[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by Martinjlm

They didn’t have to balance 1/2 ton pickups and full size SUVs (until recently) so they could actually field CAFE compliant car portfolios. Even though Car and Truck fleets are measured separately, there is some sharing of credits across the two. The domestics had actually fallen into positions of using Truck fleet over performance to offset Car fleet under performance. So they gradually got rid of cars that don’t do well in the shadow area scheme (Cruze, Focus, Fiesta).

A germane example of how government intervention invariably 1) distorts the market by moving goalposts arbitrarily and 2) achieves the opposite of the stated goal, ie helping the environment—manufacturers moved towards big, polluting, gas guzzling SUVs and truck because those were exempt or less affected by regulation.