NOV 09

35mpg by 2020 is too long. They and the government can do better than that.

A target of 35mpg is pathetic, America needs to catch up with the rest of the world.
50mpg by 2020 should be an easily achievable figure, 35mpg is just lip service.

Imagine if ... the auto companies took the millions wasted on lobbyists and lawsuits and poured it into R&D and design ... hmm ...

Our family car already gets 50 mpg -- how can we settle for 35 mpg by 2020?

35mpg is beyond pathetic; it's embarrassment to this nation.

Whatever happened to the America that wanted to be #1 in everything, smashing the records of every other nation before us? We should be aiming for 100mpg by 2020, not the disgraceful 35mpg that this target set.

If we're only averaging 35MPG in 2020 then we're hosed.

We'd better be averaging 35MPG by 2010. The goal should be at least 70MPG by 2020 and definitely more public transit.

I have signed it! It's true: the auto (and oil) lobbies don't speak for us!

Lorenzo Rambaldi
www.energyislife.org

35MPG by 2020. Is this a joke? I drive a non-electric, non-hybrid car that does 42MPG and if want to drive a small diesel car, you can get 65MPG!

So how about 50MPG average by 2020 and banning all cars that do less than 20MPG!

The VW lupo did 80MPG and this is a car that was made 9 years ago! So by 2020 it should be possible to have 100 MPG cars.

There is one easy way to initially increase fuel economy. However, you won't like it. Currently, the engines have to run hotter in order to operate the Catalytic converters, this means more fuel consumption. Elimination of Catalytic converters would allow for a more fuel efficient operation of the engine.

Better economy isn't the answer. The less the fuel cost the more people will drive to use their spare capacity.

We need to get away from the oil industry altogether. I don't own a car. I never will, as long as oil is the only choice to fuel it.

Great!!! let's make it 100 mpg!!!by tomorrow....OPEC will just slow production to match demand gas will still cost the same!!

The now nearly constant failure of the government in the US in all regards is just one more sign that it has become obsolete and needs to have a major overhaul to stay relevant.

I cannot remember once in recent history that the government did something for the good of the country and its people over the interest of big business.

We may as well go "All electric by 2020." We have plenty of coal in the continental US and the scrubbers on power plants are very efficient at removing harmful gases from their smokestacks (especially when they're using low-sulfur Powder Basin coal). I say, let's push electric cars/trucks/buses/trains, so that the only thing we have to run on petroleum is our planes and ships.

And before anyone scoffs, take a tour of a coal mine. They have on-site power plants and power all of their vehicles with electricity. If a 240-ton dump truck can run on electricity, everything else can.

My 1994 Ford gets 38MPG, 35 in 2020 is only about 30 years too late.

Go Tesla Go!!! All electric is THE way to go!

http://www.teslamotors.com

35 MPG by 2020 is indeed ludicrous and we already should be there. It should be no less than 35 MPG by 2010, 50 MPG by 2015 and at least 65 MPG by 2020 or even other methods of powering transportation.

I signed even though I think it is to little.

Every car in my family does ~35mpg, so I think this website is just a joke to make people mad

really? ... really really?

Stop whining about the actions, or lack there of, of the US Government. Why should they regulate this. People can get the new explorer hybrid (according to the commercial I just saw) that can get 34 MPG, or they can get a regular version that probably gets 20(?). Most will still chose the standard version. Yet if people only bought the hybrid, then Ford wouldnt have any reason to make the standard gas-guzzler. SOOOO, why not stop whining about the government regulations and get the consumers to make these choices.

-just like LOL said, all the cars in this household already achieve 35 MPG
It's called DIESEL!
the oldest one is an '88 Diesel Jetta that gets around town (at a minimum) 37
THAT IS FROM A NEAR 20 YEAR OLD CAR....
Sorry to say but as for fuel thrifty cars Americans are morons, but why shouldn't they be with the price of fuel so low...

1908: Ford Model T. 25 miles per gallon. 1913: zero-point energy proposed. Apparently we've BACKTRACKED in technology and no one realizes it. no need for fossil fuels of any kind since the '40s. catch up.

my 2003 Acura RSX already gets 35 MPG even though it's only advertised as 33 MPG.

What's wrong with your government; today as we speak the development of electric cars is advanced enough that by 2020 we should all should be driving electric. Doesn't your government read the scientific journals or even the popular mainstream press?
What your government and mine for that matter should be looking seriously at ways to soften the blow when the gas powered cars are no longer needed or hopefully no longer legal.

Are the big car manufacturers so berefit of ideas and options that they can't do what the Japanese and Europeans can create right now?

Or is the reality that American people themselves are not prepared to give up their hummers and SUVS for more efficient vehicles?

