

Fuel Law Looms Over Luxury Cars - jkuria
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304760604576423962116245764.html

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natnat
How about, instead of creating arbitrary fuel efficiency standards, we just
tax gasoline so that people consume less of it?

Fuel efficiency standards do virtually nothing to reduce gasoline consumption;
they just make people buy gas-guzzling SUV's instead of gas-guzzling cars. The
problem is, SUV's are heavier and less maneuverable than cars, which makes
them much more dangerous to other cars and pedestrians.

If the government actually cared about carbon consumption, we would have
something sensible like a gas tax rather than absurd fuel standards with a
huge loophole for "light trucks". The thing is, I'm pretty sure the fuel
standards thing is basically a subsidy for American car makers, who make lots
of SUV's, but can't make luxury cars nearly as well as the Germans or the
Japanese.

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jbooth
The first line of this article is:

(Please see Corrections & Amplifications item below.)

Then there are some very bold claims about "future regulations" that "could
saddle automakers" with stuff.

Then it says I have to subscribe to read the rest. Didn't get to the
corrections.

I'll wait for the paperback version.

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vaksel
don't we already pay a gas guzzler tax?

