This is an interesting way to think of the CAFE mileage standards -- as a form of protectionism. Steel, automobiles, sugar. What else is on the list?
Gene Coyle Charles Jannuzi wrote: > >>How is it that the government spent all that money on technologies to save > gasoline and protect the environment and now is hesitating to impose a > seemingly modest fuel-efficiency > standard? The answers are multiple, but a chief one is the cost. Putting the > kind of lightweight materials and other innovations used in the prototypes > into a mass-produced car is estimated to add $7,000 to $10,000 to the cost > of a family sedan, said Bob > Culver, executive director of the U.S. Council for Automotive > Research, the Big Three-government research collaboration. > "We were pretty much there," Culver said of the technology. "The big problem > is, they weren't cost-effective."<< > > If they went to a much more efficient fleet requirement, Toyota, Honda and > Mitsubishi would put Ford and GM out of business. All three of these > companies make the leanest of gasoline engines, and Toyota and Honda have > hybrid cars that are already on the highways. It may be that fuel cell cars > are not practical in a long, long time, but just think how much fuel could > be saved and how much pollution reduced if hybrid cars started replacing the > gas guzzlers now. > > A strict requirement would change the rules of the game and we can't have > that. > > Charles Jannuzi
