I don’t know whether to file this post under “Transportation” or “Stupidity”. Just in time for our Independence Day celebration, Chrysler has announced they’re bringing in Chinese cars for the US market. Perversely, this may not hurt our balance of trade if the Chinese cars get extremely good gas mileage because we’ll buy less foreign oil to drive them.
But it is sad because US car makers have been whining about how CAFE regulations are “anti- auto industry”. Apparently other countries manage it somehow. When GM says they have “over 30 models that get over 30 mpg” they mean “cars designed and in some cases built by foreign companies.” When it came to their own cars, Detroit spent literally millions lobbying against fuel economy regulations and millions more shaping public demand – often at taxpayer expense, for ever bigger, more profitable (and CAFE-exempt) “cars”.
Factoid; my Dad’s ‘53 Mercury with ‘overdrive’ got 21 mpg on the highway. Detroit is still building lots full of passenger cars that get less mileage than that. As I recall, the first “Declaration of independence” was followed by some sacrifices and a pitched battle to make it a reality. Over two centuries later our once-great car companies will just become brokers for foreign technology, and while the Chinese are selling us goods (and now cars) they’re also financing our deficit spending. We need a different kind of declaration, and a different kind of battle this time.