trouble... - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

DF7 · 20th February 2002, 20:23

Everyone, please read and consider the impact of this.. I'm definently contacting my Senator!! This sucks!! Its a little spun on GM products, cause this came from the Camaro camp, but it affects all types of cars for all people!!

Cut from the notice:

The United States Senate last Friday introduced a bill that would have a great impact on what you drive...and your choices of what you will drive....in the coming years.

Simply put, a combined EPA Fuel Economy Average of 35MPG COMBINED FOR CAR AND TRUCK will be the rule....up from the current 27MPG for Automobiles, and 20MPG for trucks. Simple calculations will tell you that the average car will have to get 47MPG.........

This bill, if it becomes law, seriously impacts the Domestic Automobile Industry and will severely affect employment, the price of automobiles and trucks, and, of course, limit the types of vehicles you may have available to you in the future. (INCLUDING PERFORMANCE CARS!)

IT IS CRITICAL THAT YOU CONTACT YOUR SENATOR -- TODAY -- IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS BILL.

Don't know how to contact your Senator? Simply log onto www.gmability.com and you will see a section in the center of the page dedicated to "Corporate Average Fuel Economy"....you will see a heading "Contact your U. S. Senator about CAFE" -- click on that heading...enter your ZIP code, and you will get the names of your Senators.....then call them at the Senate Switchboard.....202-224-3121. If you would like to read more about Corp. Average Fuel Economy --and even see where GM vehicles rank--- look thru the site.

Guys and Gals.....Do you want performance cars? Do you want RWD? Now is the time to take action.....if this bill passes, you will see a radically different GM, Ford, Chrysler, etc....... Don't let the Senate dictate what you will drive in the future.....

For more info....read the various sections of the website mentioned above........

End of cut.

Do you know how lame cars will be with 47 mpg? We're all gonna be driving slugginsh FWD eco shitboxes all over again.. They love passing bills like this, but conviently ignoring the need to support the R&D for the tech to support the bill!!! Its gonna be the 70's all over again... More reason to grab a few V8's before **** hits the fan!

PS: I heard there is another bill out there that is trying to crush cars older than 20 years old!! Thats not good, not only for lower income people that need transportation, but for restorer's and classic car enthusiasts!!

EBMCS03 · 20th February 2002, 20:42

Ah N/M! Feel free to delete this post.

chazzy · 20th February 2002, 20:55

CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) is a standard that has been around for a while. It makes all car manufacturers selling vehicles in the United States comply to an average fuel economy for all the cars and trucks that they build. This means that the weighted average of all of the cars that they sell must have at least 27.5 mpg. Failure to meet this minimum means a fine: $5 for every 0.1 mpg gallon below the standard multiplied by the number of cars that they sell.

The proposal is to raise this standard to a higher mark. Environmentalists have been pushing for years to try to get companies to build more fuel efficient cars. They're pointing out its successes: fuel efficiency has in fact gone up while emissions have gone down. However, opponents are pushing hard against it saying that there are many factors involved with raising the CAFE standard. One is that people won't buy cars that the government tells them to buy. They also won't buy new cars if they're much more expensive due to the R&D that's involved. They're also saying that increased fuel economy will improve at the expense of safety (the heaviest cars got lighter and the lighter cars got heavier in the interest of safety). There are several other arguments against it.

BMW has in fact been affected by CAFE. I read someplace that they had been paying several million dollars per year to sell the cars they're producing. This is also one possible reason that they acquired the Mini: to improve their CAFE numbers. If they sell tens of thousand of Minis this year, their average will dramatically improve thanks to its small fuel-efficient engine.

I think fuel efficiency incentives are nice, but standards and penalties aren't. I also don't think it's going to pass in its current form and it may be quite some time before the issue gets resolved. The auto manufacturers are certainly going to be speaking very strongly against it. Certainly something to watch closely.

Before you contact your senators, please do some reading about it first -- you'll sound more intelligent and informed, making your voice just that much more powerful.

tfung · 20th February 2002, 21:15

hmm.. I've seen this as an email circulating around the internet a few years ago.... I don't even think it's true...