Quote:
Originally Posted by Diesel_Dave
If a manufacturer can make a vehicle that gets better mileage at the same cost as their competitor, they'll sell more and make more money. Manufacturers already have the ability to increase fuel economy--it's just that it increases the cost more than the consumer would like to pay. All the regs do is force the customer to accept a more costly vehicle than they otherwise would.
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Dead wrong. Sure, manufacturers could build cars with much better fuel economy, and many people would buy them if left to themselves, as they did in the '70s and '80s. But (excepting a few like the Prius) manufacturers don't WANT to build cars that get good fuel economy. They would much rather build gas guzzlers, and spend billions on advertising to convince people to buy them.
As for having to pay for things we don't want... Well, I don't want power windows, remote-control door locks, GPS units, "infotainment" systems that interface my car with a cell phone, or a number of other things that manufacturers add to cars without being forced to do so through regulation. But (unless government intervenes) it looks as though I'll be stuck with all of those, and with paying for them.