Friday, January 06, 2012
Government at Work - "CAFE Spells RIP for Trucks"
This sure looks like one of those great ideas that has unintended consequences.
Government is just so helpful (sarcasm)...
Government is just so helpful (sarcasm)...
Eric Peters makes some interesting points at Spectator.org:
"The just-canceled Ranger managed 23 city, 27 highway -- so, about 25 MPG average. For a truck, that's not bad. But Ford would have had to get another 10 MPG out of Ranger to make the CAFE cut -- and avoid CAFE fines. I suspect Ford dropped the Ranger from its U.S. product portfolio because it realizes that getting a truck (any truck) to achieve 40 on the highway and 30 in city-type driving will probably -- almost certainly -- require:
• A dramatic reduction in weight via the use of composites rather than steel while maintaining the same level of crashworthiness.
• Very high-efficiency turbodiesel engines or other advanced technology, such as a hybrid powertrain.
• Significant reduction in power/capability.
All of which will increase the cost of the vehicle, perhaps to the extent that it is no longer economically viable to manufacturer."
