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Gold/Mining/Energy : Big Dog's Boom Boom Room -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: energyplay who wrote (40162)	3/14/2005 5:52:56 AM
From: whitepine	Respond to of 206338

Regarding energy consumption, I certainly hope the price of fuel (with tax) is the rationing device. The tax on the vehicle is the wrong approach, IMO. Is it the MPG rating, or the distance driven? wp

To: energyplay who wrote (40162)	3/14/2005 8:11:30 AM
From: Think4Yourself	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 206338

I understand what you are saying but am sure you realize you live with a very small subset of the general buying population, a wealthy subset. The car makers sell to the majority as just about EVERYONE needs vehicles. People in the country have even more need than people in the city. Those people want a reliable, maintainable, reliable vehicle with lots of room to haul kids/stuff. They also want a reliable vehicle their local mechanic knows how to fix, has parts for in stock, and won't ream them on price to fix. Many also need a reliable vehicle with the power to climb mountains on a regular basis. High mileage would be nice but there are gas stations in every city and most every village with a population above 100. Did I mention the vehicle needs to be reliable? ;) There is one major difference between now and the 70's when the automakers got whiplashed by that energy crisis. GM can go from design to prototype to production in much MUCH less time now than then, an order of magnitude less. There is a facility near me where an designer/engineer can take his CAD drawing, go into a room and use virtual reality to model a 3D image of a part that floats in front of him. He can easily rotate it to any angle, cross section it, and even turn it inside out if desired. He can make changes to it then and there. He can then walk out the door with that part in his hands. If the government mandates higher mileage vehicles, then three things will happen. 1. Vehicle prices will go up 2. The hand assembled 2006 and 2007 vehicles being test driven around here might never see production. 3. The auto makers will continue to make whatever sells. Right now trucks and SUV's are what people want.