Maybe instead of beating the automakers the American population should look at their buying habits and beat up on each other.

Otherwise just triple the petrol price, that will force them off the road.

Sure you can do it, but first you have to WANT to do it.

35 MPG by 2020 is an absolute joke! 35? Thats just disgraceful. Auto executives need to be fired! 50 or 60 is much more realistic. Maybe 5000 pound "luxury" vehicles need to be taxed out of existance.

I have seen a F-350 Superduty diesel 4X4 crew cab with an 8 foot bed getting 28 MPG on the highway. That is a 11,000 pound vehicle. That truck has less than $2000 of modifications made to it. It had 607 HP and 782 pounds of touque. THe emossions were cleaner that they were from the factory. We don't have to make cars smaller, we just have to get busuness to build cars that are designed not to eat as much fuel as you can shove into them. I would be willing to bet that the US auto makers could in less than 5 years have the same size and same performance cars we have today and pull off 40 mpg if they were willing to.

I'm willing to bet that if there were a fuel tax of 87 cents in the dollar you'd get 50MPG inside 2 years, and the government could clean up on the revenue.

I had a Datsun 210 mpg that got 37 mpg in 1983. I have been waiting for an American hydrid biodiesel-electric for three years now. I give up!

I live in Europe (Portugal) and drive a Citroen Saxo, a small french compact car.

It has a 1.5L Diesel engine and does 75Km/s with 3,78L of Diesel... which means 46Mpg (correct me if I'm wrong, but I did the math).

35Mpg in 2020? I can't express how sorry that makes me feel towards the American people that keep on being fooled by a corrupt, corporate driven governament that cares with nothing else then making the more money.

Is it 1980? I only ask because I have a 1989 Ford Capri that returns 37MPG and has a 0-60 time of just over 10 seconds. I also have a 2004 Ford Mondeo 2.0 Turbo Diesel that returns over 50MPG and has a 0-60 time if just over 10 seconds.

In fact, most 2 litre European/Japanese cars can return 40MPG or more. So what are the USA doing wrong? How come the rest of the world can produce cars that accelerate quicker and use half as much fuel from an engine half the size?

It's 2007, not 1907. Please try to keep up.

Audi build the A2 from 1999 - 2005. If it was possible to build that 8 years ago, something better should be possible by now.
PS: There is a Eco-Variant of the A2, which runs 60mpg.
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_A2 )

You would have to be legally brain dead not to sign your support and name to save our spaceship earth.

I think an AVERAGE of 35mpg is a reasonable goal by 2020, considering all the SUV's and trucks sold. The key here is efficiency, which means SMALLER cars and trucks. Convincing a lot of people to do that is going to be hard, especially since domestic cars tend to be cheaper than their more fuel efficient foreign counterparts.

And no matter what anybody says, electric cars are still bullshit. Not only are you just displacing the pollution, but your loosing energy in the process. The state of today's battaries makes long term use impractical, they wear out in less than 10 years. So all you out there with Priuss, have fun when your $2k battery dies. I'm sticking with my 91 CRX that gets 36/46 mpg with a more powerful engine than stock. Light weight ftw!

Cars TODAY can achive MPG of over 50 MPG for prices that are similar to the cost of the large SUVs that everybody drives. Electric cars just divert the problem they do not help. The goal of 35 is a start but it is not nearly enough. The oil companies should be taxed for all the carbon mine and thta taxed should be used to make the more expensive capital for more efficient vehical more affordable.

**And no matter what anybody says, electric cars are still bullshit. Not only are you just displacing the pollution**

Not quite. Electric power plants are extremely more efficient and less polluting than gasoline or diesel car engines per energy unit. This more than compensates for losses in conversion and transmission of that power. There is no comparison.

An average/target of 35mpg... the American car industry needs to catch-up with the rest of the world. I sold my gas-guzzling MPV cause it hit less than 35mpg in economy driving. My new Panda (Fiat 2005 plate) was driving at 70mph on the motorway this morning averaging 64.8mpg.
Start charging UK prices for gas (approx $9 per gallon) and people might start buying fuel efficient cars. Who needs a big car in the town/city if only one person is in it 80% of the time?

i believe you will find that the us gallon is 20% less than the imperial one, so its not really 35 imperial,mpg, but nearer to 42mpg.......

Ummm... back in 1993 i had a car (a Dodge Colt, if i'm not mistaken - a rebranded Mitsubishi Mirage but internally the same car) which got about 42mpg on the highway and 30 (or so) in the city.

See this article to understand that 35mpg is a total travesty. It is possible right now to get 60mpg with a hummer, probably 90-100mpg with a small or mid-sized car.
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/120/motorhead-messiah_Printer_Friendly.html

A Ford Festiva use to get around 45 miles per gallon, over 10 years ago.

