t get out of it’s own way. That may have flew 25 years ago, but not these days.
rockstar; welcome to reality. I just returned from a 4 week vacation in Britain, and enjoyed driving a very frugal 1.4 liter Vauxhall hatchback which would have met the 35 mpg target. Keep in mind that Britain is currently SELF SUFFICIENT in oil!!! The US, on the other hand, imports 40% of its horrendous needs, causing a huge foreign debt (financed by Arabs and the Chinese), driving up oil prices and causing at least 15% of unnecessary global warming.
In other words, raising mileage standards and increasing the pirce of gas is long overdue for the health of the US economy. If you want interior space there are many vehicles built in the world that will carry 6 passengers and are powered by small diesel engines, giving close to 50 mph. In other words, US drivers have to completely rethink what vehicles they will drive in the future. Even electric cars will have to be space efficient. Your Fusion is a nice car , but not very space or fuel efficient, compared to what is possible.
This whole adjustment process should have started after the first energy crisis in 1974, but is now 35 YEARS OVERDUE.
Good responses everyone. Does anybody know if there is a production threshold that must be exceeded before the requirement kicks in? Certain smaller companies would be in trouble (Porsche, Ferrari etc)if that won’t be the case.
There is, but it’s only large enough to allow limited production cars, like old fashioned hot rods or kit cars, and extremely limited hand built supercars. I don’t know exactly what it is.
What actually happens is that manufactuers like Porsche and Ferrarri pay “gas guzzler taxes” which are then passed on to the consumer.
Interestingly, a Lotus Elise gets 29 mpg. I read that Mercedes is considering making their S-class flagship sedans all hybrid. The entire civilized world is looking at mileage, not just the U.S.
The newly redesigned 2010 Outbacks with CVTs are more economical than the same models with a 6-speed manual trans, and the CVT owners report that acceleration is surprisingly strong for a 2.5 liter engine. Owners of the CVT-equipped vehicles are reporting highway mileage of 30-31 mpg. If that can be done with an Outback, which is not small, not light, and not very aerodynamic, just imagine what could be done with a somewhat lighter sedan.
Look at the CAFE standards a different way. If a company wants to sell X number of large SUV, they’ll need to also sell Z number of econoboxes to maintain their fleet average. This prevents them from abandoning economy cars because they don’t sell well and/or have low profit margins.
To put it another way, in order for a car company to meet a higher CAFE standards, they don’t have to increase the mileage on any of their cars-- they just have to sell more economy cars. In practice, this might mean that they’ll have to raise the prices on the big SUV’s to subsidize the sales of economy cars. This results in more and newer economy cars on the road, which is good for our national fuel consumption, while still allowing people who want/need larger cars to buy them.
How about a new idea. $10.00 per gallon additional tax. Every dollar collected has to be returned to the taxpayers. Maybe X dollars per person. The less you drive and pollute the better off you are.
Volkswagen now owns Porsche and the avergae mileage will be a blend of all VWs and Porsches.
Mercedes builds the Smart car , as well as having an A Model, B Class model in addition to their regular models sold in the US. In Canada Mercedes already sells the B Class and will soon sell the A Class. They already sell the Smart Car, so Mercedes will be able to meet the 35 mpg figure by juggling their product line.
All manufacturers will be selling mini-cars, such as the Toyota iQ, slightly larger than a Smart Car, Chrysler will have Fiat models, including the miniscule 500 model.
Wonderful. And all of us not-yet-retired people that have to commute? What happens to us? I commute 62 miles per day total. Which, at 27 mpg, means I use 2.3 gallons a day, 11.5 gallons a week getting to and from work. You’re suggesting it should cost me $115 dollars more a week in taxes just because I have to commute? Thanks a bunch. May your shorts bunch up.
There are millions like me. The U.S. is a highly spread out country, with millions and millions of commuters. Many of us bought our homes where we did because we could not afford to buy in the more urbanized areas by where we worked. Many of us have to commute to the jobs we currently have because the jobs we had when we bought our homes no longer exist. Now we should be penalized for it? Are we not penalized enough just by having to pay current gas prices?
How will draining millions of us of our take home pay benefit the economy?
Returned to the taxpayers? How, in services we don’t want, after the cost of a huge beaurocracy has absorbed 99% of it? In providing free services to illegal aliens?
Sorry, but this would be an absolute and unmitigated disaster. What’s left of consumer spending would dry up. We’d head straight for a depression. The bulk of the population would have no money left to buy anything. Prices would plummet. Businesses would close, leading to even higher unemployment. And the vicious cycle that creats a depression would begin.
