Energy
Commentary
PG&E’s success in Washington led to failure in San Bruno
Cry Wolf Quotes
Pricing is still a concern with consumers. We continue to see sticker shock. And the potential exists that with some cars in short supply, Detroit will take advantage of the situation with some big price increases this fall. What Detroit will do is drive some people into small or used cars instead. In the last three to four years, price increases outpaced income gains and pushed people into used cars. Pricing is the reason the recovery won’t be robust.
The conflict between government standards and market demands is increased by the rollback of petroleum prices and extension of petroleum price controls at the same time. By making gasoline cheaper, congress has encouraged consumer demand for larger cars, while at the same time imposing fuel economy standards that require stronger demand for small cars.
If we sell too many big cars, we’ll have to stop building them. Then we’ll have to ram small cars down consumers’ throats and use dealer incentives to get rid of them so that we can build big cars again. The public is going to rebel because these hard-to-get big cars will then sell for full list or higher when the small cars are being given away.
We have consistently opposed mandatory fuel economy standards as unnecessary. Because it is clearly in our self interest to meet customer requirements on fuel economy improvements, as demonstrated by our own high mileage m.p.g. small cars recently announced.
Related Laws and Rules
Evidence
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CAFE Standards Not an Undue Burden on Domestic Manufacturers
CAFE standards clearly contributed to increased fuel economy and didn't unduly burden the domestic manufacturers.
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Experts Claim the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) Saves Lives and Money
Safety experts make the case for the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Backgrounders & Briefs
The Success of CAFE Standards
How the CAFE standard and its successes.
Resources
Political Economy Research Institute is a think tank focused on a variety of subjects such as diverse financial regulation, living wages and environmental protection.
Consumer Federation of America defends the consumer interest in fields ranging from housing and financial services to food safety.
