[DOF_power]

It's about the USA situation in particular, but many things are also true here in Europe.
snip:

RANTS:A new “Green Gap” vexes the auto industry.
Peter De Lorenzo
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And Detroit and the rest of the industry are responding by displaying a kaleidoscope of extended-range electric vehicles, pure electric vehicles, hybrids and plug-in hybrids, etc., to please even the most jaded tree-hugging Senators and members of Congress. And therein lays the problem, because a new and potentially even more damaging “Green Gap” is emerging that’s vexing Detroit and the rest of the auto industry.

Translation? What Washington and California politicians want in terms of emissions and mileage standards from 2016 on vs. what the average consumer will buy and what the technology (i.e., the electrical grid, battery development and production, etc.) can support are such wildly divergent notions that a looming train wreck is developing between expectations and reality.

One unfailingly tedious trait that the Green Horde displays is the remarkable ability to trivialize the impact of technological development – and cost – while skipping right to their vision of The Future filled with Shiny Happy People driving Shiny Happy Smiley Cars that emit nothing but a wisp of a rainbow as they hum along the highway of life. It’s a nice, idyllic pipe dream – akin to a giant bong filled with some of Humboldt County’s free-range best – but it bears little resemblance to reality.

And reality suggests that consumers get all touchy-feely and spout the obligatory green-tinged buzz phrases in focus groups, but when it comes time to actually put real money down on this new technology (that car companies are working so feverishly away on) they balk, as in, “Wait a minute, I want to save the planet and reduce my carbon footprint and all but I’m not paying $5,000 extra for it.” Especially in this dismal economy. Not to mention the fact that there are severe technical and logistical limitations to creating a viable playing field ripe for the variety of electric vehicles that our politicians want to see on America’s streets and byways.
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And what they’ll see is just what I described: a kaleidoscope of extended-range electric vehicles, pure electric vehicles, hybrids and plug-in hybrids, etc., none of which will make economic sense any time soon, or even six years from now.
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Washington and California politicos are great at pushing agendas, making grand pronouncements and then setting ball-busting targets, but they’re not so good at figuring out who will bear the brunt of the cost of their decisions - on the corporate or consumer level - or if the technology is even there to fulfill their grandiose ambitions.
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This new green-tinged “perception gap” is another thing altogether, however, and it has the potential to be much more lethal. Not just for Detroit, but for the auto industry as a whole. When you have people with biased agendas and a blatant disregard for reality making rules, setting targets and writing laws - with no rhyme or reason as to what is achievable or even remotely cost-effective - then you have nothing more than a recipe for total disaster. And needless to say, that's the very last thing this industry - or the economy - needs right now.
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Rants - Autoextremist.com ~ the bare-knuckled, unvarnished, high octane truth...

[Racer Duck]

hard not to agree with the guy. he makes some excellent points.

[Bob Tanner]

DOF, it's even worse than the article states. This wasn't widely reported on but, as of a week ago last Monday, Dear Leader signed onto a new auto mandate which, if legislation is passed, will allow each individual Sate to set it's own Green standards and enforce them, as California does now.

That means that it is conceivable that the auto makers will have to manufacture cars with 50 different sets of Green standards (one for each State)! Kind of kicks mass production and cost cutting right in the teeth, doesn't it?

[DOF_power]

That's bad, really really bad.
But it's not easy here in Europe either.

The emission limits for small cars might be more reasonable (but far from entirely reasonable), but for luxury and/or sportcars models/brands it makes no sense.

And the market is imploding with the worst sales for decades, and according to Carlos Ghosn or Renault-Nissan the european market will need 7 years to reach 2007 production & sales levels.

With lower sales, more costs and no credit it makes no sense.
To make things even worse, the time honored tradition of going racing to refine and/or develop new production car technology is a thing of the past.

It's like the politicians and/or fanatics think there a magic wand to do everything better overnight.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by DOF_power

That's bad, really really bad.
But it's not easy here in Europe either.

And the market is imploding with the worst sales for decades, and according to Carlos Ghosn or Renault-Nissan the european market will need 7 years to reach 2007 production & sales levels.

With lower sales, more costs and no credit it makes no sense.
To make things even worse, the time honored tradition of going racing to refine and/or develop new production car technology is a thing of the past.

It's like the politicians and/or fanatics think there a magic wand to do everything better overnight.

Well, they had imposed abhorrent taxes and environmental restrictions on the manufacturing industry here in the USA, making it almost mandatory to move jobs off shore to Pacific Rim countries. Now they are telling us we should be proud to become a "service oriented country." Do you think the entire E.E.U. could be looking at the same fate?

The only retort I can give for this is: Give me one example of a country, since the industrial revolution, which was a world power which did NOT have an industrial-based economy.

[DOF_power]

>
^ Europe or rather Germany, France and Italy had a much more protectionist approach to the auto industry, with its good, bad and ugly consequences.
European cars where/are more advanced in regards of reduced consumptions and emissions due to both tax reason and till the early 90s the racing connection.

In Europe for most part there where always (much) higher taxes on both cars/engines and fuel witch forced the focus on small displacement and efficient engines and packaging.

The Balestre FISA/FIA era created racing formulas based on fuel efficiency such as the Group C formulae for (sportscar-endurance racing) and the fuel rules for F1. This forced/helped manufactures and their suppliers/partners to develope, experment and/or radically improve efficiency technology.
The positive consequences are seen to this day. But then Mosley came and proposed cut costs and putting the driver back.
And green freaks started to gain political power.