Obama: $1300 more per car for emissions

[jeffie7]

Half the shit we do to cars helps mpg, the EPA crap is what makes an insight get only 50mpg when if they tuned to run the way it could EPA not being involved there's no reason it couldn't hit 100mpg.

1989 honda civic got like 38mpg WTF happened to the new super clean civics? Civic EX of today gets like 32mpg

 

[BigJ]

I think a lot of this doomsdayer speculation is because we only have vehicles and don't have any kind of infrastructure to release the demand on vehicles and create profit/energy efficient/affordable transportation infratstructure to move americans across the country. We're spread out, and we are greedy. We want our own cars. We don't want to ride trains. We don't want to ride monorails. We want. We want. We want. We don't need most of it.

 

[phunky.buddha]

Release a solar powered car with a model aircraft motor that powers a generator. It'll be a slow worthless piece of shit, but it'll get 98678907689 miles to the gallon, thus increasing the mpg average of the entire fleet to 40mpg. Then release a 2000hp corvette that gets 2mpg just to say "Fuck you, obama."

If you make a solar powered car that runs a motor to run a generator, have that generator power a light bulb to run the solar cells...



By the way, the S2000 gets 29mpg running 100mph from city to city drafting other cars.

Older cars got the mileage they did because of lower weight (fewer safety features) and fewer emissions control devices.

 

[totalburnout]

the average car on the road doesn't even get 30mpg highway. only the micro crap and hybrids. how they are going to get a whole fleet to average 34 is simply absurd.

oil is already up. i've seen $2.70 for premium already. Up almost $1

B...

We have the technology. As someone else put forth, car companies have had no compelling reason to build more efficient cars. The auto industry and oil industry go hand in hand.

The NY Auto Show this year was an absolute joke. This year, in a recession, there are reasons to scale back but for the last 5 years the concept cars have been a joke. Honda's display was atrocious.

Throw all the lobbyist out of Capital Hill and let the system run as intended, rather than lining the pockets of politicians. I guarantee we see different results.

I don't want the government in my pocket at all or over stepping their bounds, but if they cannot/will not throw out the lobbyist and do what is good for the American public then maybe legislation will help turn the industry upside down for the better.

As long as Obama stops spending his way out of our problems, I do not have a problem with modifications and tweaks to the system. Pissing money away in the name of "solving" a problem that originally stemmed from a lack of control in spending, however, is not okay. There are far more important issues to be taken up with this administration than this one, in my opinion.

We see how capable of change our American manufacturers were in the past years. All the car companies have rested on their laurels, minimized R&D costs and have just kept vehicles at the status quo for the most part. There was no catalyst for change.

It is like my industry. Companies become so large, that although there may be smaller companies with better ideas, there are simply too many barriers to enter the market and be profitable for upstarts.

Auto industry, airline industry, etc., etc., all have huge barriers to entry because of the infrastructure and upstart costs associated with launching a national campaign. I would love to see some new competition in the market.

Hopefully this opens a door for a company like the one that builds the Tesla, which is financially struggling at this point.

 

[Briansol]

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | US CO2 goals 'to be compromised'

 

[Drake]

I always love how high brow the Brits are when they speak of the US. Like we are the only country with screwed up politics.

 

[klyph]

I hear in the news that obama is making GM file bankruptcy so they can get more money. How can the executive branch of the govt. give orders to corporations? Isn't that the definition of fascism?!

 

[Drake]

I hear in the news that obama is making GM file bankruptcy so they can get more money. How can the executive branch of the govt. give orders to corporations? Isn't that the definition of fascism?!

Pff fascism? It isnt that at all! Its well the sheperd tending to his flock. Obviously no one can do right for themselves so he must show us the way!

 

[totalburnout]

I hear in the news that obama is making GM file bankruptcy so they can get more money. How can the executive branch of the govt. give orders to corporations? Isn't that the definition of fascism?!

Joining the party late are we?

The transcripts of the treasury department speaking with the CEOs of the major banks were released a few weeks ago. The treasury department told the CEOs, if they did not accept TARP funds, they would be forced to accept the funds.

 

[xj0hnx]

While I don't agree with the government stepping in, hopefully the positive possibility of this legislation will be getting people who do not need SUVs, out of SUVs and will force car companies to become more innovative.

The market never demanded a performance car that reached those efficiency figures. The Tesla and the prototype by Chevy prove that an efficient performance vehicle can be made. I doubt this goes into place without heavy modification, just like the CAFE standards kept being pushed further and further back due to lobbying from auto manufacturers and oil producers.

