The Obama administration is proposing new rules that would label each new passenger vehicle with a letter grade from A to D based on its fuel efficiency and emissions. The measure is part of Obama's plan to promote electric cars and other advanced-technology vehicles.
Regulations of this sort will eventually force companies to adapt to a market that is becoming increasingly concerned with finding alternative fuel options to the highly pollutant and increasingly expensive gasoline.
In the past few years the market for hybrid cars experienced a boom. Consumers seeking these cars were either concerned about the environment or with the price of gasoline, but with gasoline prices relatively stable over the past year sales of SUVs and crossovers rose nearly 21%. The question now is: would the government’s plan to grade cars based on its fuel efficiency and emissions help boost the sales of “greener” cars even with the price of gasoline remaining relatively stable?
Article used: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703369704575461602043868916.html
ReplyDeleteInteresting take on the WSJ article. I think this idea is silly. American consumers aren't stupid: They don't need a letter grade to tell them if a car is efficient or green. By the way, I doubt hybrid sales would have been so huge if the US Government tax credit wasn't in place. People ultimately choose the car they want if they can afford it. A tax credit, at the expense of every American taxpayer, was the only thing keeping hybrids from landing on the trash-dump of history along with the GM EV1.
ReplyDeleteFelipe, please include your thoughts in your past, not just the article's summary!
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