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We have those big vehicles due to regulation. The CAFE regulations for fuel economy take into account the vehicle's weight and the area on the pavement containe
by tropo 7y ago
We have those big vehicles due to regulation. The CAFE regulations for fuel economy take into account the vehicle's weight and the area on the pavement contained within the tires.
Without that regulation, station wagons would still be viable in the US market, and Ford wouldn't have discontinued nearly all cars.
- CydeWeys 7y agoThat's a small part of it, but realistically most of it is that people legitimately do want big vehicles. It's a cultural thing; big is popular. Hell, a lot of pickup trucks aren't big enough for people, and they go ahead and lift them (which coincidentally makes them even more dangerous for pedestrians). But yes, of course it's important to have the right regulations. CAFE regulations are pretty shitty as far as that goes. A much more sensible regulation would be to add a sales tax and annual registration tax inversely proportional to the fuel mileage of the vehicle, which plenty of European countries have done: https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/transport/vehicles-taxation/appropriate-taxes-and-incentives-do https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/transport/vehicles-taxation... But the fact that some shitty regulations were passed with huge loopholes because of lobbyist efforts doesn't mean that better regulations can't (and don't) work.