* * * * *
                                        
   But … but … but … it's Europe! And here I thought we were just the greedy
                                     ones …
                                        
> The fuel-economy rules apply equally to foreign brands, of course, some of
> which also specialize in big, powerful vehicles. But they afford themselves
> an out. BMW paid $230 million in CAFE ( Corporate Average Fuel Economy)
> fines from 1983 to 2007 to avoid building small cars at a loss to please
> Washington. Volvo paid $56 million. Daimler paid $55 million.
> 
> Why don't the Big Three take this out? Explains the Government
> Accountability Office, because they fear the political repercussions of
> being tagged with “unlawful conduct.”
> 
> … 
> 
> This year, Daimler paid one of the biggest CAFE fines ever, $30 million—or
> $118 per car, a pittance to Mercedes buyers. By dumping Chrysler,
> meanwhile, it avoided its share of an estimated $100 billion in
> unremunerative investments the Big Three will have to make to meet the new
> fuel-mileage rules.
> 

Via Instapundit [1], “Let Detroit Build Profitable Cars - WSJ.com [2]”

You don't say … 

I really didn't realize that foreign car manufacturers paid the fines for
selling gas guzzling cars in our market, but The Big Three™ didn't even
bother to make marketable cars for fear of being called bad names.

I don't know what this says of The Big Three™, the foreign car manufacturers,
or our own consumer driven demand for large cars … 

[1] http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/64985/
[2] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123069003507444659.html

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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