I think they also marketed those vehicles in Arizona. Terry
On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 2:07 PM, Stephen A. Lawrence <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Jed Rothwell wrote: >> I wrote: >> >>> No doubt this is true. For that matter there are regional variations >>> in cars such as the type of fuel allowed (more or less polluting) and >>> customer requirements for things like road salt sealants . . . >> >> What I am trying to say is that manufacturers can support small regional >> variations, but they cannot manufacture radically different vehicles for >> California versus the rest of the country. To take an extreme example >> that isn't going to happen: suppose California were to mandate that half >> the cars sold in 5 years must be plug in hybrids. The manufacturers >> would have to spend billions gearing up to meet this mandate. They would >> then go ahead and sell the plug in hybrids in other states as well. They >> would have to, in order to survive. > > Last time that sort of thing happened, California mandated that part of > the fleet be electric cars. But it didn't work out the way you're > suggesting. > > What the manufacturers actually did was market the cars *only* in > California, lease them but not sell them, and then go full-bore working > to get the California law changed. > > When the California law was finally changed, they recalled all their > electric cars (which had only been leased, not sold) and destroyed them. > > Never say "they would have to" with regard to some strategy which is > supposed to force the car manufacturers to do what you want. They are > cleverer and more devious than you think. > > >> >> - Jed >> > >
