MPG violations cost carmakers

[cincygoblue]

Violations cost carmakers.
BMW leads the way, paying $12M in fines for failing to comply with U.S. fuel economy rules.

Jeff Plungis / Detroit News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- BMW AG agreed to pay more than $12 million in civil penalties to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last year, part of the nearly $32 million in fines paid by automakers in 2005.

BMW paid the money for three separate violations of Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules, which require that an automaker's passenger car and light truck fleets achieve basic efficiency standards.

For the 2006 model year, the federal standard for cars is 27.5 mpg. For light trucks, it is 21.6 mpg.

Makers of luxury models and sports cars have often treated the CAFE fines as a cost of doing business, rather than trying to engineer the vehicles to deliver performance and the mandated levels of fuel economy.

All of the fines NHTSA assessed in 2005 reflected failure to comply with fuel economy regulations.

DaimlerChrysler AG agreed to pay an $8.5 million fine for violating fuel economy regulations, mostly onMercedes-Benz models, for the 2004 model year.

continued. . . .http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...0382/1121/AUTO

[turbotoad]

But...........wait...........I thought GM was the evil corporate dinosaur that builds big bad gas guzzling beasts ! How can this be?! Next thing you know toyota will begin to have recalls of their highly praised vehicles.........huh?........oh, they recalled 1.2 million last year?........The world must surely be ending!

[grandam_man]

Have any japanese automakers had to pay fines such as these? Just curious...

[CarShark]

Originally Posted by grandam_man

Have any japanese automakers had to pay fines such as these? Just curious...

I don't think so, as this appears to apply mainly to the Euros, who have customers that don't really care about mileage. Mass-marketers like GM and Toyota definitely would not want this printed about them. That's probably one of the reasons they come out with high-mileage compact crossovers that count as trucks.

[asim]

Whoa! They actually kept by their word and are charging people.

[usa1]

As much as I am a fan of horsepower, the US government needs to raise CAFE standards in a meaningful way. Increased supply needs to be balanced with decreased demand. We've simply gone too far in the horsepower wars. I'm not saying they kill the industry with the unrealistic increases like in the 1970's, but a gradual increase. The automakers have shown they can meet a static CAFE target, meet ever stringent environmental requirements, and greatly increase horsepower over the years. Increase CAFE standard in such a way that horsepower can be held steady.

Since the current politics (administration) won't allow this, GM should take a leadership roll and offer "high mileage" engines on their car lines. Make these engines a no cost option or a small credit. They don't need to be the base or standard engine. The standard engine can still be a high horsepower motor so the marketing claims about standard horsepower is not lost to rivals. These lower horsepower motors would cost little to develop, nothing additional to manufacture, and if GM offered them across its product lines, it would give them great PR. People might choose a Malibu or Impala with 20 fewer horsepower and 3-5 more MPG.

The product development on these high milage engines would help GM when (not if in my opinion) gas prices spike up in the future. GM could actually, GASP, react quickly to changing market demands.

Mark

[baloo]

Originally Posted by turbotoad

But...........wait...........I thought GM was the evil corporate dinosaur that builds big bad gas guzzling beasts ! How can this be?!

MB's, BMW's and Porsches aren't any less efficient than similar cars, they just don't have any Aveos or Cobalts in their line-up to offset the big powerful cars. It's cheaper for them to just pay the fine than to dilute the brand image with econo-boxes.

What do you think Cadillac would do if they were independent? Exactly the same.

[kenman923]

With the technology out there, you would think they would make cars more fuel efficient.

[01cavalier]

For companies that sell luxury or sports cars, this is nothing new. Like the article mentioned, it is part of doing business. They cater to other things more important to their clientele than MPG.