I am posting this from my Caprice mailing list as we have a member that
works for GM in this area. Our hobby and to some of us, our lives are
threatened by these actions. Please read and send along to everyone you
know. Thank you.
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Casey Aldridge
Tempe, AZ
'97 Dakota S/C V6 Hotchkiss'd (GOT BOOST?)
'94 Caprice 9C1 4DR Hot Rod (GOT TORQUE?)
www.users.qwest.net/~caldridge
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========================IMPORTANT: READ
BELOW============================
Message: 16
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 19:06:46 -0500
From: michael.kaczmar@gm.com
Subject: upcoming legislation
Cross-replied to on NAISSO, and MISSL, feel free to post this to the SS
forum, I will tomorrow when I get to work.. I will also forward this to
Fordnatics. Spread this as much as you want.
"I don't think CAFE applies to trucks/SUVs. That's why all the big
powerful motors go into those things now instead of cars, with the
exception of things like Corvettes and Vipers, due to relatively low
production numbers of those cars."
Actually, CAFE applies to all light trucks with a GVW (curb weight + max
payload) of less than 8500 pounds. This means (in GM terms) all light
trucks up to 3/4 ton trucks, and some Suburbans. Avalanches, Escalades,
TRailblazers, Silverados, S-10's Minivans, etc. all have to meet the
light truck CAFE regulation. There are different fleets. Domestic Car,
Import Car, and Light truck... Currently, trucks have to meet a lower
standard (20.7 mpg)than cars (27.5 mpg) but that is under threat... read
below, this is no joke.
"If GM did bring the hot LS1/6 speed Holden cars here, they'd probably
be limited to a certain number of cars a year to keep meeting their CAFE
#'s and I'm sure the price would be higher than the reasonable over seas
prices that the cars currently sell for."
Yep, they are relatively low fuel economy, certainly lower than the
average, so they would in fact be bringing the CAFE average down, but if
the sales volume is kept low the impact is smaller.... but Congress is
trying to raise the required average.. read below..
"I think one of the reasons that trucks became more popular than big
cars was CAFE. It gave the auto makers incentive to put more power and
creature comforts into trucks, and the market followed."
For those of you who know me, you know I work at GM, and am heavily
involved in the CAFE arena, and have spent the majority of the last two
years working with CAFE. Trucks became more popular than cars because
people were tired of being forced into smaller and smaller cars with
weaker and weaker engines. Auto manufacturers did not want to drive
their market this way, but the federal government had imposed this
regulation for them to meet a Corporate average fuel economy. Hence, we
had to make cars that were smaller, lighter, and less powerful to
improve the efficiency. That is all well and good from an environmental
perspective, we have come a long way in making more efficient
powertrains, cleaner emissions, and cars that pollute less than what
your house puts out of your wood burning stove (yes this is true).
People still want a big vehicle, something they can stretch out in,
something with towing utility, cargo utility, something they are not
cramped in.. Well the feds said we can't build big cars, but big trucks
were still allowed.. hence the boom in light trucks... and the death of
full sized RWD cars... we can't build the cars that big, so we started
to build trucks.. it really is that simple, but it is a seldom heard
argument, because the big manufacturers are these big bad fat head
republicans that only care about making money and screwing the
environment... you know, because the idea of being in business is to
lose money..
Vehicle costs have gone up as a result of regulations, technology costs
money it's that simple. We are using palladium in our catalytic
converters (did you know that palladium mining operations have to move
13 cubic YARDS of earth to get enough palladium for ONE catalytic
converter... that's environmental)and we have more than reached a point
of diminishing returns for CAFE and emissions, but the government wants
more. Right now there are several bills in the proposal stage in
Congress. All of them are related to increasing CAFE regulations to the
point that we will NEVER see a car like the Impala SS again, we will get
sucked into buying cars that make the Cavalier look like a limo... I am
not joking.
I have no idea who is telling these politicians some of these things,
but they have gone out of control. "Auto manufacturer, raise your CAFE
by 5 miles per gallon, your AVERAGE, you should be able to do it with
ZERO cost to the customer"... If we had 0 dollar solutions, don't you
think we would be using them already?? .. It's time to let your voice
be heard..
BTW, these regulations will have serious repercussions to the American
workforce, did you know that something like 1 person in 6 has some link
to the auto industry.
Tomorrow, I will be sending out part two of this, and I will be
including information on how to contact your Senators and Congressmen.
This is not urban legend, this is happening RIGHT now. They have been
working on proposals since last spring, and the only thing that stopped
their forward progress was, sadly, Sept. 11th.
You can also contact me at michael.kaczmar@gm.com
Sincerely,
=====
Michael Kaczmar
Creator 91/94 Caprice a.k.a. Frankenstein LT1, T56 3.73....
95 BBB Impala... stock 4 Now.....
53 F-100 5.0, Mustang II, T-bird IRS.....
70 F-100 302, Edelbrock, MSD....
65 F-100 289
see http://www.geocities.com/abbynrml94 project pics!!
