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Originally Posted by The_Blur
If you don't like CAFE, deal with the government. Complaining that GM is compliant is not helpful. If GM stood against fuel economy standards, there would be a publicity fight with all the people who support them, and that's bad for business.
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It would be interesting to see how many more people would flock to GM for producing cars they actually want with engines and drivetrains and size they actually want.
Remember when we had CAFE and the car companies figured out that SUVs could skirt the laws by virtue of being classified as trucks? They were much bigger and less efficient than the cars were at the time and what actually happened was that people who wanted a large safe vehicle to protect their passengers and themselves practically jumped over the econoboxes to get their hands on an SUV. I believe if one brave automaker would build a car that people want and sell it at the actual cost (sans the hidden fees imposed to modify buyers choices) they would have a massive hit on their hands.
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This community has advocated weight reduction for a long time. To be scared of getting exactly what we want is ridiculous.
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Weight reduction is good when you can get it affordably, but to add thousands of dollars to the price of a car to get 2MPG more mileage would cost more than the fuel it saves, so it is pointless.
The same weight savings that you get by switching out some piece of aluminum for magnesium (at 50% higher cost) could be accomplished by getting rid of mandates that have porked up our cars to this point. It will lower the cost of the car in the process too.
For example: You can save 10 pounds and $300 by NOT being forced to buy a car with backup sensors and cameras that are required by "law".
You can save 1 or 2 pounds and $50 by deleting the CHMSL as well.
How much does a craptalytic converter weigh and what does it cost?
Cars would be lighter AND less expensive by having less mandatory content. Let people decide which items they buy, instead of mandating them.