A new proposal by the Obama administration call for attaching a letter grade to each new car for sale, based on annual fuel costs and emissions. The intention is relatively clear; provide an incentive for consumers to buy a fuel efficient car and hopefully move from gas to electric. But the idea of assigning letter grades to cars seems a bit ridiculous, considering that fuel economy and vehicle price are already the most important figures to a consumer when purchasing a vehicle. Still, no one can feel very good driving home from the dealership with a big "D-" attached to their car.
If a consumer needs an F-250 diesel pickup truck, they won't expect to see a rating of B+, and thus will not be affected by the rating system. The same idea goes for the purchaser of a new Toyota Corolla, for example, which gets excellent gas mileage at a low vehicle cost (they will expect to see a high grade) . For these reasons, I feel that it is unnecessary to bring in another government rating system such as the one being proposed (with the intention of dissuading consumers from buying heavy-pollutiong vehicles). Virtually all auto makers have greatly increased fuel efficiency, introduced hybrids, or have made plans to do so. People already demand cleaner vehicles. While I don't think the proposal can do significant harm, I think it's still unnecessary given current demand; competition in the industry alone will make the switch from gas to electric over time. I think the government needs to step back on this one.
Jack Lambrecht
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703369704575461602043868916.html
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