Greens vs SUVs

Guess which one loses?

You can tell which way this columnist swings right off the bat: “a symbol of extravagance unchallenged by politicians, emissions standards or common sense”.

Evidently he doesn’t have kids, dogs, soccer equipment, etc… or an occupation that requires a vehicle with enough room and torque to get the job done.

Barack Obama aims to drive gas guzzlers off the road with greener laws

For decades they have thundered along America’s highways and choked up parking lots, a symbol of extravagance unchallenged by politicians, emissions standards or common sense.

They are the four-wheel-drive behemoths known to the US Government as “light trucks” and to consumers as SUVs (sport utility vehicles) — but their easy ride as the world’s most conspicuous mobile polluters ended this week.

In a coup that achieves something President Clinton promised but never delivered, President Obama has forced the big three US carmakers, and their unions, to accept tough mileage rules for cars and SUVs. The rules will cut emissions from vehicles by more than a third over the next four years.

From 2016, new cars and SUVs will have to deliver an average of 35.5 miles per gallon (42.6 miles per British gallon), comparable for the first time with European and Japanese requirements.

The new rules end a notorious loophole in US law by which SUVs were exempt from emissions standards that applied to cars. This made them so much more profitable that at the peak of the sport utility boom, a single Ford plant was generating up to $15 million (£9.8 million) a day in pre-tax profits.

The rules were welcomed yesterday by the industry and environmentalists. The US Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which had little choice but to accept the standards after the $25 billion bailout of Chrysler and General Motors, said they gave the industry “a clear road map” instead of a patchwork of differing state rules.

The Big Three producers will have to spend about $52 billion to upgrade engines, power trains and air-conditioning systems to meet the requirements. The average cost of a new car or SUV is expected to rise by $1,000 as a result, meaning that the future of American motoring depends on consumers’ willingness to pay a modest premium for old-fashioned cars — or a larger one for something very different.

…read the entire article here.

Hat tip to the incomparable iOTW, who says it far better than I could:

The politicians and the rich will be tooling around in their behemoths at 80 mph while you’re fighting for your life in a tuna can with 3 kids crammed into what was once the area of the car reserved for baseball equipment and jumper cables.

Do progressive imbeciles think their policies are going to lessen the gap between haves and have nots? It’s going to widen it.

Rich progressives and politicians cannot stand that many ordinary Americans lived lives that were formally reserved for them. Big cars and big houses are not for the proletariat. Get to the back of the line, out of South Hampton and Martha’s Vineyard, and wait for our marching orders on what kind of lifestyle you will be leading.

I’ll just keep rebuilding my gas guzzler, thanks.