The Gas Guzzler

       "Detroit introduced the sport-utility vehicle and successfully lobbied the government to label these as light trucks so they would not have to meet the 27.5 miles per gallon standard for cars, but only the light truck standard of 20.7. So we became even more addicted to oil. When i asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, why his company didn't make more fuel-efficient cars, he gave me the standard answer: that GM has never succeeded in telling Americans what cars they should buy. "We build what the market wants," he said. If people want SUVs and Hummers, you have to give them what they want.
       But what the Detroit executives never tell you is that one big reason the public wanted SUVs and Hummers all those years was that Detroit and the oil industry consistently lobbied the Congress against raising gasoline taxes which would have shaped public demand for something different. European governments imposed very high gasoline taxes and taxes on engine size-and kept imposing them-and guess what? Europeans demanded smaller and smaller cars. America wouldn't impose more stringent gasoline and engine taxes, so American consumers kept wanting bigger and bigger cars. Big Oil and Big Auto used their leverage in Washington to shape the market so people would ask for those cars that consumed the most oil and earned the companies the most profits-and out Congress never got in the war. It was bought off."

- Thomas L. Friedman (Author of Hot, Flat and Crowded)

         At first, the Hummer was a good idea, but the idea was very short sided. It was not a very well constructed business plan. They planned on everyone wanting one because of the look and the luxury of the car, but it seems as if they did not think of the other half of the equation. The company did not think of the fact that their car only got about 12 miles to the gallon and after a while, this would become very undesirable to many people.

Interested in Thomas L. Friedman's book?
http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Flat-Crowded-2-0-Revolution/dp/0312428928/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1283486975&sr=8-1