“…so Mercedes will be able to meet the 35 mpg figure by juggling their product line.”
They could do that, if they want to. But D-B has avoided selling the A and B cars in the USA so that the public would not think of Mercedes Benz as a competitor of VW, Toyota, Ford, or Chevrolet. I’m not convinced that if they sell them here, the A and B cars will carry the M-B badge.
Acceleration, space, fuel efficiency. Pick any 2.
People will eventually buy them after denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. People will have to accept that the future CAFE standard will require every manufacture to sell vehicles that the rest of the world drive. You won’t be driving a slow car when everything around you is slow.
A few months ago, I drove my xB with 4 full size adults up a decent hill at 70 in 4th gear with A/C on and I was no where near full throttle. The 1.5L engine handled 3000lb just fine. I think the Mondeo with a 1.6L engine pulling slightly more weight but without the “brick shape” will do just fine for most family duty.
What happens to us? I commute 62 miles per day total.
That is exactly the point!
Like it or not, most people choose where they live, and what car they own based on a number of factors (we are not assigned places). You likely choose knowing you would be commuting. With more expensive fuel, the benefit of living closer to work will cause more people to move closer to work or change jobs to one closer to their home. Either way, it is still your choice and since many people will chose to make a change in their behavior we will use less fuel and pollute less. We will even have less traffic.
This is not the answer. If your plan were actually put into place, most of the middle of the country would be a vast wasteland. Most people would move the the coasts where the bigger cities and jobs are. I’d also guess that with such a large infusion of people housing prices etc. would go through the roof further damaging the economy.
jt; if Mercedes want to keep selling cars in the US without paying CAFE penalties, they will just HAVE to sell their complete product line. Once US drivers get used to small upscale luxury cars from Lexus, Inifiniti, Acura, Hyundai, etc, they will perceive the A and B models from Mercedes as luxury cars as well. Whatever Badge they put on it, Roger Penske could caryy those brands along with the Smart Car which he now sells.
I’d love to live close to work again.
Send me a check for the $40,000 difference in housing prices between that area and the area I live in, plus the $15,000 in commission, closing costs, and moving costs that it’ll cost me to move, and I’ll be happy to sell and buy close to work. Of course, if in 5 years I lose my job and have to accept another job 30 miles from the new house, I’ll write you again for another $55,000 dollars.
I anxiously await your check. Or are you only serious when you’re spending MY money?
Maybe not with the M-B badge, though. DB would sell them as Smarts or create another brand to differentiate them. And they could use diesels or hybrids as others have and will do. I just don’t see A or B hatchbacks marketed as Mercedes-Benz automobiles here. And while C-class and E-class taxis are everywhere else, they aren’t in the USA. It’s a marketing thing. I’m sure that they would get credit, just as GM gets credit for all their brands.
The thing is, it’s a matter of perspective. Your Scion may seem sufficient right now going up a hill with the AC on. But if you were to do the same feat in say a 500+ HP Shelby Mustang, suddenly the Scion’s performance doesn’t seem so great any more. I had the very thing happen to me two years ago when I went skiing in Utah. My daily driver is Mustang GT with a supercharger. The car I rented was a Dodge Caliber with a 2.0L I4. I was used to having much more power on tap than the Caliber offered. So I was hugely unimpressed with its performance (and just about everything else about it, it really is an appalling car IMHO.)
If I were going to by a family sedan, I’d be looking at the Taurus SHO or perhaps a BMW 335i. Because I know that if I bought a 4 cylinder Camary or Fusion or Accord, I’d never be happy with the performance.
$40,000 difference
Is that all??? The housing cost difference between Southern NH and MA where I work is almost double…even in todays market. Houses selling for $350k (average price in my town)…same house in Areas just north of Boston easily bring $700k or more.
$10/gal is GREAT if you’re retired or live in a area that has good public transportation…MOST people are NOT retired and most don’t live in areas with good public transportation.
It’s a small house. And yeah, if I worked in Mass I’d have a much greater difference. I saw a ranch on a small plot in Winchester (within walking distance of the hospital) sell for over a million dollars a few years ago.
Your post illustrates how seriously cost prohibitive the idea would be for most of the country. Saving the world even of it destroys all the people (financially) seems to be what some are suggesting. Grandiose ideas are wonderful as long as some one else is footing the bill.
I’m all for having a nice commute…or a good public transportation system. I CAN take the bus to work…I drive to one of the NH/Boston commuter parking lots along rt 93 and take the Bus. Bus will take me into Boston and then I have to take the T to another location to pick up the Bus that will take me to within 1 block of where I work. Total time would be a little over 3 hours each way.