An American Automotive Industry Rescue Plan that Just Might Work
If you’re like me you’re more than a little disappointed by the early missteps of the Obama Administration’s efforts to save a few of the big American auto manufacturers, and by association, the entire industry. The Presidential Task Force seems a little out of touch.
Enter Iowahawk. He’s a guy with a clue about what it takes to help rescue the American Automotive Industry… take a hint from the booming American Custom Car Industry… all he needs is “unlimited regulatory powers and expense account“.
I realize the [automotive] industry is not suffering from a lack of law professors — it is suffering from a lack of imagination. They gave us cup holders and electric seat warmers when we wanted angel fur and bubble tops. They pushed micro-clown cars and hybrids when the market was rife for chromed 8-deuce Chrysler Hemis. Well, Bucko, all that outmoded thinking is going to end during the reign of Czar Dave. Saving the American auto industry is going to be a big job, but I won’t be doing it alone. I have already appointed my own shadow Council of Automotive Advisors, a select group of successful auto manufacturers whose qualifications appear after the jump. Many are close personal friends of mine, and I can attest to their patriotism, integrity, ingenuity, and wonderful lack of law degrees.
Not too many gas sipping hybrids on display at the link – but there is just as many customizers (both professional and do-it-yourselfers) who’s passion are cars that squeeze every last tenth-of-a-mile from a gallon of gas.
The point is that we need car guys — who know cars and what makes people love cars, not more lawyers and bureaucrats — saving our auto industry.
Read the rest of Iowahawk’s argument, with lots more photos of hot cars…
Fuelishness! Feed: The axles of evil; Fuel injected motorcycles; Nissan’s improved fuel-efficiency; Toyota says Prius achieves highest fuel efficiency for gasoline cars
- The axles of evil: Absent $4 gasoline, customers, those nuisances with their insufferable preferences, do not want the vehicles the politicians want them to want, even with manufacturers now offering large rebates and other incentives…
- Fuel Injection in motorcycles: Since it is intelligent to use the fuel the Fuel Efficiency of the motorcycle is increased than the carb ones. And also fuel injection helps to deliver good power even in high altitude regions…
- Nissan’s improved fuel-efficiency models to offer major tax breaks : Nissan Motor Co. will soon release seven vehicle models with improved fuel efficiency, measures that qualify them for major tax breaks…
- Toyota says Prius achieves highest fuel efficiency for gasoline cars : Toyota Motor Corp. claimed Friday its new Prius gasoline-electric hybrid car to be launched in mid-May has achieved the world’s highest fuel efficiency of 38 kilometers per liter, an improvement of some 7 percent from the current Prius.
Obama Administration’s New Fuel Economy Standards Sued as Too Weak
The Center for Biological Diversity, an organization of “biodiversity activists” who are keen to use the courts to help “protect the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive” – have appealed to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to declare that the Obama administration’s new few standards for 2011 are violating federal law.
The Obama administration’s new fuel economy standards for 2011 vehicles, the first industry wide increase in miles-per-gallon requirements since the mid-1980s, were challenged in court Thursday by an environmental group, which said the rules are too weak and still don’t consider the impact of emissions on global warming.
The standards, announced last Friday by the Department of Transportation, would boost average fuel economy requirements to 27.3 mpg for all vehicles, up by 2 mpg from 2010 models. Passenger cars would have to reach 30.2 mpg and light trucks 24.1 mpg.
Some environmental groups have said the new standards are a small step in the right direction, but the Center for Biological Diversity said Thursday they’re actually weaker than the requirements that the Bush administration proposed last year for 2011 vehicles…
Our fuel economy standards have been nearly flat since the early 1980′s – while modern engines are more efficient than older models (fuel injection vs. carburetors is a simple example), cars and trucks have become bigger and more powerful, and actual fuel mileage – miles per gallon – has not increased.
…The group asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to declare that the administration violated a federal law requiring that fuel economy standards be set at the maximum feasible level, in light of current technology, economic impact, and the nation’s need to conserve energy. The same court ruled in a similar lawsuit in 2007 that the Bush administration’s fuel standards for light trucks and SUVs for the 2008 through 2011 model years were invalid…
Given the existing “climate of chaos” gripping the government, it’s unlikely that this appeal will make many ripples. The problem is not enough time to do the various impact studies and set the standards based on those findings – while still giving the struggling manufacturers time to retool and implement the needed technologies.
…The administration “cooked the books to conclude the maximum fuel efficiency level the United States can achieve in 2011 is the lowest in the world,” Siegel said.
Critics of Obama’s “Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry” pointed out early that the members of the task force generally seem a little out of touch with the importance of improved fuel economy – another example of this administration’s disappointing “do as I say, not as I do” approach to the subject of energy efficiency.
Join The FuelClinic Community
Fleet Eco-Driving Training
Spread the Fuelishness!
Watch Fuelishness!
Subscribe to Fuelishness!
|
|
| Even if you don't visit Fuelishness! every day, get the latest via RSS or Email. |
Search Fuelishness!
