Obama to Detroit: Drop Dead

[WillowTree]

By Liz Peek
Financial Columnist

Call me crazy, but this doesn’t seem like the best time to add to the host of problems already facing the Big Three automakers. President Obama’s move to allow individual states to mandate their own emission standards is a little like requiring airlines to communicate with air towers across the country in different languages.



There is absolutely no question in my mind that allowing California and other wheezy states to mandate significantly higher emissions standards for the auto industry will drive up the price of new cars. If it were cheap to meet higher targets, Detroit would have already done it

Obama to Detroit: Drop Dead « FOX Forum « FOXNews.com

 

[editec]

It won't just be DETROIT that will have to met the higher standards that California will impose.

I'm probably more sympathetic to DETROIT's problems than most people here, but the big three have GOT to learn to cope with the changing conditions we are ALL facing, too.

 

[Caligirl]

Well, I'll give you this, Obama is pushing a very different set of priorities than Bush did. We'll see how it works out.

 

[indago]

By Liz Peek — Financial Columnist

President Obama’s move to allow individual states to mandate their own emission standards is a little like requiring airlines to communicate with air towers across the country in different languages.

No, it's not. Each State has its own particular environmental concerns. California has a uniquely different environmental concern than Wyoming. Cars being shipped to California can, and have been, outfitted with a different exhaust emission system. Any car operating in California must meet the standard set forth by their environmental emissions program.

 

[Tech_Esq]

By Liz Peek — Financial Columnist

President Obama’s move to allow individual states to mandate their own emission standards is a little like requiring airlines to communicate with air towers across the country in different languages.

No, it's not. Each State has its own particular environmental concerns. California has a uniquely different environmental concern than Wyoming. Cars being shipped to California can, and have been, outfitted with a different exhaust emission system. Any car operating in California must meet the standard set forth by their environmental emissions program.

It sounds like you are not seeing the problem. Let me lay it out for you. It's all well and good for each state to announce their own environmental standards, but the car makers must make cars that can be sold in all 50 states. If all the states have different standards, how can they manage to do that?

Previously, California had an exemption and had higher standards. Fine, the car companies specially made cars for California's extremely large market. But, if Oregon had a separate standard, would Ford make cars for a relatively small Oregon market? It probably would not be cost effective.

So, this puts automakers in a bind. What standard will they be able to mass produce cars for? Of course, the more stringent the standard, the higher the cost of the car. So, they could mass produce for the Cali standard for everyone at say a 10% - 15% premium. Would you like to pay 10% more for your car because Cali set the standard?

Or, maybe they could make three standards for 3 levels of EPA requirements and then try to keep track of where they could ship which level of car in the country. Just reading that you should be able to tell that is a fuck up waiting to happen.

That's the problem. And now you actually want them to MAKE money? HA!