never in my life, have i felt more angry about a political idea than obama’s recent remarks about raising corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards to 50 mpg by 2027. normally politicians ideas don’t rile me up, but this one got to me. full disclosure: i work for an american automaker. i do not write on their behalf, and in no way are my views intended to reflect the views of my employer or any other automaker.

one part of his energy plan is to raise CAFE standards. force automakers into producing vehicles that average 50mpg. so for each heavy duty truck that works on a farm or construction site, or a large sedan doing taxi work in manhattan that gets 20 miles per gallon another will have to be built that gets 80mpg. while i do not oppose the recent increase in CAFE standards to 35 mpg by 2020, the jump to 50mpg in 7 years later is unrealistic given current and potentially future technology, and shows a misunderstanding of how the car buying public makes its decisions. for those not understanding what CAFE is, read here. now i’m assuming you’re with me. obama is playing with your emotions. today, your car doesn’t get 50mpg; it may just get 20mpg. you feel like you’re suffering. obama wants you to believe that automakers are to blame for cars that have “poor” fuel economy, and that it is their responsibility *today* to give you cars and trucks that get 30 to 80mpg. he believes forcing automakers with the threat of fines will persuade them into building more fuel efficient cars. he wants you to join him in pointing the finger at automakers for not giving you what you want.

up until gas hit 4 dollars, the car buying public was purchasing SUV’s and trucks like there was no tomorrow. toyota, ford, gm, chrysler, the others were all giving you exactly what you wanted. you wanted air conditioning when it was hot, heated seats when it was cold, huge cupholders, leather, etc. those things add weight, making a vehicle less fuel efficient. on top of that, car companies have added airbags, safety belts, reinforced frames, stability control, and the list goes on. what was once a driver side airbag is now 14 airbags that pop out of god knows where to protect you. you demanded to be safe, and you got it. you now need to blame the same automaker that got you the car or truck in the exact color, with all the options and features that you wanted, because $80 to fill up each week is just too much. they should have even warned you, that hey, just think if gas is $4 dollars in 3 years, you’ll be really unhappy you purchased this vehicle.

the automakers are suffering too. if car companies were to blame for not giving you what you wanted, they probably wouldn’t be laying off hundreds of thousands of workers. but their pain is coming from the fact that you now want fuel efficiency to be your primary buying factor. it took 4 weeks for all the automakers to see fuel efficiency is the #1 most important thing on a car buyers mind today. that’s the first time in history buying habits have changed so dramatically and so quickly. before that, believe it or not women were most concerned about the size of cup holders in their vehicle. men bought cars on horsepower. the automakers know there is an issue…that is why they are all now rushing to change the products they sell. the free market, not the government is deciding whether 25 mpg is enough or 50 is more adequate. it’s becoming clear that the government doesn’t NEED to increase CAFE standards. the car buying public has already determined that cars and trucks that get under 20mpg are no longer acceptable, which is why sales of those vehicles industry-wide is down in the range of 30-40%. raising the standard does nothing but put more pressure and less flexibility on car makers to actually build the vehicles that people want.

CAFE is really just a number on a piece of paper. some companies don’t even bother to meet the criteria. it makes more financial sense for them to pay the CAFE fine. those companies as of 2006 are the former daimlerchrysler, volkswagon/audi, ferrari, porsche, and maserati. buyers of those brands wouldn’t buy their product, as they’d have to sacrifice luxury, performance or speed. CAFE fines are also a pittance compard to the losses of american auto companies that range in the billions of dollars a year because they cannot keep up with changing demand. the highest recent CAFE fine was close to $25 million to BMW. using total year results, in 2006, ford lost $35 million dollars a day. for total year results in 2007, gm lost $35 million dollars every 2 hours. 

obama’s bold claim to enact these higher standards is also an insult to tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of engineers who have spent the better part of the last 100 years bending, prodding and cajolng everything they can out of the laws of thermodynamics, while keeping you safer, giving you better “performance,” a more comfortable ride, all for you and anywhere between 5 and 7 of your friends. and your golf clubs. everyone in the industry understands the need for more fuel efficiency. claiming that it can be done with today’s technology at reasonable costs doesn’t understand the economics of the situation. the battery pack in the ford escape hybrid itself costs over $7,000, and the public is barely willing to pay the $3,000 premium on those vehicles. honda discontinued the accord hybrid because people weren’t willing to fork over the $4,000 premium over the standard accord.

automakers like GM can make you plug-ins for $40,000. they’ve also said they plan to lose money selling them to the public. some like honda can give you hydrogen fuel cell vehicles but it will cost you $600 a month, and honda has also agreed to lose money. they’ll lose SO much money making these cars, that they’ll only build 200, and at least one of the criteria for getting one is living in Southern California.

obama wants to punish the automakers for a decision you made. in the end, you signed the lease, or the loan to get a car with 17 mpg because you wanted something big and safe and cheap. chances are, when you bought that car 2-3 years ago, there was a more fuel efficient choice. most every single major automaker (except those in niche luxury markets) has at least one vehicle that gives you over 30 miles per gallon. you DID NOT choose that car for one reason or another. today you’re ready, willing and (maybe) able to choose the more fuel efficient vehicle. and automakers are hearing the call by stopping production of trucks, SUV’s and increasing production of more fuel efficient vehicles.

punishing is not a way to inspire innovation. 12 years ago, it was thought that flying to space needed multi-billion dollar budgets and NASA. a reward was proposed to see if anyone could do it on just a multi-million dollar budget. just 10 years after the reward was announced, there was a winner. a couple of engineers flew INTO SPACE, without NASA and with far far less than a billion dollars. so maybe instead of punishing automakers, suppliers and their employees, why don’t you encourage some others to get involved in the innovation. throw some support around this, maybe?

transportation  used to be simple, cheap and affordable for everyone. it can still be that way with a massive shift in driving habits, types of vehicles and a dramatic and drastic change in consumer expectations about what they will PAY and what they will GET from a car that gives them 45 mpg in return.