The End of the Hummer Era?

Posted by GottaLaff , The Political Carnival at 2:31 PM on June 3, 2008.

CNN: The average price for gasoline is $3.98 a gallon.

The New York Times is reporting that GM is closing four plants:

Responding to a consumer shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles, General Motors said Tuesday that it would stop making pickup trucks and big S.U.V.s at four North American assembly plants and would consider selling its Hummer brand.

The moves, announced Tuesday by the company chairman, Rick Wagoner, will slash 500,000 units from the automaker’s overall production, and pave the way for increased investment in smaller cars and passenger vehicles. Within three years, he said, trucks will account for less than 40 percent of the vehicles that G.M. produces in North America, down from about half today.

Mr. Wagoner said that rising gasoline prices had forced a “structural shift” by American consumers away from truck-based vehicles built by G.M.

Six months ago, this happened:

SAN FRANCISCO, California, November 16, 2007 (ENS) - The Bush administration's fuel economy standards for many sport utility vehicles, minivans and pickup trucks have been rejected by a federal appeals court because they set a zero value on reducing emissions of carbon dioxide that cause global warming.

If only fuel economy standards had been acknowledged by BushCo as a vital part of the effort to fight global warming, if only BushCo had hoisted itself out of the Dark Ages and realized that global warming was, you know, a reality, if only BushCo didn't have self-interest as their singular motivation, then GM might have adapted early enough to avoid this.

If only I weren't retreating into my own little fantasyland of If Only's.

If only the 2000 election had...

If only the 2004 elec--

If only...

Tagged as: energy, fuel, cafe standards