Detroit Bailout Loans On The Road To Approval, With Condition Attached - Car Makers Meet 35 MPG By 2020
by John Laumer, Philadelphia 
on 09.30.08
Remember when the Wizard of Oz was spotted from behind his curtain, after which he admitted to being a 'very bad wizard' (audio link via NoPlaceLikeOz)? Obviously, industry lobbyists have not figured out that the climate is changing; and that the jobs retained by these loans can't be called "green" until the wizards come out from behind their marketing curtains.
The U.S. Congress moved Saturday to provide $25 billion in low-interest loans to the auto industry as part of an initiative to accelerate the development of fuel-efficient vehicles...The Senate voted 78 to 12 to pass a broad, must-pass spending bill that includes $7.5 billion to start the loan program. The House passed the bill earlier in the week, and President George W. Bush is expected to sign it...The loan program was approved as part of a 2007 energy bill requiring vehicles to have an average fuel economy of 35 miles a gallon by 2020 -- a 40% increase over the previous standard.Twelve more years to achieve a fleet average of 35mpg! Cars capable of that mileage existed almost 30 years ago (Mercedes 3000SD, pictured).
Fiscal conservatives, here's a chance to prove your green nettle. Make sure that these low interest bailout loans come with a pre-condition of a far more stringent fleet-average mileage standard than 35mpg; and, while you're at it, you might want to add a C02 emissions per mile maximum, Euro-style. That's how to get re-elected and make the green jobs you create last.
Via: Wall Street Journal, U.S. Moves Ahead on Loans To Develop Fuel-Efficient Cars
Image credit::Mercedes 330SD, Advanced Diesel Vehicles, a full size passenger car capable of 35mpg in the 1980's.
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35mpg?! Why not keep it as is?! Pathetic. By 2020 they should be looking at 50mpg and combine it with adding a percentage of alternative fuel vehicles that need to be sold in the US.
Fueleconomy.gov lists the 1985 Mercedes 300 SD under the new rating system at 19 city, 23 highway (1985 is as far back as they go, but any Mercedes 300 turbodiesel of that era had the same engine). Now granted, CAFE 35 mpg isn't the same as window sticker MPG, but still, if Mercedes sold only this car today, they would not meet the standard. And a lot of states, like California, will buy these cars and crush them because the smog-forming emissions are so bad.
I understand the sentiment of the article but am tired of web sites playing fast and loose with fuel economy numbers.
Joe, it's the requirement for 'average' vehicles , not the most efficient compact car among their fleet. People do need something bigger than Prius, if they could make Dodge RAM Van 30MPG, that's about 130-200% improvement over the 2003 model.
=== author's reponse follows ==
Thanks for the clarification.
What I also should have said more explicitly is that this is not just a matter of setting a CAFE standard with penalties for those firms which do not make it. This is about giving taxpayer dollars to companies to help them learn to design and market more efficient vehicles. Insisting on a "stretch" goal for improvement is far more reasonable in this new context.
This is a terribly low number and does not encourage automotive manufacturers to strive for technological advancement at all. Give me a break; in the 60's there were many cars that were getting close to 30 miles to the gallon and a few that were getting better then that!( check out the incomplete list below) Are we so complacent that we can't expect and demand a higher rate of improvement for the last 45 years?
MW Isetta — 44.0 mpg
Chevrolet Corvair - 31 mpg(1959-63)
Crosley Hot Shot — 48 mpg
Fiat 850 Spider — 38.5 mpg
Fiat X1/9 — 34.0 mpg
Honda S800 — 42.0 mpg
Lotus Elite — 38 mpg
MG Midget — 35.0 mpg
Morris Minor — 35.0 mpg
Nash Metropolitan — 37.5 mpg
Triumph Spitfire — 30.3 mpg
Volkswagen Beetle –30.0 mpg
Among current offers check out the comparison below
Top 5 Most Fuel Efficient American Cars:
Ford Escape Hybrid - 36 mpg city / 31 mpg highway
Chevy Aveo - 26 mpg city / 35 mpg highway
Ford Focus - 26 mpg city / 34 mpg highway
Chevy Cobalt - 25 mpg city / 34 mpg highway
Ford Fusion - 24 mpg city / 32 mpg highway
Top 5 Most Fuel Efficient Japanese Cars:
Honda Insight - 60 mpg city / 66 mpg highway
Toyota Prius - 60 mpg city / 51 mpg highway
Honda Civic Hybrid - 49 mpg city / 51 highway
Toyota Corolla - 32 mpg city / 41 mpg highway
Since the Aveo is really a Daewoo - can you really call it an American car? If we can then we need to include all of those "Asian" cars made in America.
Also the Ford Fusion is made in Mexico...
I think the days of dividing cars into domestics and imports are over. Let's talk about how many Americans were employed building those cars. As for the next argument about where the profits go - these cars are all built by publically owned comapnies meaning even as an America I can own part of Toyota.
I think it is time to help Americans buy electric cars for ~50 mile commutes. The Phoenix Motor Cars SUT can go 130 miles, has a/c and can go highway speeds. I'll take mine in blue please.
Rather than bailout America's auto makers and Wall Street, I'm starting to think no bailout at all for anyone or bailout the citizens and not the companies. $35K to each household but the gov't pays off consumer debt or mortgages first with it. Debt needed to exist on Aug 1st.
Dawn
I see your point with how many miles the old cars are getting compared to the new ones, but you are missing the biggest point here.
WE THE CONSUMERS ARE TO BLAME. NOT THE AUTO MAKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The new cars weight far more then they need to. We want so much crap in our cars today that the weight can't be kept down. Also the safety features that save lives add weight. And finally our "compact" cars, and I use that term very lightly, aren't very compact anymore.
A good example of this: My 1994 mustang gt weighs about 3000lbs a new Nissan Sentra, a compact car, weights about 3100lbs. I have an iron block V8 in my car. Really? Why has this happened?
So I ask, do all of you that don't like this 35mpg CAFE want to give up your nav, heated seats, rear sensors, and other needless crap in a car and have better gas mileage OR do you keep your toys and just deal with it?
I can make a 35 MPG car in my backyard by the end of October.
You're not impressing me with trying to do it in 12 years.
Detroit automakers are an American tragedy. Your days are numbered.
Matthew08
Mmy point would be that even among the heavier cars of the past decades there were motors reaching the 35mpg mark. Consumers do demand all the toys and safety now days( yet surely techonology capable of producing al these gadgets and safety features can also produce fuel sipping motor improvements designed for mass production.
(and to think that the '94 mustangs were lighter then the Fox bodies of the last 5.o generation.)