If it isn't obvious that Obama and his liberal ideologues aren't out to eliminate the car as the main mode of transportation for most Americans, then you do not know a thing about business, cars and the left-wing extremists.
And industry analysts said the changes could cost consumers thousands of dollars — for smaller, "greener" cars.
If you don't think this means the end of the auto industry as we know it, you are clueless about the manufacturing business. If a state changes a requirement to be more stringent then the rest, the industry must either figure out how to meet it, or not sell vehicles in that state. There could conceivably be 50 different standards. If Wyoming has just one tighter standard then WA and WA has a tighter standard on something different and CA has something else that id different, it would be a nightmare keeping up with it. Only the rich will be able to buy a new car in a few years.
What if an Army soldier bought a new car in Georgia with a looser standard and then gets reassigned to Utah with a tighter standard? Does he have to sell the car before he leaves? Presumably he couldn't sell it in Utah, because it wouldn't meet that state's standards.
It would add thousands to the cost of a car. Cars are already expensive and when a manufacturer is forced to make changes like this, it will drive the price up way higher. It's one thing if there is a federal standard, it's another when you have several.
Case in point: I used to work in a Boeing factory making passenger jets and I learned a little about how airplanes are made. It's fascinating, actually and it's quite the process to assemble one of those gigantic machines. It takes thousands of people to design, build, and staff all the different support functions like safety, IT, hazardous waste, HR, you name it. There's kind of a standard joke on the factory floor that there is no such thing as an airplane. It's just hundreds of thousands of parts flying in close formation
One of the reasons it takes so many people and why jetliners are rather pricey is because they are all made to different configurations or "effectivity" as we called it in the factory. Delta does it a little differently than United, which configures a little differently than American, etc. Sometimes it's something small like door hardware and sometimes it's big, like galley and lavatory placements. There are internal parts that get configured differently as well and different airlines buy different engines. For example, on a 747, you can order them engined with either a set of Pratt& Whitneys, Rolls Royces, or General Electrics. You can even change the entire structure by ordering a cargo jet for some lines. And even that is different. A UPS jet is configured differently than a FedEx Jet. It's an engineering nightmare and it drives the price up. It should be obvious.
We all want things to be "green". We all want good gas mileage. It should be a federal standard.
VW
It seems California always has tighter standards than the rest of the states...in
carcinogens, hazardous wastes, wastewater and auto emissions. Whatever the reasons, the argument you make for one national standard certainly makes sense....
Posted by: BB-Idaho | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 11:50
California already has different standards for automobiles sold there. When researching engine and emission parts for cars, you always have to distinguish between California and Federal emission standards. It's been like that for over 30 years that I know of. Back in 1978 when I was stationed in California, I bought a Trans Am. Since it was a California Car, I couldn't get the more powerful 400 cuin Pontiac engine but instead we could only get a 403 gutless wonder Oldsmobile engine.
Posted by: BobF | Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 12:57