"Doug Kanter" wrote in
:


wrote in message
ups.com...
"Exactly. That's why the government needs to increase CAFE mileage
standards and other measures, such increasing the gasoline tax. But
they
lack the political cojones to do so.

Without intervention, we'll blissfully keep driving our ridiculous
SUV's. Using the marketplace for public policy ain't gonna work. "

Yeah, great idea. Increase taxes and give the govt more of our hard
earned money to waste. Remember Jimmy Carter pouring billions into
recovering oil from shale? How much was ever produced? Not one
drop! The free market is working perfectly fine. Sales of SUV's are
already way down.

What we should be doing is exploring for more oil in any reasonable
place. And that includes ANWR, which should have been done a long
time ago, if it were not for the environmental whackos.


Assume I'm right about the first paragraph below, for the sake of
arguement, and because I really *am* right about it:

The vast majority of SUV owners have absolutely no need for the
mechanical design features of those cars. No towing, no off-road, and
as any cop, tow truck driver or keen observer of drivers in the snow
belt will tell you, 4WD is of no advantage to most drivers, and may
actually be a hindrance. The only possible advantage to SUVs (and I
won't touch this debate) is that they may be safer in collisions.

With me so far?

Now, here's a way for the government to get involved only slightly,
and the car makers to make MORE money on SUVs. The government should
find an incentive (bludgeoning, in other words) to get the car makers
to offer the same SUVs, but with power trains which more closely
approach "normal". "Not like a truck", in other words. The power train
design is the PRIMARY reason these vehicles get such bad mileage. Give
customers the same physical, boxy shape they want, same choice of
motors, but with front wheel drive. The car makers can reduce the
price a little, but probably make more, since most customers have no
real idea how much cheaper it is to make a 2wd vehicle. And, offer 4wd
versions for people who explicitly ask for them. I don't think many
will.





Ah,you want GOVERNMENT to engineer autos.
That's really efficient...yup.Sure.

(sarcasm mode back to off)

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net