Quote:
Originally Posted by tcampb01
A consumer-driven system would change the buying mindset to the point where one of the first things buyers think about is fuel economy (of course $6/gallon gasoline would probably have a pretty big impact too). Manufacturers would be forced to respond... as a primary design goal of all vehicles would end up being fuel economy. If I'm brand 'A' and I can build a car that gets 5 mpg better economy than any model built by brands 'B', 'C', D', and 'E', then I'm pretty much guaranteed a very high product demand and some very nice growth in my stock value to shareholders.
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I dunno if you were thinking $6/gallon as priced by the market or via a gas tax, but the latter would be the ultimate way to tie consumer behavior to fuel economy. Yes, I know the first member of congress to propose it would be burned at the stake, but it would even affect driving behavior within the same vehicle class. If you can tease 20mpg out of your Lincoln Navigator, you save money. Like to thrash your hybrid and run at max A/C? You pay more at the pump. In the meanwhile, the gov't brings in some more revenue.