NYT: Kerry Is Sticking with Plan to Raise Auto Fuel Efficiency

[DeepModem Mom]

Kerry Is Sticking With Plan to Raise Auto Fuel Efficiency
By DANNY HAKIM

Published: March 26, 2004


DETROIT, March 25 - In the face of rising gasoline prices and stagnating fuel efficiency, Senator John Kerry is sticking with a plan he backed in the Senate to increase the nation's fuel economy standards 50 percent by 2015. That would be the largest increase, by far, since automotive fuel economy standards were first imposed after the oil shocks of the 1970's.

Few think even Mr. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, could actually make good on such a plan if he were elected president, because there is too much opposition from Congressional Republicans and Midwestern Democrats. When Senator Kerry and Senator John McCain pushed such a proposal two years ago, it failed in the Senate on a 62-to-38 vote.

But Mr. Kerry's emergence as the likely Democratic nominee has reinvigorated debate in Detroit and Washington about the nation's plummeting fuel economy.

Environmental groups say they believe that bolstering fuel regulations would be Topic A, or close to it, in a Kerry presidency. The Bush campaign says the Kerry plan would have a devastating effect on a region already hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs. Automakers say they do not have the technology to meet his numbers.

And a who's who of top Democrats in Michigan, considered a battleground state, have been pressing Mr. Kerry to scale back.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/26/business/26fuel.html

[truthisfreedom]

1. the automakers are lying. they can simply slow down the sales of bigger

less efficient vehicles and introduce more and more hybrids while increasing sales of smaller cars. this business of selling huge vehicles to people "because that's what they demand" is a bunch of hooey... they have sold us on the idea of having big huge SUVs that can climb rough terrain that most of us will never ever see in real life.

[mulethree]

15. Small trucks included now?

Used to be that small trucks were not included in some safety standards and in fuel economy measurements. SUV's and Minivans get tagged as being small trucks and don't even count. Hopefully this has changed, I know they do safety testing on these now, though the results are like olympic gymnastics where the "winner" gets a 9.9 and the one that falls on it's ass gets a 9.1.

Yes, I'd like to see some SUV owner try to drive offroad and get stopped by a park ranger, private land owner etc. Then sue the SUV maker for deceptive advertising. Also good luck finding a "closed course" to drive on like they used to sell you the sportscar.

Stick a 75 HP, 3 cylinder diesal engine in there with a 6-speed auto-overdrive transmission, use a 3,000 lb chassis/body instead of 4,500 lb. Not only will it beat the fuel economy requirement it will run on soybean, corn, or peanut oil.

[Kolesar]

2. UAW is backing increased fuel economy in the "Apollo Project"

(No, it is not the space program, btw). The NYTimes article is deceptive when is says midwestern voters are not behind the increased fuel economy.

I Googled up this essay on the Apollo project:

http://www.browndailyherald.com/stories.asp?storyID=2464

excerpt:

"Powerful Democrats, however, are being courted for reform by a diverse watchdog group called the Apollo Alliance. Uniting such unlikely bedfellows as the UAW and the Sierra Club, the Alliance has drawn up a plan to phase renewable energy into the American economy. Expect this plan, which diverts $70 million in corporate welfare breaks toward "clean energy" infrastructure, to wield some force at the party's Boston convention."

[cspiguy]

3. Shock and Awe. There goes Michigan and Ohio.

CAFE is about jobs right now. He should know this.

[mobuto]

4. Bullshit

That's just a myth. Kerry's got to get the UAW to change its story on that. Because there's absolutely no evidence that CAFE hurts US jobs. Rather, it will create jobs as American car companies will be far more competitive in the US. Americans will be employed to develop the technology, and everybody prospers. Detroit is lying to its workers, as usual, and for some reason the UAW is letting them get away with it. Shame!

[phantom power]

8. right on

And competitiveness isn't the end of the story. A hybrid auto is more complex. It has more system components. Which means more businesses are required to manufacture parts for each car. Which means more jobs, not fewer.

There is still the issue of how many of those parts are actually made in America. But that's going to be true regardless. Sticking with non-hybrid autos is sure not going to be any improvement, it will be worse.

[JNelson6563]

10. You are right

I'll be interested to see how Levin handles this since he is often looking out for the auto-makers and was pushing Kerry in the primaries too.

Carl's pretty deft tho', I'm sure he'll strike a perfect balance. :-)

Julie

[chenGOD]

5. How does that argument make sense?

From the article:
"The Bush campaign says the Kerry plan would have a devastating effect on a region already hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs. Automakers say they do not have the technology to meet his numbers."

So by keeping the status quo, the auto industry can continue to hemmorhage jobs. OR...By adopting the new standards, they can create jobs in R&D, then re-train workers to adopt new technology. And Americans might consider buying new AMERICAN MADE (or at least developed, since most American car parts aren't really made in America under globalization) cars (who really doesn't want better fuel efficiency?).:think:


PS: (sorry for so many parentheses)

[goforit]

6. Opposition from repugs in 2005?...Not if you clean house!!!

Boot them out of office when you vote!!!

[Toucano]

7. Ridiculous time frame

Detroit needs to do it's patriotic duty and help the country lessen it's dependence on foreign oil.

If we divert the money from space exploration to alternative energy projects, it could be done in 5 years.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

[chenGOD]

9. No need to divert from space exploration.

That $80 billion a year on Iraq will do nicely for some seed money.

[Lisa]

11. what's this I hear about US car companies buying more efficient engines

... from Japan? Because they weren't able to make them themselves?

Are the automakers TRYING to turn the entire industry into Ikea-on-wheels instead of a world leader in transportation engineering?

[hatrack]

12. True - Ford's hybrid Escape will use engines by (drum roll, please) . . .

Toshiba!!

So, when Detroit's first hybrid finally rolls off the line for the general public to buy (a full SEVEN YEARS after the first production hybrids went on the market in Japan), it will be powered by a Japanese engine.

But not to worry. Toyota may have over 900 patents in hybrid drive train tech, but I'm sure Detroit leads the world in cutting-edge innovations involving cupholders.

[Lisa]

13. snarf!

Cupholders -- and let's not forget those state-of-the-art mudflaps with the foxy ladies on them!


Thanks, Hatrack. I thought I had hallucinated that Japanese hybrid engine thing during a doughnut-inflicted sugar high, but now I know I didn't. And I actually predicted this situation several years ago, when teaching a class on the economic potential of the Kyoto Protocol.

Why do my BAD predictions have to come true? Why can't any of the good ones, like the one about Jon Stewart falling madly in love with me, ever happen?

[sablescort]

14. Like GM shoehorning...

Honda V6 motors into Saturn VUE's....

Not to mention Chinese-made motors into GM products.