ex-Texas Ag Commissioner Jim Hightower on Setting Fuel Economy.Standards

[Chuck]

Jim Hightower was Texas agriculture Commissioner from 1982-1991 (thank you laurieaw!)

Jim Hightower - New York Times - June 6, 2007

To be CEO of a Detroit auto company, is it required that you be born without a lick of common sense?

Ford, GM, and Chrysler are losing money faster than rubes playing blackjack in Las Vegas, because the corporate honchos won’t produce vehicles that the public actually wants to buy. Consumers are clamoring for cars and trucks that are fuel efficient, but executives keep rolling out behemoths that guzzle gas while also spewing pollutants that cause health problems and global warming.

Japanese and other automakers have gotten the message and are setting sales records in America with their energy efficient models. Yet our own companies are taking multi-billion-dollar beatings in the marketplace by demanding that customers buy what Detroit wants, rather than what the customers want. Sales of pick-up trucks, which get maybe 13 miles a gallon, continue to plummet, but the geniuses in Detroit’s executive suites are still pushing pick-ups as the core of their marketing strategy.
...[Read More]

[pumaman]

So... what happens when car companies do surveys and focus groups?
Do people tell the manufacturers to build their dream muscle car/truck even though they know it's impractical and they won't end up buying it, and thereby fooling the companies into making them?
Do they get good info but ignore it?
Do they not bother asking in the first place??

[Earthling]

The sad thing is, you can't blame our current situation entirely on the Big Three.

Look how many Americans have purchased gas hogs in the last 10 years, and have paid top dollar for the privilege. It's unbelievable. There is still a large percentage of the population that equates manhood with number of cylinders under the hood.

Harry