[RustyLugNut]

Originally Posted by davelobi

I don't know what you mean by this.

By 2025 the US Government will enforce a CAFE (corporate AVERAGE fuel economy) of 54.5 mpg! That means sub-compacts all the way through full sized SUVs and Pick-Ups, avreage. This means they will have to sell 10 sixty mpg cars so they can sell one Expedition, Suburban, or full sized pick up. The profits for the manufacturers are well documented as coming from the big trucks and sport utilities. Now they will have to sell more no to low profit cars just to keep selling the ones that keep them in business. They already subsidize the prices of the small cars to keep up with current cafe numbers. 54.5 average is not a reasonable number. How many cars on the road today can claim over 50mpg? Now make that the average with the bug rigs pulling the average down.
It is obviously designed to push for electric and hybrid cars.

The engineers are pulling out all stops already to get the economy we currently have available.
It can be done but it will be very expensive to engineer and build cars to these standards. It will likely be a price well above the threshold that the buyers will be willing to pay for a car.

Look at it another way.. Say you could buy a new car that gets 60mpg but costs $40,000 or a car that only gets 45mpg but only costs $20,000. Which one do you buy? At 12,000 miles per year the 60mpg car uses $700 in fuel (at $3.50/gallon), and the 45mpg car uses $933.33 in fuel. A measley $233 savings per year in fuel cost to be forced to pay $20,000 more for the car? That's less than $20 a month. No thank you!

Sorry, way off topic here but what I'm saying is that the manufacturers really are doing all they can to improve fuel economy. If it helps, they are doing it. Don't get me wrong here, I love eco-modding and hyper-miling as much as many on this site. My wife and kids think I'm crazy for driving so slow, adding air dams, coasting, etc.

You are assuming things stay as they are. Technology will not stand still. And buyer preference may shift. Econo car buyers may be willing to spend a bit more if there truly is an advantage to higher priced bottom line cars. Financing may follow. The truth is, no one can predict with certainty. But, the mandate is in the right direction. And Big Rigs are in a different class and do not effect the CAFE (corporate average fuel economy).