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What is it that prevents Toyota and Mazda from selling those diesel cars when most manufacturers are already selling pickups with large diesels?

by quasse 12y ago

ptaipale 12y ago
Not sure, but there could be regulatory reasons. In the US there are these funny quotas for having to have so and so many cars below certain fuel consumption levels. And those quotas do not apply to pickup trucks, because they are not cars. This is rather silly, but it's the kind of thing that comes up when environmentalists and industry lobbyists are unleashed among politicians.
- wolfgke 12y ago
  > This is rather silly, but it's the kind of thing that comes up when environmentalists and industry lobbyists are unleashed among politicians. Industry lobbyists - accepted. But why should environmentalists accept such stupid, environmentally harmful laws?
  - ptaipale 12y ago
    It's not easy to see how the mechanisms actually work, but I suppose it happens because those negotiations are more about power games than actual, rational processes towards specific goals. The relevant emission regulations are described in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Average_Fuel_Economy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Average_Fuel_Economy "CAFE has separate standards for "passenger cars" and "light trucks", despite the majority of "light trucks" actually being used as passenger cars. The market share of "light trucks" grew steadily from 9.7% in 1979 to 47% in 2001 and remained in 50% numbers up to 2011." Thus, the very legislation designed to reduce emissions has resulted in Americans buying bigger and bigger vehicles. From Europe, the rationale for this legislation is hard to understand.
bradleyland 12y ago
The article touches on this a bit. The US has stricter anti-smog restrictions on particulate and NOx emissions. The gap is in regulation is narrowing though, so some time in the near future (next 10-15 years) we should have parity in regulation, which will mean parity in market offerings. Until then, the initial purchase cost of a diesel powered car in the US will run higher than the gasoline powered equivalent. When you do the math, your driving needs and ownership schedule (how long you'll keep the car) must meet a specific set of parameters for the more expensive diesel to catch up on ROI.

What is it that prevents Toyota and Mazda from selling those diesel cars when most manufacturers are already selling pickups with large diesels?

by quasse 12y ago

What is it that prevents Toyota and Mazda from selling those diesel cars when most manufacturers are already selling pickups with large diesels?

ptaipale 12y ago

Not sure, but there could be regulatory reasons. In the US there are these funny quotas for having to have so and so many cars below certain fuel consumption levels. And those quotas do not apply to pickup trucks, because they are not cars. This is rather silly, but it's the kind of thing that comes up when environmentalists and industry lobbyists are unleashed among politicians.

wolfgke 12y ago
> This is rather silly, but it's the kind of thing that comes up when environmentalists and industry lobbyists are unleashed among politicians. Industry lobbyists - accepted. But why should environmentalists accept such stupid, environmentally harmful laws?
- ptaipale 12y ago
  It's not easy to see how the mechanisms actually work, but I suppose it happens because those negotiations are more about power games than actual, rational processes towards specific goals. The relevant emission regulations are described in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Average_Fuel_Economy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Average_Fuel_Economy "CAFE has separate standards for "passenger cars" and "light trucks", despite the majority of "light trucks" actually being used as passenger cars. The market share of "light trucks" grew steadily from 9.7% in 1979 to 47% in 2001 and remained in 50% numbers up to 2011." Thus, the very legislation designed to reduce emissions has resulted in Americans buying bigger and bigger vehicles. From Europe, the rationale for this legislation is hard to understand.

bradleyland 12y ago

The article touches on this a bit. The US has stricter anti-smog restrictions on particulate and NOx emissions. The gap is in regulation is narrowing though, so some time in the near future (next 10-15 years) we should have parity in regulation, which will mean parity in market offerings. Until then, the initial purchase cost of a diesel powered car in the US will run higher than the gasoline powered equivalent. When you do the math, your driving needs and ownership schedule (how long you'll keep the car) must meet a specific set of parameters for the more expensive diesel to catch up on ROI.