America's energy policy boomerangs on Big 3

[muesa]

Check out the listings on J.D. Power and Associates' Web site for the 10 most fuel-efficient cars (www.jdpower.com/autos). You'll find Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda, Kia and Scion -- but no American auto manufacturer.

Therein lies the dilemma confronting Ford, which has announced that 30,000-plus workers will lose their jobs as the company continues to hemorrhage money. Corporate shortsightedness, reinforced by a feckless government energy policy, has helped create the crisis facing U.S. automakers.

Events since Sept. 11 have made evident what should have been clear since the first Arab oil embargo more than 30 years ago: America should not depend on oil imported from unstable or unfriendly nations. Petro-dollars are fueling the nuclear ambitions of Iran, the oversize ego of Venezuela's president, Wahhabi fundamentalism in Saudi Arabia and unrest in Nigeria. Political instability and growing demand will create hyper-reactive oil prices.

Foreign automakers invested in hybrid engines and small, fuel-efficient cars, while GM and especially Ford continued to push super-sized cars and gas-gulping SUVs -- only to act surprised when brand loyalty vanished as gas prices soared. Now, stockholders and workers will pay deeply for the disconnect between what customers want and what Ford can turn out on the assembly line.

The editorial notes that throughout the '80s and '90s, Detroit fought efforts to raise fuel-efficiency standards that would have forced car makers to hasten the development of fuel cells, biofuels and other new technologies. Now-ousted CEO Bill Ford Jr. committed to make Ford the green carmaker, but didn't deliver. The Big Three have sued to stop California from demanding that cars also reduce carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming.

The editorial further observes that Detroit found a friend in President Bush, who believes cheap oil is a birthright and who made exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a priority. Asked a few years ago whether the nation needs to change its lifestyle to address the energy problem, press secretary Ari Fleischer answered: ``That's a big no. The president believes that it's an American way of life, and that it should be the goal of policy makers to protect the American way of life.''

[BlueJazz]

1. Reminds me (so very Much) of a certain Photo Company (K).....

...that told me 5 years ago that:

"Oh..Common Digital Camera use is YEARS and YEARS away!"

Ignorant fuckers....

[Warpy]

2. The big 3 make cars with decent mileage

Not the best, but certainly acceptable. The Scion is one, the Focus another. They're decently built little cars, good cargo room, and should be quite competetive, EXCEPT: the big 3 are stupidly refusing to promote them.

They're desperate to relieve themselves of the huge inventory of gas guzzlers, so the cars that could be and should be their bread and butter are languishing in obscurity. Most folks don't know they exist.

That's why the damned fools are in such big trouble. They blew their advertising budget on dinosaurs while letting foreign manufacturers sew up the fuel efficient car market.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

[robertarctor]

3. The Scion is a Toyota product, not a Ford

No Mazdas on there? That's Ford ...

[Dover]

6. I'm so sad about the new American ownership of once decent companies

like Mazda. One of the best and most reliable cars I ever owned was a Mazda 626 hatchback. The mileage was good too.
After that positive experience, they could have had me as a customer for life. But now? As far as I know they don't even have a fuel efficient car in the pipeline. Maybe that was the plan...to 'eliminate' the competition by buying them out and sitting on them. If so, that plan has failed. Though Mazda is no longer an option for me, people aren't rushing to buy American cars.



This is the European version of the 626

[ewoden]

4. The big 3 have nothing to do with Scion

It's a Toyota product.

This is a replay of the mid seventies. Big three made Torinos, Satelites, Chevelles guzzling gas. Yoyota, Datsun and Honda made fuel sippering Corollas, 1600s and Civics. Corporate memory at Ford Chrysler and GM is pathetic or criminally in denial. Americans losing jobs because the top management can't plan their way out of a paper bag and appear to focus more on their golden parachutes and private portfolios than the good of the company in the long run.

I'd wish them all into the ground if it wasn't for the fact that it means wrack and ruin for a whole bunch of little folks.

[Warpy]

5. Funny, I thought it was one of the big 3

no matter who actually made it, because that's who's selling it in this town.

I agree about big 3 management. They are even less competent than the present administration in Washington.

What I remember about the 70s is the way they finally rushed little cars onto the market after losing their shirts on the land barges. The cars were poorly engineered, poorly built, and generally pieces of automotive crap.

Most folks don't realize the little cars have gotten better, mostly because mangement is stupidly still pushing the gas hogs.

[ewoden]

7. Ahhhh Pintos and Vegas

One a Ronson on wheels, the other a rust bucket in a matter of weeks.

The Pinto's drive train was European Ford and not a bad set-up. heck formula ford racing was based on these engines and trannies. But the car is was butt-ugly, way too heavy for the HP, and putting that gas tank right in harm's way was criminally stupid.

Vega looked good off the showroom. Actually not a bad looking body design. Two major flaws: One was cheap steel combined with antiquated weather sealing materials meant rust faaaaast. Then other was an aluminum block engine with no cylinder linings, within a year, all Vegas were huge oil burners. Pontiac's Astra had the sleeved engine which was far more durable, it still rusted like the dog was peeing on it though.

Those little Scion Xa and Xb cars share the same engine, tranny, and running gear as the Topyota Echo (computer is diffeent though). for their size they are ok on gas. I still for the life of me can't get my mind around a car with 1.5 liter displacement not cracking 40 mpg. Jeeze Japanese cars routine flirted with those numbers iin the 70's and the 80's. Guess American thirst for HP and a repeal of the national 55 has had a negative impact on the frugality of these little cars.

[Warpy]

9. Yes, absolutely

Even my little Korean econobox will only do high 30s on the highway with the AC off. It's nice not to have to shift all the way down to second gear on one particularly bad hill between here and Santa Fe, though.

All the cars are so incredibly inbred to make the name on the boot nearly irrelevant. I had a Dodge Colt that was a Mitsubishi. Kias are now Hyundais.

I had a Vega in the 70s. It was a castoff from my parents. I paid a dollar for it, and that's about what it was worth. The rust wasn't that bad, but the engine ate itself within months.

One of the worst things the pubbies ever did was repeal the 55 mph speed limit. Yes, some of the roads out west are boring, but they're just as boring and twice as dangerous at 75.

[razors edge]

8. maybe oil policy was to

drive the big three into bankruptcy in order to free them from union obligations, while all previous profits were protected in out of country investments.