Obama has come out with his fuel economy standards. Now starting in 2012, every car manufacturer will have to increase the fuel economy of their fleet by 5% each year. "The status quo is no longer acceptable," Obama said, warning that the American appetite for oil comes at a "tremendous price." "This rule provides the clear certainty that will allow these companies to plan for a future in which they are building the cars of the 21st century," Obama said. "Yes, it costs money to develop these vehicles. But even as the price to build these cars and trucks goes up, the cost of driving these vehicles will go down, as drivers save money at the pump." These new standards are supposed to att $1300 dollars onto most vehicles. But drivers should make that money back within 3 years with all of the gas savings. These new rules will require fleet fuel effeciency to meet 35.5 MPG by model year 2016.
My Opinion: This is the wrong time in which to do this. The economy is bad, the automakers are having a hard enough time as it is. Every time a president increases the MPG standards, the automakers have more layoffs and more strain on their business. Not to mention that most cars won't be able to get this. The only way for cars to acheive these MPG ratings is for the automakers to put four cylinder or less engines in all of their vehicles. Four cylinder engines get good gas mileage. My sister's 2000 Camry gets 34 on the highway, it was rated at 30. However, there are two problems I have with four cylinder engines. First, in trucks, they would be useless. Most four cylinder engines have no power until at least 4000 RPM, so in a Suburban, you would have to redline you engine just to get on the Interstate. If you pulled a trailer, you would have drive in a gear low enough to get the RPMs up to pull the trailer. Now, all of that redlining in a truck might get better mileage than a V8, but it will cause increased wear in those engines, causing more to be in the junkyard. Also, having to drive a four cyinder engine hard will not get you amazing gas mileage. So this is a bad time to do this. Yes, it might save money at the pump, but it is hard to shell out $1300 more at the car lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment