Car companies that don’t meet the government’s gas mileage targets must pay hefty fines, which then gets factored into the price of cars. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:
“Penalties” are what you’re forced to pay when you’ve done nothing wrong – as opposed to something criminal. Like selling cars to people who wanted to buy them that use more gas than the government says they’re allowed to.
Stellantis – the corporation that currently owns the Dodge, Jeep and Ram truck brands – was recently “penalized” by the federal apparat to the tune of $235.5 million for doing just that. The “penalties” were imposed because Dodge, Jeep and Ram vehicles sold during the 2018-2019 model years didn’t comply with the apparat’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) decrees regarding how many miles-per-gallon a vehicle must go, irrespective of how little the buyer cares.
“The EPA said in December Stellantis had the lowest real-world fuel economy among all major automakers, at 21.3 miles per gallon on average in 2021,” according to a Reuters news story about this business.
Well, so?
Was anyone forced to buy one of these offending vehicles? As opposed to the force being applied by the apparat to force them off the market?
As the Reuters story explains, the “penalties” for “non-compliance” have tripled (to $15 for every 0.1 MPG of “non-compliance,” up from $5.50 before the Biden Thing was selected resident).
The MPG decrees have been coming down since the ’70s and are nearly double now what they originally were, approaching 40 miles-per-gallon and on track (because of newly hurled decrees) to ascend to 50.
“In April 2022, NHTSA sharply boosted fuel economy standards, reversing former President Donald Trump’s rollback of U.S. regulations aimed at improving gas mileage. The organization raised fuel efficiency requirements by 8 percent for both the 2024 and 2025 model years and 10 percent in 2026.”
This effectively out-regulates (as distinct from out-lawing) most of the vehicles Stellantis (and not just Stellantis) sells.
Or rather, that sell well.
