June 20, 2007

Congress Punishing Auto Industry

Congress seems to think that the Japanese Auto Makers do no wrong and the American Auto Makers are evil and doing everything possible to destroy America.

Here we have the Democratic majority -- propelled by the biases of Rep. Ed Markey's Massachusetts and Speaker Nancy Pelosi's California, among others -- pushing sharply higher federal fuel economy rules and the right of states to regulate greenhouse gases, whether any of it is technically achievable or economically sensible.

Not one Congressperson who is against the American Auto Industry has really investigated facts, they take facts that have not been proven feasible and When the Auto Industry tells them they are not feasible Congress says they are being uncooperative.

But isn't the car and truck market already doing what Congress is trying to shove down the industry's throat? More fuel-efficient cars, hybrids and car-based SUV-style vehicles account for a bigger chunk of sales each month while sales of passé monster pickups and SUVs keep sliding, thanks to higher gas prices.

Even Toyota, that erstwhile division of Greenpeace, has trouble with all the
greenhouse gas blanketing Capitol Hill and driving its mad rush towards "energy independence day" next month. In today's Washington, appearing to do something about climate change is more important than what you do or whose livelihood it might impinge.

Yep, it's more popular to be on the Climate Change side then the do what is possible side.

To hear the ritual denunciations of Detroit's metal, you'd think General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler were the only automakers building big, gas-guzzling SUVs and pickups, but you'd be wrong. A look at the EPA's green guide shows, for example, that V-8-powered pickups from GM and Ford deliver slightly better fuel economy than Toyota's Tundra.

You read that right, Toyota's gas guzzlers are worse for the environment than the American gas guzzlers. But Toyota being Congress's darlings they will make up lies to cover that fact up.

To listen to all the sanctimony about hybrids, you'd think only Toyota, undisputably the market leader, is in the gas-electric hybrid business. You'd be wrong, as the Ford Escape, Saturn Vue and, soon, hybrid SUVs from GM attest.

Who needs inconvenient truths when half-baked perceptions will do?

That's right, the American Auto Makers do make Hybrid vehicles.
And lets not get into the facts about Toyota not using true mileage tests to arrive
at their hybrid mileage. The Prius only gets 60mpg in Toyota's mind, other true mileage tests show the Pruis only averaging 48mpg.

Hyperbole? Perhaps, but how helpful it is to have Congressional leaders braying to a captive press corps about Detroit "not building the cars people want" or Detroit "building nothing but gas guzzlers" or Detroit "building junk" -- all demonstrably untrue.

You would think Congress would support American business's rather than trying to destroy them. Because with the lies they are telling and the push for unrealistic fuel expectations that is exactly what Congress is trying to do, destroy the American Auto Industry.

Posted by Quality Weenie at June 20, 2007 09:03 AM | TrackBack
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