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11-08-2009, 08:02 PM
Does anyone believe gas will cost $8 a gallon by 2020, apparently many auto executives are counting on it, to help them sell the newer fuel efficent electric cars.
It's no secret that when gas prices dropped early in the year and with the recession in full swing, hybrid sales saw their first drop in years. Faced with tough new fuel economy restrictions, auto executives had come up with all sorts of unusual suggestions -- such as cutting crash testing -- but now had to puzzle over a new dilemma; what if consumers don't want the higher-priced electric vehicles that they plan to start flooding the market with in less that a year?
At a special Reuters summit in Detroit, numerous auto industry executives are cited as suggesting that the government raise taxes on gasoline substantially to spur the adoption of fuel efficient vehicles. States Tim Leuliette, chief executive of privately held parts supplier Dura Automotive, "In the United States, we're afraid to touch the fuel price. We've got to continue to raise taxes in the United States so that, by the end of the next decade, gas is about $8 a gallon in today's terms."
He adds, "What you have to do is do it in a manner that is slow enough and predictable enough that vehicle selection and choices by people over the cycle can be made in a logical way."
Eight dollars-per-gallon gas? The idea certainly sounds absurd. However, the idea of the government pouring over $100B USD into the auto industry and partially nationalizing GM and Chrysler might have sounded ridiculous a decade ago too.
Mike Jackson, chief executive of AutoNation Inc., offered similar sentiments, complaining, "The U.S. allows the price of gasoline to go back and forth across this line where the consumers don't care about fuel efficiency and where consumers do care about fuel efficiency."
He suggests a near term fix of taxing gas to around $4 or $5 a gallon to help vehicles like GM's 2011 Chevy Volt EV grab marketshare. Jerry York, a former GM board member and an adviser to billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, concurred. He states, "Unless gas is $3.50 or $4 a gallon, consumers are not going to want to buy those cars."
Hearing such pleas for government intervention and taxation certainly seems a strange one coming from the business sector, which normally argues and lobbies for minimal government involvement. However, a growing number of industry executives feel that a $25 B USD advanced technologies loan program and the expensive cash for clunkers program just aren't doing enough to boost the sales of clean autos. The solution, they argue, is for the government to hit consumers where it hurts -- in the wallet.
Some are suggesting tax rebates at the end of the year for customers with hybrids and a food-stamp-like subsidy for poor citizens. But at the end of the day the general message is the same; tax fuel. Concludes Dura's Leuliette, "Energy independence in this country ultimately means that fuel has to be more expensive."
http://www.dailytech.com/Auto+Execs+Urge...e16727.htm
It's no secret that when gas prices dropped early in the year and with the recession in full swing, hybrid sales saw their first drop in years. Faced with tough new fuel economy restrictions, auto executives had come up with all sorts of unusual suggestions -- such as cutting crash testing -- but now had to puzzle over a new dilemma; what if consumers don't want the higher-priced electric vehicles that they plan to start flooding the market with in less that a year?
At a special Reuters summit in Detroit, numerous auto industry executives are cited as suggesting that the government raise taxes on gasoline substantially to spur the adoption of fuel efficient vehicles. States Tim Leuliette, chief executive of privately held parts supplier Dura Automotive, "In the United States, we're afraid to touch the fuel price. We've got to continue to raise taxes in the United States so that, by the end of the next decade, gas is about $8 a gallon in today's terms."
He adds, "What you have to do is do it in a manner that is slow enough and predictable enough that vehicle selection and choices by people over the cycle can be made in a logical way."
Eight dollars-per-gallon gas? The idea certainly sounds absurd. However, the idea of the government pouring over $100B USD into the auto industry and partially nationalizing GM and Chrysler might have sounded ridiculous a decade ago too.
Mike Jackson, chief executive of AutoNation Inc., offered similar sentiments, complaining, "The U.S. allows the price of gasoline to go back and forth across this line where the consumers don't care about fuel efficiency and where consumers do care about fuel efficiency."
He suggests a near term fix of taxing gas to around $4 or $5 a gallon to help vehicles like GM's 2011 Chevy Volt EV grab marketshare. Jerry York, a former GM board member and an adviser to billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, concurred. He states, "Unless gas is $3.50 or $4 a gallon, consumers are not going to want to buy those cars."
Hearing such pleas for government intervention and taxation certainly seems a strange one coming from the business sector, which normally argues and lobbies for minimal government involvement. However, a growing number of industry executives feel that a $25 B USD advanced technologies loan program and the expensive cash for clunkers program just aren't doing enough to boost the sales of clean autos. The solution, they argue, is for the government to hit consumers where it hurts -- in the wallet.
Some are suggesting tax rebates at the end of the year for customers with hybrids and a food-stamp-like subsidy for poor citizens. But at the end of the day the general message is the same; tax fuel. Concludes Dura's Leuliette, "Energy independence in this country ultimately means that fuel has to be more expensive."
http://www.dailytech.com/Auto+Execs+Urge...e16727.htm
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11-08-2009, 08:58 PM
People better get better paying jobs.
11-08-2009, 09:13 PM
2020, It would be my hope that alternative fuel will be in place, which means, yes, $8 a gallon for something in not much demand is very likely.
11-08-2009, 09:21 PM
Stardust Wrote:2020, It would be my hope that alternative fuel will be in place, which means, yes, $8 a gallon for something in not much demand is very likely.
Would it really make any difference on what fuel is used, I mean if they are willing to tax gas, wouldn't they tax whatever fuel source we use, so we would be inclined to purchase the more efficient and profitable models.
11-08-2009, 09:28 PM
The only thing that will reduce the overall demand for gasoline in the short term - and 11 years is a fairly short term - is the continuing dismantling of our economic system. Otherwise, the intentional restricting of the supply of crude oil by our own government virtually guarantees ever increasing gasoline prices. When our government's Marxist policies take full effect (assuming that the ObaPelosi agenda is not thwarted), inflation will soon make us long for the good old days when gas was only $8/gallon.
11-09-2009, 01:23 AM
Wow and to think some people thought it was a good idea for the govt to get involved in our industries to the point they are now.
They will want to push eco-friendly, high MPG vehicles, so they will tax Gasoline to get it there. Ahh socialism, going to be the downfall for us.
They will want to push eco-friendly, high MPG vehicles, so they will tax Gasoline to get it there. Ahh socialism, going to be the downfall for us.
12-10-2009, 01:58 PM
Gas could be $8 per gallon just in a few short years.
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