The reason that the auto-makers don't want it is simple, limited styles to just small cars. If you can never "one up" your neighbor, what's the point of buying a replacement car? While I don't care what I drive, some car buyers live for that attention, and will buy a replacement car just for showing off.

I had a 77 VW Rabbit with a gas engine that got 35 MPG in city driving, while the diesel Rabbit got about 40-45. I think 35 MPG by 2010 is too lax.

Something needs to be done to make SUV owners pay more for driving such wasteful vehicles, like a surcharge based on vehicle weight and fuel economy.

When the American people, in their unfathomable ignorance, reelected an Oil Whore president, did they really think fuel economy would improve in the U.S.? Before W took office, oil was $25-28 a barrel. Now it recently topped $100. Is it any harder to pump out of the ground? Of course not. Look at all the companies like Haliburton and Exxon making staggering profits and ask your question again. Do you see how naive you sound? Once the current administration departs with their portfolios sufficiently fattened, we can get back to issues that will make a difference for everyone, not just W and his croneys.

Our Chrysler Intrepid gets upwards of 45mpg as it is. This is horrendous, why stop making the cars that are actually good?

Who's censoring this here comment?

Oh now it's working, ok then - go here:

http://www.disclosureproject.o...serves.htm

What's "funny" about the scenario described in the link is that those guys holding progress back claim to be capitalists.......not very good at the 'go with the times' and competitive side of things are they.

WTF? It is not now, nor has it ever been the federal governments job to RESTRICT it citizens and REMOVE their FREEDOM.

As many of you have pointed out, 35MPG or more has been possible for decades. If that is important to you, great; buy a high efficiency vehicle. Most Americans would rather have a great looking, large vehicle that goes from 0-60 in less than 5 seconds. That's what they want. Why should the government mandate that they can't have it!?!

(If you are completely clueless: A government regulation on the auto industry does not mean that the companies suddenly pour a lot more money into R&D in order to get more fuel efficient vehicles. As has been pointed out on here, quite effectively, those have been available for years. What happens is that the automakers have to offer bigger and bigger incentives on the fuel efficient vehicles so that people who really don't care about the efficiency will still buy them instead of a less efficient model because it costs less. The companies MUST do this to avoid HUGE fines for having the average MPG of the cars they sell too low, per the regulation. The obvious conclusion is that the native automakers (GM, Ford, Chrysler) will be forced to increase their prices on those gas guzzlers to further differentiate and they will end up selling fewer of those vehicles because they are so expensive. Look at statistics; US auto companies sell a whole lot of gas guzzlers but not a whole lot of high efficiency vehicles; those are purchased from Honda, Toyota, etc. By trying to pass these you will be effectively eliminating the US auto industry. If that's your goal, then this letter is a great way to do it.)

Im all for the new standard, but the car that I have dreamed of is an old muscle car that is irreplacible.The classics:Mustangs, Chargers the part of American history, will this mean these will no longer be drivable?

I currently drive a 2005 Jeep Grand CHerokee limited with a 5.7liter V8. I get a whopping 15mpg city 17mpg on the HWY. I need a big suv to pull my boat and haul everything in. Maybe all of you with small cars are satisified but, if you tried to do any work with your car, it just wouldn't cut it. Its goign to take quite a few years to make a Jeep that gets decent gas milage. Thats just fact. You don't see very many full size trucks or Suvs that get over 20mpg. It will take a few years to get to 35mpg, realize that.

Watch this short video, France has been working on this for 10 years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4

Is everyone on this website crazy? MAKIKNG Americans drive a car that is 35mg plus is nutz. What about the family of 8 that needs to get there kids to church? No 8 passanger van, or Suburban is going to be able to pull down 35mpg, or if it does it will be too $$$ for a family to afford it. This is one more reason for Socialism, maxism and communism to take over America! CRAZY!

35MPG by 2020? That's rediculous! I'm sure we could have those by 2015 at the latest! A 1993 Geo Metro XFI gets 58MPG highway (old EPA estimate, new EPA estimate is 51MPG)! Hypermilers have gotten them up to around 75MPG. A 1987 Honda CRX HF gets 57MPG Highway old estimate and 51MPG Highway new estimate! How many new 57MPG cars have we seen in the past 22 year? Very few, and those we have seen are hybrids. It's pretty sad when new hybrid technology BARELY keeps up with 22 year old technology. I could rant forever, but I think you all get the point. www.gassavers.org Free site where you can learn driving tips and free modifications that can save you gas.

are you people kidding me ? PICKUP TRUCKS SOME are under 10MPG if we get pickup trucks and big rigs to 35 mpg it will be great !