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Automotive News & Views How The 35 mpg Law By 2020 Will Affect The Cars We Will Drive
513 messages, Last post on Jul 03, 2008 at 4:01 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: hpmctorque (May 01, 2008 6:08 am) OTOH, Porsche is having an even bigger fight with the EU over new emissions standards set to take effect there shortly (stricter than those in the U.S., of course). Porsche can't win - all its models are gas guzzlers in the context of global 2020 CO2 emissions standards. Subaru plans to implement the new diesel in its larger models in 2010 or so, which will help. There are plans afoot to bring in a rebadged Daihatsu in Europe to help meet CO2 goals there, I don;t know what they will do in the U.S. It is true that the Subaru fans are howling about the possibility of making AWD optional again, but it is also inescapably true that AWD drags down fuel economy and offers a benefit that few in the southern states will pay extra for. With all the woes Porsche faces (because it sells only one "truck"), I wonder how much trouble this will cause for BMW. Mercedes, of course, is truck-heavy, so they get more of a break. |
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I saw a bright red SX4 a couple of days ago - my first sighting. It looked sharp - maybe it was a tricked out Cobra version because I've never really noticed one before. I thought it was a MINI at first. You aren't the only one to make that comparison. Where I live in Colorado, there is a Suzuki dealer in town and the SX4 (hatch) is becoming a popular vehicle. Every time my wife sees one, she comments on how it reminds her of a Mini. I, personally, don't see the resemblance, but I suspect that the SX4 is, to my wife, "distinctive", like the Mini.
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Replying to: michaell (May 01, 2008 9:48 am) 
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I think if Porsche were to merge with VW, in which it already owns a major stake, that would go a long way towards resolving its 2011-2015 mileage delemna. I also read that Porsche is developing a hybrid powertrain. This may be more appropriate for their SUV and their upcoming super sedan than for their sports cars. As for Subaru, reintroducing an updated version of the Justy might be part of the answer. The Justy was a neat car, by the way. I'd like to see it in the Subie lineup again, with a new 3 cylinder engine. Another solution for Subaru, now that Toyota owns a stake in the company, is for hybrid versions of some models. So, between making AWD optional, the diesel. a new mini car, and hybrid technology, it looks as though Subaru has options. |
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Replying to: hpmctorque (May 01, 2008 6:08 am) Guess who might be the constituency that would have the most expertise in writing rules about automobiles? How about the US auto industry? Look closely and you will see the subtle hand of GM / F / C / T actually writing these regs. Oh they hurt Porsche, Merc and Subaru.... Oh Darn.
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Replying to: kdhspyder (May 12, 2008 2:26 am) Such examples of politics is why there's no GM / F / C / T products parked in my driveway: I vote with my wallet. In the meantime, I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop (or perhaps it already has), where an E85 - capable vehicle gets some sort of "bonus" in the CAFE numbers game. -hh |
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The quoted title, above, refers to an article that appears in today's Wall Street Journal, page D4. The article discusses how the fuel efficiency targets recently proposed by the federal government, which would regulate the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks according to "footprint," would force manufacturers to make some very tough choices, including paying large fines, radically redesigning their high performance vehicles, implementing significant price increases to cover lighter, more exotic materials and new powerplants, increasing the size of vehicles in order to qualify for more lenient requirements for larger vehicles, or discontinuing certain models. Footprint refers to the number of square feet a vehicle covers. For example, the Toyota Camry and the 540 horsepower Ferrari Scaglietti are both categorized as "mid-size cars", according to the EPA, and by 2015 will be required to average more than 30 mpg. The Porsche 911, by contrast, is classified as a "mini-compact car", and should be able to deliver ~40 mpg by 2015. Per the WSJ article, under the proposed rules, by 2015 BMW is supposed to sell a fleet of cars that average 37.7 mpg, while GM's and Toyota's fleet-wide passenger car targets will be 34.7 and 34.6, respectively. The way the government's footprint/mileage curves work, a BMW 3-Series, with its 45 sq. ft. footprint, will need to average 37 mpg, and the 49 sq. ft. 5-Series' target is 31 mpg. One way to move toward compliance would be to increase the size of the 3-Series, but BMW has said it won't take this approach.
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Replying to: hpmctorque (May 13, 2008 10:09 am) Geez, how freakin' big are the light trucks of 2020 going to be?! They're ALREADY a nuisance on the roads at their current size!
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Replying to: nippononly (May 13, 2008 1:57 pm) Yes they could make a huge truck but who'd buy it? It looks like a loophold that the Big 3-1/2 had written in to the regs in the hope that at sometime next decade fuel drops back to $.90/gallon. Not likely I think. |
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