Special Car, auto, cars, vehicles

To quote from the GM plan: " ...22 of 24 new vehicle introductions in 2009-2012 will be cars and crossovers. Twenty of these models will come from GM engineering centers having a long history of designing vehicles for $6-$8 per gallon gasoline." From Ford's: "We are leveraging our global product strengths to deliver six new world-class small and medium sized vehicles to the United States over the next four years ...approximately 50 percent of future U.S. [manufacturing] capacity will be allocated to small and medium-size vehicles."

That's exactly what the politicians want to hear. But is that going to be what you want to drive? The average price of a gallon of regular gas in the U.S. hit $1.81 yesterday, down from July's peak of $4.11. Still want that little 35 mpg gas-miser, or that expensive hybrid? Happy to hang on to your old truck or SUV for a little longer?

Of course, the dramatic decline of gas prices has everything to do with the ongoing implosion of the global economy. The price of crude oil has crashed to under $47bbl, more than $100bbl down from the peak recorded during the speculative frenzy five months ago. And while oil producers are likely to cut output in a bid to raise prices (ideally, OPEC would like about $80bbl) forecasters are betting crude will stay around $60bbl for most of 2009.

Only a fool would suggest gas will stay under two bucks a gallon for long, especially once the global economy stops flatlining, and demand picks up. But how long will it take gas to again reach a price point (like $4 a gallon) where a large number of consumers are going to demand -- and, more importantly, are prepared to pay for -- highly fuel efficient vehicles?

Despite such imponderables the politicians have insisted that before they get access to any bridging loans the Detroit Three must demonstrate how they will become, in the words of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid "...long-term global leader(s) in the production of energy-efficient advanced technology vehicles." In other words: "You better sign up to 35mpg by 2020, or else."

So no matter what gas prices do in the medium term, America's transition to smaller, greener vehicles is going start pretty quickly. To quote GM: " ...further shifts to smaller displacement gas engines will occur ...8-cylinder engines are replaced by 6-cylinder engines, 6-cylinder engines are replaced by 4-cylinder engines. Four-cylinder engine usage, for example, will increase by 42 percent by 2012, and fuel-saving six-speed automatic transmission volume will increase by 400 percent, to over 90 percent of GM's U.S. automatic transmission sales volume."

And Ford? "EcoBoost engines ...will increase to more than 85 percent of Ford/Lincoln/Mercury nameplates by 2012 and 95 percent by 2015 ...electric power assisted steering will be available on 90 percent of Ford/Lincoln/Mercury nameplates by 2012 and 100 percent by 2014 ...six-speed transmissions will be in 100 percent of Ford/Lincoln/Mercury nameplates by 2012."

The future is here, so you better get used to it.

The politicians will be pleased, but getting the Detroit Three to make and sell highly fuel efficient vehicles in America is not actually the problem right now. The problem right now is a lot of Americans are worried sick they might not have a job next week, and there's no way they are prepared to pony up for a new car. No matter how fuel efficient it is.