Chrsyler tech,

Here’s the story from USA Today…I think it was also on CNN'S News:

Carmakers lean toward higher gas tax to fuel small-car sales
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Yahoo! Buzz Digg Newsvine Reddit FacebookWhat's this?By Sharon Silke Carty, USA TODAY
DETROIT — The auto industry is warming up to the idea of higher taxes on gasoline to force buyers to keep considering fuel-efficient and small cars.
Automakers have shifted dramatically to production of small cars and expensive fuel-saving technologies partly to meet looming stricter government fuel-economy regulations.

The carmakers acknowledge that raising the gas tax is an unpopular idea, but they also saw how fast consumer preference shifted toward small cars when gasoline prices topped $4 a gallon last summer. Without that economic incentive, the tide is turning back to bigger cars, crossovers and trucks.

And that could be a problem for automakers such as General Motors, (GM) which are investing millions to get fuel-saving technology on the road. At the North American International Auto Show Monday, GM CEO Rick Wagoner said taxing gas or providing rebates on fuel-efficient cars "is going to be the most effective way to move the needle fast."

Gas now is taxed at the federal level at 18.4 cents a gallon. States tack on their own taxes, as do some metro areas. But the total pales in comparison with what European drivers pay. Taxes are about 60% of the pump price in Europe — pushing fuel prices as high as $6 a gallon now.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Europe | General Motors | Toyota | Prius | International Auto Show | GM CEO Rick Wagoner | Mike Jackson | AutoNation
Automakers want to be able to charge premium prices for their smaller cars to make up for profits lost when sales of high-margin trucks fell off a cliff. They also must cover the cost of fuel-economy-related hardware and materials needed to meet federal rules — as much as $1,000 a car.

The issue could be crucial even for Toyota, considered financially stronger than the U.S. automakers. On Monday, Toyota unveiled the new Prius hybrid, which will get more than 50 miles per gallon in the city and is coming to the U.S. this summer.

Bob Carter, group vice president and general manager of the Toyota division, says consumers respond to gas prices: When they're high, Prius sales are strong; when they're low, Prius sales fall.

That doesn't surprise Mike Jackson, CEO of car-shopping site AutoNation, who has pushed for higher fuel taxes for more than a year. He says consumers talk about wanting fuel-efficient cars but don't buy them until gas prices are sky-high.

"We watched the consumer stampede to fuel efficiency in May, and now the herd is getting ready to stampede back to their old ways," says Jackson. "We have the most unbelievable technology around fuel efficiency, but no one will buy it if gas prices are this low."

 

Wow, are people just puppets or what? I think that the Big 3 have forgotten that we need big vehicles, some of us use them for pleasure, but some of us need them EVERY DAY. Have you ever tried to pull a 10000lb+ trailer that holds all yourtools, with a Prius?? Jeeezzz

 

Exactly Al B,


Congress doesn't get that either !
And it is and has been in control of the Dem's. who all of these people believe are there for them !
Man, that is a mis-conception!

Just look at how they talked down to the Big 3 CEO's !

Barney Franks and the rest of the crook's in Congress and Senate has the nerve to point fingers at the Big 3???

If those crook's weren't the crooked crook's they are,,, the whole country would not be in this mess!
And it never would of gotten this way with the Big 3 in the first place! At least not to this extent!

 

moe in wichita ks
granted i have NOT read all the posts, but the first post caught my eye.
car copanys want higher gas taxes? why would higher gas prices make you want to buy ANY car? makes NO sense on any level. i will have less money, ect. have you ever crunched the numbers to see if buying a new car saves money, over keeping old.