From: greg@cherokee.b23b.ingr.com (Greg Moritz)
Subject: CAFE ratings of 40 mpg ???
Reply-To: greg@cherokee.b23b.ingr.com (Greg Moritz)
Organization: Dazix, An Intergraph Company
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 14:41:02 GMT

The statistics follow - but this just in:
......................................
   WASHINGTON, Nov. 17  -- Leading environmental and consumer
organizations endorsing the so-called Gas Guzzler Campaign at a press 
conference ...  letter to President-elect Clinton urging the new 
administration to raise the current 27.5 miles per gallon federal fuel 
efficiency standard for new cars ... to 40 mpg.
                                     ^^^^^^^^^^
   The organizations said that this could be accomplished by executive 
order of the new president.
......................................
For those who do not know what C.A.F.E. ratings are, the acronym stands
for Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards.  The Federal government in
1974 mandated that the average car sold by any given manufacturer in the
us must meet some minimum standard.

In 1975, that standard was 14 mpg - as of 1990, the std reached 27.5 mpg.

The average is calculated by assuming that a car will be driven a certain
amount of highway and a certain amount city.  For instance, a large car
might get 17 mpg - city, 26 mpg - hwy so it's average would be, say, 23 mpg
or whatever.  A small car might get 29/37 for an ave of 34.  The mix of
large cars to small cars must be such that the average of the seller is
the same as if the seller sold nothing but cars that had an ave of 27.5.

The number 27.5 is *not* a scientific number based on economic or national
security or scientific purposes.  It was politically negotiated.
It is required that light trucks get 20.4 mpg.

There are also Gas Guzzler taxes that come into play if a car does not
meet some minimum (that is raised each year).  GM, Ford, make it a policy
never to build a car that is subjected to the GGT.  I don't know if the
ZR1 or Northstar cars still meet this policy.  The tax is something like
$1050 on a new Infinity Q45.

If the CAFE rating for the seller's fleet drops below the mandate (27.5)
then the seller is penalized something like $10k per car that is sold.
This would amount to a fine of something like $10,000 * 4,500,000 =
$45 billion for a company like GM.  (Don't quote me on the $10k number.
I seem to remember it from somewhere, but I know that it is some onerous
number.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Passenger   Car   Fuel   Economy
  - for the model year (1) 1991 -    
                                   Note: Imports are classified as any
                                   car sold in US that does not have at 
                                   least 75% domestic (N American) content.
    Daihatsu            43.4
    Suzuki              43.2
 
    Yugo                34.6       ___(2) Includes Saab production
    Isuzu               34.2      /
    Ford Imports        34.0 <-- Note: Ford lumps it's Crown Victoria
    Hyundai             32.9    /      automobiles in with the imports
    GM Imports          31.8 (2)       so that their overall higher
    Toyota              30.6           numbers can 'absorb' the 'lower'
    Honda               30.4           number from the larger car.
    Mitsubishi          30.3
    Mazda               30.1           (1) Also, when an automaker 
                                       introduces a car in, say, April of
    Volkswagen          29.7           1992, but calls it a 1993, all the 
    Nissan              28.9           cars sold in 1992, but badged in
    Chrysler Imports    28.8           1993 are used for the 1993 average.
    Subaru              28.2           This trick was used by Ford with 
    Ford                27.7           both the Crown Vic and Escort.
    Chrysler            27.5
 
    GM                  27.2 <-- GM is lower than the required number 
    Peugeot             25.9     because they are using 'credits' from the
    Volvo               25.3     past when they exceeded the requirements.
    Sterling            25.2
    BMW                 23.2
    Mercedes-Benz       22.4
    Porsche             21.1 <-._
                                 Note that we do not find Rolls Royce or 
    Import Average      29.8     Ferrari on this list.  I suspect that they
    Total Fleet Ave     28.3     just 'eat' the fines and pass it on to the
    Big 3 Average       27.4     consumer.  What's an extra $10k here or 
                                 there on a $100k automobile?
    Domestic light trucks   20.9
    Imported light trucks   23.0
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