[redpoint5]

Very illuminating. This underscores the absurdity of these seemingly arbitrary targets. Did engineers and economists develop the targets based on what is both technically and economically feasible, or were the targets less scientifically derived?

This is why I'm always saying the way you reduce fuel consumption is to penalize fuel consumption in the form of increasing taxes on it. There's no clever circumventing the rules when done this way. The automobile options would then better reflect the twin goals of reducing fuel consumption while delivering the vehicle types consumers want to purchase.

My useless anecdote is that my grandfather quit smoking cold turkey the date taxes went up on it. People respond to price signals.