If the White House has its way, the fuel economy estimates will be much higher by 2025. Image via Wikipedia
After several days of posturing and, quite frankly, whining about the Obama administration’s proposed new fuel economy standards, the Alliance of Automobile Manufactures has decided not to air its radio campaign aimed at getting the public behind less substantial fuel economy increases.
(Just a note in case you didn’t know – the new standards, which were to be reached by 2025, pushed CAFE standards to 56.2 miles per gallon, nearly double today’s current fuel economy. Seems to me if we can put a man on the moon we can figure out how to get the average vehicle’s fuel economy up to 56.2 mpg!)
In an article fittingly entitled “Automakers Scrap Fuel Economy Ad Campaign” published on DetNews.com, David Shepardson writes that the ads were scrapped because, more or less, the AAM is still trying to negotiate lower standards with the White House:
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers — the trade association representing Detroit’s Big Three, Toyota Motor Corp. and eight others — has canceled a two-week radio campaign planned for 14 states to urge the administration to back “attainable” fuel efficiency standards.
Late Wednesday, the group held a conference call and opted not to run the ads as talks between the Obama administration automakers over the 2017-25 fuel efficiency standards continue.
It seems the original intent of the ad campaign was to show the hardships these new standards would impose on car makers like Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, and Toyota:
“After tough times, today’s auto industry is on the road to economic recovery. But an upcoming decision threatens that progress,” says the ad, obtained by The Detroit News on Friday.
The ad warned that if fuel economy standards were doubled, “families would be hit with higher car prices. Small businesses dependent on vans, SUVs or pickups would face limited vehicle choice.”
So, I wonder what the AAM would think of my proposal: double the current CAFE standards by 2025 and raise the gas tax incrementally by 25 cents per gallon a year over the next eight years.
Maybe if you pass this article around and make it go viral, you’ll hear a radio campaign aimed at shutting me up!
What do you think about either proposal? Leave your comments below and please share this article using the social sharing buttons below – especially Facebook and Twitter!
