http://www.iht.com/articles/516181.html

Like they havent had enough time. If one of the domestics had asked for this, they woulda gotten crucified. Nothing like a little bullying-the-government to get what you want eh?

 

This is TOTAL BS. I think we should make sure this gets out to CNN and everyone. I think that we should start putting BIG taxes on Imported cars like they are proposing to do with Imported electronics like TV's. Then lets here Nissan threaten OUR goverment with moving production overseas. They would loose a lot of sales.

 

Welcome to the end of rule of law as we know it.

Either ENFORCE it, or SCRAP it. Period.

Time to vote them all out again. Not that it will help, but it might make us feel better for a while.

 

That was more education than I thought!

I thought CAFE covered a manufacturer's cars sold in the US, regardless of where built. I don't understand (and notopening discussion) of why where a car is built it should or shouldn't pass CAFE?

I can understand the 2 senators voting for the waiver to keep jobs in there districts, but on a whole, this just seems to me to be complete beauracratic BS

 

weak

law should apply to either ALL of us, or NONE of us...If nissan has trouble keeping up, then maybe they shouldn't be in the carmaking business

 

It's ironic that GM can sell V8 Cadillacs & Corvettes, used to sell V8 F-bodies, and also sold V8 B-bodies, and had no problem meeting 27.5 mpg fleet averages (the standards haven't changed in 7 years), Ford can sell a slew of various V8 Mustangs, Crown Vics, Grand Marquis, and Town Cars, and Chrysler can bring out 2 ton cars and that out accelerate LT1 Camaros and is poised to bring out 440hp 6.1 liter V8 Chargers, and yet Nissan can't reach fuel economy standards with it's Maxima and Altima without either a waiver or moving production overseas??

Something ain't right here.

 

Excellent point

 

From how I read it Nissan does meet the fuel economy goal with their US made cars (Altima and Maxima). Their problem is with their imported cars (350z and the Infinity line). As it stands now the Sentra from Mexico gets averaged in with the imports. The revised rules will count the Sentra as a domestic thus leaving their imports in the hole.

The idea of moving the Altima back to Japan was so that it could be counted as an import again.

It looks like they have to meet CAFE in two independent fleets, imports and domestics.

 

Sounds like kind of a lame rule to begin with. It computes the averages separately for U.S./Canadian/(soon Mexican)-built cars vs. "imported" cars.

So, if you make almost all of your cars in the U.S. or Canada, you just have the one fleet average. If you make some here and some in foreign countries, EACH OF THOSE FLEETS has to meet CAFE. So, Nissan, Toyota, etc. would be hurting themselves if they moved plants over here, unless they are careful about what vehicles are built in what plants.

The exemption (if I read it right) is because NAFTA changes the "domestic" fleet to include Mexico along with the U.S. and Canada. So, Nissan has been building Sentras in Mexico, where they count as "imports", but now the classification has been changed on them, so they count as domestics.

Obviously Nissan's overall fleet meets requirements. That GM, Ford, Chrysler, etc. did it with LT1s, Hemis, whatever is rather moot, because what matters is where they were built.

It sounds like it was an old law designed to keep the American companies from importing a bunch of foreign cars (instead of building them here) to meet CAFE rules, probably supported by the UAW. Is that right? In other words, the law was conceived long before Honda, Toyota, Nissan, etc. moved much of their manufacturing here (creating jobs, of course). The UAW, of course, opposed this ruling for Nissan (even though the Japanese have created tons of jobs over here - but not UNION jobs).

Does anyone else read it that way? I mean, from a CAFE standpoint, it should not matter one iota where Nissan (or anyone else) builds stuff. If they want to encourage/discourage manufacturing in one place or another, there are probably other avenues (tariffs, tax breaks, etc.) To meet this rule, Nissan could empty all of their plants here, build everything back in Japan, and only have "imports" to meet the CAFE standard. Or, they could move all of their plants here (pissing the union off) and have only "domestics". How hilarious is it, btw, that Canadian (and soon Mexican b/c of NAFTA)-built cars are domestics, but not Japanese, German, Korean, British, etc.? What a freaking mess the regulation of the auto industry has become.

We all know about he similarly ridiculous ability to qualify a PT Cruiser or Dodge Magnum as trucks (so the Magnum is a truck but the 300 C is a car? Hmmm) to play with fuel economy standards however they see fit.

Of course, I think CAFE should be abolished anyway, but that is beside the point... SORRY FOR LENGTH!!

 

My best friend frustrates the hell out of me.

Smartest guy I know, literally a genius, but when it comes to car stuff, he drives me bonkers.

He bought a new 2004 Nissan Altima, because it had good safety ratings (fair enough). When I mentioned that Impala has similar ratings and great quality ratings, he said domestic automakers buy off the govt for the tests and ratings.

When the new side impact ratings came out, and Altima scored a "poor", his response was "Well, what can you do? I'm sure it's ok."

If one test shows the import does well, but then another test FROM THE SAME PLACE shows it not so well, he cherrishs the good report, and literally just shrugs off the other. If the domestic does well, it's fixed, if the domestic does bad, it's because it's a POS.

Then I show him this article on the fuel economy thing, and his reponse is:

"Ya, Because domestic manufacturers get zero breaks themselves. "


Then I say: "ya, ya, ya... scream and moan about the domestics, but it's ok when the
foreign companies get to 'legally break the law'"



He replies: "If I felt like it I could find where GM is avoiding the law too... Hey
I think they should force all manufacturers to fix the gas mileage
thing, but companies like GM and all the rest throw too much money at
the govt because they want their high cost SUVs. Not going here... Too
much work to do. "



And I counter: "How come it's "GM and all the rest"?

Wouldn't it just be "All of them"? Domestic and foreign?"



Sigh... I just can comprehend this attitude which is sooooo commonplace.

 

this sets a REALLY bad precedent. I wouldn't be surprised to see Toyota and Honda follow through if they ever feel like they're in a pinch. not to mention DC, now that its technically a foreign corp.

WOW.