One Word for New Auto Industry Business Plan: Green

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I'm all for having higher gas mileage vehicles, especially SUVs, we'd love to have such a thing.
In our small animal veterinary house call practice, we'd love to have an SUV that gets 30+ MPG, our current 2004 Ford Expedition with 116,000 miles gets at best 16 MPG. Why do we have such a vehicle? To carry the supplies, drugs and equipment we need to do the job, not to mention the occasional large dog that needs to be transported. Some weeks, we drive 1000 mles per week, its a nice comfortable vehicle that does what we need. Some people and businesses need such vehicles and always will.
Why should these be priced that only "commercial enterprises" could afford them? Such a scheme would only cause these businesses to raise prices to compensate - a hidden tax. Also, any SUV owner (business or not) already pays more in gas taxes and likely personal property tax not to mention sales tax on the initial purchase. $4.00+ gas cost $120.00 or more for a fill-up, yesterday was $1.59 per gallon a nice reprieve not likely to last.
When a replacement is needed (hopefully two or more years from now) we'll survey the available SUVs and hopefully be able to choose from a reliable very fuel efficient SUV type vehicle which the market will hopefully be (still) demanding.

John of VA 9:49AM December 01, 2008

There was no way that Americans could afford $4.00 gallon gas & $400K homes without something serious happening, like it did this past September. Step into reality, we put ourselves where we are today. And still, people just can't understand that NOW is the time to do something to stop the bleeding.
Erbe suggests a great point and one I thought of as well. It won't hurt anyone for us to get a car that averages 40 mpg. That's what GM should have done long ago - but profits get in the way of what's best for the country. Politics and politicians (with considerable stake in the petroleum industry) have not demanded that GM do something about gas mileage. The Asians and Germans can manage to do it - why, what would give them incentive to produce a car with high MPG? Wow, it shouldn't be any surprise - the price of gasoline.
Even if you don't agree with the term "green" for the myriad of reasons spouted here, think about your wallet. I scratched my head every time I paid $40 for gas that was only $20 for the same car two years ago. Double in two years? Should I have expected to pay $60 to fill up that same car in two more years? That's preposterous and fiscally insane! My pay won't double in two years, it didn't from two years ago. Should the petroleum industry make a profit - of course they should. Although, you should wonder how and why, instead of saying "WOW" when it's announced that a certain company it made $40 billion in 2007!
Erbe is right - if GM wants a federal bailout, Congress is in a position to expect/demand cars that get 40MPG. I don't agree that gas guzzlers should be banned to private citizens - let them buy them if that's what they want. Status, prestige, or whatever the motivation won't allow them to drive fiscally/environmentally smart cars. But these guzzlers should require a separate piece of paper to be signed when picking up their new vehicle - "NO BAILOUT ALLOWED".
But then like a good friend told me once, "You can't argue with stupid."

John Paulson of VA 2:42AM November 28, 2008

There have been alternating periods of cooling and warming on Earth, with the Pleistocene Ice Age starting 110,000 years ago and giving way, 14,700 years ago, to the Bolling warm period for 800 years. This in turn gave way to the Older Dryas cooling for 300 years, then the Allerod warming for 700 years, and so on, until the cooling of the Little Ice Age from 1300 to 1850. Since 1850, we have lived through the "Modern Warming", one of the most stable climate periods in history. Many astronomers and climatologists predict we are headed for a new cooling period.
Human-caused climate change is being "promoted with religious zeal . there are fundamentalist organizations which will do anything to silence critics. They have their holy books, their prophet, Al Gore. And they are promoting a story which is frightening us witless using guilt and urging penance." It is difficult for non-scientists to engage in the debate over what causes climate change and whether or not it can be stopped by new taxes and slower growth, because dissenting voices are shouted down by true believers in the scientific community who claim they alone have the authority to speak.
The debate on Global Warming would indeed be over if the religious hysteria in support of it were made to subside.

RETROGUY of CA 1:00AM November 28, 2008

RL...short train of thought triggered by your desire to fish anywhere being hampered. So sad. Clearly, "Enviros" have not succeeded in taking over the country. It is a fact that man has negatively impacted our surroundings in certain scenarios, which in turn impact our health and involvment in nature.
Woody Woody Woody.....I'm guessing you think it's wrong to limit the kind of guns that people buy as well?

megan of NY 1:19PM November 27, 2008

Facist! You will manufacture what we say. You will buy what we allow you to buy. You will turpn your children oveer to our National Service Corps.
Ever wonder why Toyota, Nissan, and Honday build large SUVs? It might be because people choosw to buy them.
"Pro-Choice" not really.

Woody Pfister of IL 8:03AM November 27, 2008

Facist! You will manufacture what we say. You will buy what we allow you to buy. You will turpn your children oveer to our National Service Corps.
Ever wonder why Toyota, Nissan, and Honday build large SUVs? It might be because people choosw to buy them.
"Pro-Choice" not really.

Woody Pfister of IL 8:03AM November 27, 2008

It is plain that Environmentalism has evolved into Neo-Paganism - An old religion with a new set of clothes.
They control politicians, the media, courts, schools and the bureaucracies of government. Unfortunately, it is far too late to rid ourselves of, what has become, our "State Religion". It has swept through our towns, cities and schools like a whirlwind over the past 3 decades... It’s propaganda and intolerant dogma now accepted as truth and science.
Their creed is simple;
"All forms of human endeavor are evil.
The only permissible interaction between man and nature is restoration, conservation, preservation and veneration."
Unless you subscribe to their creed they simply don't want you in the outdoors. After all, without accepting the, “The Creed”, how could you show due reverence to Mother Nature.
Whenever my kids ask why they can't fish or hunt in places we once did - Or why they don't stock fish in streams and lakes any longer... and when they wonder aloud about more closed roads and campgrounds. I simply say to them, "They just don't want you out there... There's no "real reason" or logic. The enviros only want folks in limited areas who will simply worship nature and no other activity is acceptable. Locked gates, closed campgrounds and bans on all types of recreation is their answer. You must accept that it will never change for the better - only worsen”
And so, today, we have lost the Kern River and most of the the Sierras to fishing - and a hundred other lakes, rivers and streams, throughout the state of California, as well. Resorts and campgrounds will close - their owners now bankrupt. Motels, restaurants, gas stations, tourist towns will be economically destroyed. Outdoor recreational opportunities for future generations lost - forever.
I see our nation’s wild places ringed with gates and fences - A barrier that keeps us, we the people, confined to our prisons of concrete and asphalt. A future of sterile veneration of nature - without touching ...without actually living in, or experiencing it... A dull, sullen future when gray , flaccid people only worry about how to mitigate their perceived sins against it.

R.L. Schaefer of CA 8:06PM November 26, 2008

GM built SUV's and trucks for personal use because that is what comsumers wanted. When the FEDS came up with the CAFE fuel economy standards and GM downsized their cars, comsumers rejected those cars and bought SUV's and trucks. The FEDS can force GM to build what the FEDS want (high fuel economy cars) but they can't force consumers to buy them.
There needs to be ecomomic incentives to buy green high milage cars. I bought regular gasoline today for $1.59 per gallon. At that price, it will take at least 15 years to payout a hybrid versus a conventional powertrain car (or truck). And consumers won't do that.
If the FEDS want GM (or others) to build high mileage cars and have consumers buy them, then the price of gas needs to go to 6 or 7 dollars a gallon, or there needs to be a large tax credit for buying a fuel efficient car.
Green cars will become the norm when economics dictate their purchase, not when the FEDS mandate their construciton.

Bob of TX 5:47PM November 26, 2008