Ford Motor Company practically abandons small passenger autos

[Kinser79]

(04-28-2018, 10:54 AM)David Horn Wrote:

(04-28-2018, 05:16 AM)Kinser79 Wrote:

(04-26-2018, 08:47 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote:

(04-26-2018, 08:39 PM)Warren Dew Wrote: Small cars make no sense when the fuel economy standards let SUVs consume 50% more gas than comparably sized cars, and let larger cars consume more fuel than smaller cars, without penalty.

Fix the fuel economy standards, and we'll fix this idiocy.

I'd prefer an oil import tax set high enough to pay for the US continuance in the Mid East shitshow. Folks who shout USA, USA can then show their support in a real way, People will buy more fuel efficient cars due to permanently high gas prices.

While I have no real dog in this fight....my newest car was manufactured in the late 1970s  (seriously I stopped being interested in autos sometime after they all started looking alike).  I would support having a huge tariff on imported oil.  Conviently this would raise prices for oil and oil products in the US leading to even greater use of fracking and other domestic sources.

I'm not so sure that the fuel economy standards have much to do with the trend away from smaller cars by the big three.

If gas is cheap and CAFE standards are killed, the public will buy larger less fuel efficient vehicles.  You can argue that this is OK if you wish, but those results are well established from past experience.

I think that the demand for larger vehicles is powered by more than CAFE standards and the price of fuel, while both have their impacts.

As I said I have no real dog in this fight.  I have no interest in puchasing a "modern" car except as a means of transport in which case fuel economy and engine longevity are especially relevant but little else matters.

Rather I think the attraction to larger vehicles is due to the perception that they are safer, and in no small part, that they are objects of status.  I rather doubt that most consumers (certainly I'm not among them) even consider how many MPG a vehicle gets first unless their budgets are especially tight.

While the past does indicate that correlation, to link the price of fuel and the existance or nonexistance of governmental fuel economy regulations to the demand for light trucks and SUVs is suspect.  Correlation does not equal causation after all.