Message: 7
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 09:10:10 -0500
From: michael.kaczmar@gm.com
Subject: Upcoming legislation #2
Dunno how my post got withered down to a discussion on creation, but I
am surprised and disappointed at the complacency and lack of response
regard this topic. I do not know if it is the result of too many damn
email-tax hoaxes, but this is a real thing, this is a real threat to
anybody that likes cars larger than a freakin Metro, and this time there
are enough supporters of these ill-focused environmentalists to win the
debate...
Go to www.gmability.com read up.
Find your Senator or Congressmen (both is better) and tell them what you
think. If people do not speak up, then these bills will get passed, and
all of you will be sitting here 5 years from now bitching that GM does
not build big fast cars anymore... If any of these bills pass, I can
assure you that there will NEVER be the opportunity for this to happens
ever again.
If you really gave a damn about what you are allowed to drive, and don't
just like to bitch and moan about what has already happened, then you
would at least react. I am not saying you have to oppose the bill, or
approve of it, but if people spent 20 minutes researching the issue on
the internet than they did downloading car pics and talking about
f$%kin' air filters, these bills would never have a chance..
Here is a clip of stuff I already sent to NAISSO and other lists/digests
Here are the two hottest bills in the Senate right now, look them up if
you like.
Also included are the key points of both bills
S.1926 Hollings-Kerry Senate bill
1) Car CAFE >33.2 mpg by 2010
2) Truck CAFE >26.3 mpg by 2010
3) Includes 8500-10,000 GVWR SUVs [C2500/3500, F250/350 some suburbans
all Excursions]
4) Combined fleet >35 mpg in 2013
5) Combined fleet >40 mpg by 2015
Current regulation for car is 27.5 sales weighted average. Current CAFE
average car that has an EPA fuel economy (straight from the 2001 EPA
fuel economy guide)near 27.5 is a: Ford Taurus 3.0L V6 26.5 mpg Chevy
Impala 3.4L V6 29.2 Chevy Impala 3.8L V6 26.5 mpg Honda Accord V6 Auto
26.96 mpg
Current truck that gets near the current average 20.7:
Chevy Trailblazer 4WD 20.5 towing capacity?? I think it's >5000# Ford
Explorer (previous generation) V6 2wd 20.5 towing capacity?? Acura MDX
(2000# towing capacity BTW) 22.6 mpg
Current car that gets 33.2 mpg average
Chevy Cavalier 2.2L Manual 32.6....
Ford Focus 2.0L Automatic 33.2 mpg....
Current truck that gets proposed 26.2 mpg average
Ford Ranger 2.3L (previous engine, not the brand new engine just
unveiled) Manual trans 26.1
Chevrolet S-10, 2.2L-Auto 24.8 mpg Towing capacity, probably about
4000#
If they include the HD trucks, like the F-250 and Silverado C2500 Hd,
then there will have to be trucks WAY above 26.2 mpg to counteract
them... 34-38 mpg for example. Know what truck gets over 30 mpg right
now? Only the Toyota Rav4... that's a boat pulling, drag some lumber
home for the deck kinda truck......
Keep in mind these are averages, and to balance what is below average
you obviously need things over the average.... If the Ford Focus is
supposed to be the average with the new laws, what is above average???
Other proposals..
S.1923 McCain Senate bill
1) Combined fleet to 36 mpg by 2016
2) Includes 8500-10,000 GVWR SUVs in 2007
3) Eliminates E85 CAFE credit (upon enactment)
The E85 CAFE credit was put in place to promote the proliferation of
vehicles that can run on ethanol (the fun alcohol..<hiccup>), a
renewable resource(remember the original intent of CAFE was to reduce
our dependence on foreign oil) that can be made out of things like
rotten corn and soybeans.. you know all of that stuff that grows for
miles in Indiana, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois etc... A resource that
actually consumes greenhouse gasses (plants eat CO2 remember??) to make
more fuel... Every 4 cylinder S-10 we make can run on it, as can many
Taurus's and Rangers, look for the green leaf on the Taurus on Ranger,
right near the badge... They can run on E85 right now.... The idea of
the E85 credit was to get vehicles out there that can run on ethanol, in
the hopes that it would spurn the growth of the E85 fuel distribution
infrastructure. It is a chicken and egg thing,
Automaker- "We won't build E85 cars because you can't even get the fuel
anywhere" Fuel Company- "Well, we won't distribute E85 because you can't
run it in anything"
So, the law was written to break that chain of logic, and by the end of
2003 there will be an estimated 3 million vehicles that will have been
sold with this capability..... but McCain wants to kill this law..
FYI
=====
Michael Kaczmar
Creator 91/94 Caprice a.k.a. Frankenstein LT1, T56 3.73....
95 BBB Impala... stock 4 Now.....
53 F-100 5.0, Mustang II, T-bird IRS.....
70 F-100 302, Edelbrock, MSD....
65 F-100 289
see http://www.geocities.com/abbynrml94 project pics!!
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