High Gas Prices Ahead: Efficient Cars Wanted Says Poll

November 19, 2006 – Vol. 11 No. 35

HIGH GAS PRICES AHEAD:
EFFICIENT CARS WANTED SAYS POLL

General Motors is surviving on its finance division. DaimlerChrysler gets by on its never ending flow of new, over-styled cars and trucks. Ford? Who knows what’s keeping that company alive. It’s too old to die, I suppose.

It’s not just the lack of fuel efficient cars that’s hurting what was once called America’s Big Three. It’s things like health care and legacy costs.

What’s the cure for America’s failing domestic auto industry?

A national universal health care system that will remove those costs from car companies’ accounting books. (But that sounds like socialism to some in Washington.)

Start selling here - and building here - the same cars and trucks the companies market outside the US: The diesels that could run on biodiesel; the mini-mini vans; the utilitarian but downright useful small trucks and delivery vans; the micro urban cars which only DaimlerChrysler has the guts to sell. (Its Smart cars are headed to US shores in a year or so.)

If there’s some rule changing needed on emissions and crashes to get those cars across our borders, Washington needs to hurry up and get it done.

According to a new survey commissioned by the Civil Society Institute (CSI), similar sentiments are felt by most Americans.

When asked the question: “Do you think Detroit carmakers should be encouraged to make available here at home the more fuel-efficient cars they are currently only selling abroad?” 90 percent said yes and 60 percent said definitely yes with responses nearly equal from both sides of the political aisle.

When responding to the statement “President Bush and Congress should provide incentives -- such as helping to lower health care costs for autoworkers -- in exchange for increased investments by Detroit car makers in fuel-efficient technologies to reduce energy consumption and related global-warming pollution." Two-thirds said yes including 60 percent of Republicans and 75 percent of Democrats.

And do Americans think their homegrown auto companies have their heads in the sand when it comes to car design, 76 percent said yes to this statement: "Do you agree or disagree that US automakers have generally been blind to US consumer needs and tastes by focusing so heavily on fuel-inefficient SUVs and trucks while European and Japanese automakers have focused their efforts on vehicle design and/or improved fuel efficiency?"

The survey also showed that the majority thought that gas prices were temporarily low, that they’re still thinking about buying a fuel efficient vehicle, think that greater fuel efficiency is important for our national security, that Washington should mandate a 40-mile-per-gallon fuel efficiency standard, and that a portion of existing gas taxes should be pumped into energy research.

The poll of over 1000 was compiled by the well-respected Opinion Research Corporation and is available through the Civil Society Institute at http://www.civilsocietyinstitute.org/