Yup... KT Keller's revenge.
Posted on 03/23/2024 11:10:00 AM PDT by Drew68
How one quick trick in 2012 changed the way America drives—and undermined its climate rules
In less than a decade after that change took effect—between 2012 and 2021—the EPA found that the percentage of new vehicle sales classified as passenger cars and those classified as light trucks has essentially flipped. In 2012, 64 percent of new vehicle sales were classified as passenger vehicles, while 34 percent were classified as light trucks. By 2021, light trucks accounted for 63 percent of sales while passenger vehicles accounted for 37 percent of sales. “Sedans have largely been replaced with taller vehicles such as truck-like sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and crossover utility vehicles (CUVs),” the agency writes. Pickup trucks’ share of new cars sales jumped from 10 to 16 percent over the same period. During that time, the overall average footprint of new cars grew by more than 5 percent.
American autos aren’t bigger because consumers have suddenly embraced off-roading, the construction trades, or home improvement projects. They’re bigger because automakers want to escape regulations. Each manufacturer is required to comply with boutique greenhouse gas emissions standards, which are calculated based on the size and capabilities of the cars in their fleets. Smaller cars are held to different standards than larger cars. So are those with specialty features like all-wheel drive or large towing capacities. By changing the makeup of their fleets, in other words, car companies can change the standards to which they’re held. Those greenhouse gas emissions targets are measured in grams of carbon dioxide or its greenhouse gas equivalent per mile.
As the EPA points out in its impact analysis, carmakers’ shift to larger vehicles has undermined the effectiveness of EPA regulations. The recent, rapid growth in car size, the agency writes, “has permitted compliance under higher numerical standards.” As a result of the increased average footprint of cars, automakers in 2021 could emit eight more grams per mile than in 2012. The EPA had projected the rules it implemented that year would result in average targets that were 22 grams per mile lower than those that were actually in place in 2021. And it therefore projected its 2012 rules would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3.5 percent per year from 2012 through 2021. Instead, the agency found it reduced emissions by about 2 percent per year.
The EPA—which did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication—seems aware of the sweeping, unintended consequence of changing the way that cars are classified. I’ll be writing soon about the ways its new tailpipe emissions rules do and do not address that challenge. On its own, though, the agency’s analysis of how dramatically its policies have shaped the way Americans drive should serve as a cautionary tale for just how influential even the most boring regulatory shifts can be when it comes to long-term emissions.
Just for the recent EV pushing regs to become law.
Just wait for the recent EV pushing regs to become law.
The EPA is not a power the federal government was ceded by the constitution. It needs to be shut down. If everybody thinks it is such a great idea, use the amendment process to give the federal government that authority. Otherwise, it’s null and void.
This guy owns an EV , LOL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIx4RQAsE54
They’ll push the date back on the EVs because EVs are a disaster
And lefties believe the EPA belongs to them regardless of who is in the White House.
Donald Trump hired Scotty Pruitt specifically to helm the EPA and rein in their job killing and financially crippling environmental regulations. Pruitt proceeded to do exactly that. Liberals screamed bloody murder. Trump demanded Pruitt's resignation.
I’m at the point where getting in and out of a low slung sedan is a challenge. Sedans can be a relative bargain compared to SUVs, and there are a bunch I’d like to own, but age has ruled most of them out.
I know the ‘experience’. Recently a friend gave me a short hop in a scooby doo type van and when I got out I plunged face down in the parking lot.
Most modern SUVs are about the same size and stature as 1930’s and 1940’s sedans.
Oh boy am I glad I don’t know what the ‘New Republic’ is. Some news paper or magazine I am unaware of.
Btw your post title reminded me of this song:
Then they got sold, went downhill, and now they have become irrelevant.
EPA rules killed off small light truck sales in the U.S. Imagine the nerve of American citizens not doing what the EPA wants them to! Imagine car companies trying to sell vehicles their customers are willing to buy instead of what the government thinks they should buy! Americans are the worst!
/s
bet you won’t do THAT again...after a night out.
If you are an old timer, then you would remember when station wagons were everywhere, alongside sedans. Then the government intervened with exorbitant fees on station wagons. Then all of a sudden, station wagons disappeared in favor of vans and light trucks that were not subject to the extra taxation. Boom! No more station wagons. Notice now the prevalence of hatchback sedans, and how they resemble the old station wagon? But don't call them that! More government interference and now our builders are pushing trucks on us, and no longer make sedans here.
Don’t blame the car manufacturers on this. The Democrats knew EXACTLY what would happen; this is how they killed the station wagon off.
Perhaps. And I wouldn't be surprised if Detroit are part responsible. The Big Three might have lobbied for tighter restrictions on sedans, knowing the end result would be more people driving truck-like cars that, at the time, the Big Three were better at making (than foreign car makers).
Yes. The only vehicle you can get is Truck or SUV.
E.G GM makes only one normal car - the Chevy Malibu.
There are also Corvette and some Cadillac(s).
Other carmakers lots are similar - Trucks, SUVs.
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