In an email to 67K employees, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) encouraged employees to buy more fuel efficient vehicles. Although the email mentions several American products– Ford Ranger, Dodge Caravan and Ford Escape Hybrid– it recommends twelve fuel-sippers: the Honda Fit, Civic, Civic GX and Civic Hybrid; Toyota Prius, Corolla and Camry Hybrid; Nissan Altima Hybrid, Kia Rio/Rio 5, Hyundai Accent and Elantra. Speaking to The Detroit News, Chrysler's Jason Vines asked "Can you imagine the Japanese government sending out an e-mail encouraging employees to buy American cars?" Without addressing the political hot potato, HHS spokesman Bill Hall dismissed the controversy as a simple misunderstanding. "People are reading more into this than is here. If people are taking this as an endorsement of vehicles, that's unfortunate." Let's see… employees of a federal agency get an email from HQ with a list of twelve specific cars prefaced with "when stopping for a vehicle consider these models." If that's not an endorsement, this is not a blog post.
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Maybe instead of criticizing HHS, Chrysler could actually build fuel-efficient cars that people would want to own? What a concept.
Well since most (if not all) of those cars mentioned are actually manufactured in the states… what is the big deal? So what if Japanese execs are making money off the sales –they deserve to for making great cars. Buying most Japanese cars you are still supporting American blue collar workers.
The exception being Mazda who imports most of their cars (aside from the 6, Tribute, and possibly CX-9) still. They’re still worth buying for being fun though.
The Elantra??? 24mpg city with a 2.0 that Hyundai has been using for over a decade now? Please, that’s pretty pathetic. They slapped vvt and other measures onto that motor, and made it slightly more refined feeling, and yet it still gets just 24/33…
You can get 28/35 with a 2.0 Mazda3 (owners report much higher numbers though.. approaching 40mpg highway), with way more power than the Elantra (and in a smaller car).
can’t argue with the Corolla though.. it might put me to sleep just seeing it on the road, but it is way fuel-sipping :)
Do they only buy computers manufactured in the US? Do they only buy pens made in the US? Get the car that best suits the demands of the job, and is a good long-term value for the taxpayer.
To paraphrase a former president, It’s A World Economy, Stupid.
Honda’s US lineup fleet average fuel economy is by far the highest on the market. No surprise that so many Hondas show up on a list of frugal vehicles.
http://www.automotivedigest.com/view_art.asp?articlesID=16461
Kudos for someone in the government doing the right thing, as opposed to the politically correct thing…(I’m looking at you, Alberto Gonzalez, and come to think of it, pretty much every Bush appointed lackie…)
That’s because those in Washington are so detached from reality, they actually believe that Japanese companies build their products here because they love the United States.
Since it’s a world economy, I’m sure you won’t mind either when all blog writing on this website is outsourced to India.
Ever read the bylines from Reuters or other news agencies? They are written in India.
Government agencies almost always buy American for their fleet vehicles for political reasons.
Does this vary in states with major transplant operations? Does Ohio’s state goverment buy fleet Hondas, or Tennessee buy Nissans, for example?