The average American is too stupid to conserve and just blindly spends their way into debt and is wasteful. People are so quick to forget $4/gallon gas. Fuck you kindly, get out of your asinine SUV that you drive little Johnny to and from school in help be a part of the solution. As soon as the markets rise again, oil is rising again too. Maybe not $147/barrel but certainly $90-$100, while gas is already back up to $2.15/gallon.

Hi, and welcome to America where people are free to drive whatever they want, even if you don't like it.

 

[klyph]

Joining the party late are we?

The transcripts of the treasury department speaking with the CEOs of the major banks were released a few weeks ago. The treasury department told the CEOs, if they did not accept TARP funds, they would be forced to accept the funds.

Pardon my tardiness to the current events table.

Hi, and welcome to America where people are free to drive whatever they want, even if you don't like it.

NOT FOR LONG!

 

[K2e2vin]

The transcripts of the treasury department speaking with the CEOs of the major banks were released a few weeks ago. The treasury department told the CEOs, if they did not accept TARP funds, they would be forced to accept the funds.

Well, if a company is in debt to x loaner(the goverment with the bailout plans), that would mean x loaner will have partial(or full) control of the company, right?

In other words, the US Govt. is forcefully trying to take over these companies?

 

[klyph]

In other words, fascism.

 

[BigJ]

Ummm...... Maybe you guys are out of the Loop but the GOVT runs a ton of companies as it is.... This isn't a new strategy.



It's a failing one.

 

[tofasttoslowforyou]

Some of the hybrid cars are priced beyond what people can afford same with all the other cars out there today.

just cause the car is sodl for 30k does not mean that it cost 20k to make it

WAKE THE FUCK UP PEOPLE!!!!

There were cars made in the late 80's and early 90's that got 30-50 mpg.

All the companys today have gotten sloppy with cars etc in the 10-25 mpg range.

An again dont buy the hype this new suv truck etc is a hybrid it gets 2-4 more mpg thats insult to injury.


Since there is a huge demand for suvs and gas guzllers thats what everyone demanded, so the automakers did it.

We where getting 30 plus in some cars in the 80's not to mention the ev1 that chevy made had demand throught the roof and then killed shit that thing got the same mpg as a insight and was 10+ years ahead.

 

[Briansol]

There were cars made in the late 80's and early 90's that got 30-50 mpg.

here we go again, beating a dead horse.

cars of the 80s and 90s got better mileage because they were
a) lighter (less air bags, less nice interiors, less steel frame stuff)
b) had less emission restrictions

weight + restrictions = poorer mileage.

a 1989 crx hf could not pass safety in 2010 if it were a new model.

 

[klyph]

weight = poorer mileage.

Fill your car with helium balloons!

Higher mass = poorer mileage.

 

[Briansol]

i just need to put buttered toast in my front seat and cats in my back seat. we will epiclly float along.

 

[totalburnout]

Hi, and welcome to America where people are free to drive whatever they want, even if you don't like it.

Hi,

In my America, fucksticks that don't need to drive SUVs, don't drive SUVs. There's no reason to be so wasteful other then "because I can." Well, if I had my way, they couldn't.

 

[totalburnout]

Well, if a company is in debt to x loaner(the goverment with the bailout plans), that would mean x loaner will have partial(or full) control of the company, right?

In other words, the US Govt. is forcefully trying to take over these companies?

Yes.

Technically the way that the government is currently backing the banks is taking shares from the banks that do not have a voting privilege. Therefore the government should TECHNICALLY be a silent investor and have no influence over the executive board of the company. However, these shares were taken with the option to convert to shares with voting rights.

If the government pulled the trump card, they could 1) Pull their funds and bankrupt the company, 2) Regulate the banks and force the banks to accept the funds, 3) Convert their shares and nationalize the banks in which they would have majority shares based on the amount of TARP funds backing the bank.

There's certain reasons why the banks HAD to take the funds, being the back bone of the financial system and what holds this country's economy up. We would have had a far harder crash and greater bankruptcies. May not have been a bad thing, but now we've prolonged the natural progression of the system and we will have to once again prop up companies to save the companies from failing and a greater crash or we'll eventually have a very large, very hard crash.

Money has become just an idea. There's not much that backs money anymore, so eventually when other countries realize they no longer want to accept that idea, we won't have a real gold standard to back each one of our dollars.