By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com
January 1, 2007
A proposal to increase the U.S. fuel economy standards puts domestic manufacturers at odds with the desires of most of their customers and would force Detroit to "hand over" the market for trucks and SUVs to Japanese manufacturers, according to the vice chairman of General Motors.
Bob Lutz said the proposed changes to the government's Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards would represent an unfair burden on Detroit.
Lutz compared the attempt to force automakers to sell smaller vehicles to "fighting the nation's obesity problem by forcing clothing manufacturers to sell garments only in small sizes."
"For one thing, it puts us, the domestic manufacturers, at odds with the desires of most of our customers," he said.
Auto executives argue that the industry's flat overall fuel economy in recent years reflects the strong preference for trucks and SUVs by American drivers, a point Lutz made in his Internet posting.
"Forcing us to alter the fleets to hit some theoretical average won't change what consumers want, or what they'll buy," Lutz said.
"There is no technological bag of tricks that enable much better fuel economy than we have today," Lutz said. "Despite what the alarmists may think, we don't have any magic 100-mpg carburetor that we're holding back because we're in bed with the oil companies."
The U.S. CAFE standard, which applies only an average across the fleet of vehicles, is currently 27.5 miles per gallon for cars and 20.7 miles per gallon for trucks and SUVs weighing less than 8,500 pounds.
