When it comes to public policy, I don't often agree with the automotive industry in general and Motown in specific. That's because the car biz is ready, willing and lobbying to suck on the federal tit whenever and wherever they can. But when it comes to federal Corporate Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations, I agree: the system is absurd. As the otherwise deeply misguided GM Car Czar Bob Lutz said, it's like trying to get people to lose weight by forcing manufacturers to sell smaller shirts. Anyway, none of the automakers or their camp followers have the balls to simply call for CAFE's abolition. Instead, they continually work to game, undermine and otherwise manipulate the system to appear to support it. You know; in principle. And now The Wall Street Journal reports that even that's in jeopardy. At a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) hearing on a new CAFE draft statement, "The auto industry said federal regulators are pushing too far, too fast in their effort to raise fuel-mileage rules [to 35mpg by 2020]. The complaints from the industry, which had previously voiced support for tougher standards, underscore how economic hardship is affecting a major policy debate.they reversing their former support by claiming hardship." It gets worse. According to Automotive News [sub], "The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers questioned whether the statement was necessary, calling on NHTSA to reserve its right to not draft a statement at all." In other words, can we please torpedo this thing in private, like always? So, anyway, I sent an email to NHTSA.

For the red-blooded enthusiast, it's the ultimate nightmare: a car that just doesn't want to be driven hard. For the under-frugal and over-cited drivers of the world, Nissan's ECO Pedal could be the mechanical conscience they need to adjust to our eco-friendly, speed-kills society. "Each time the driver steps on the accelarator (sic)," flubs Nissan's press release, "a counter push-back control mechanism is activated if the system detects excess pressure, helping to inform the driver that they could be using more fuel than required." Required for what exactly? An electronically-determined "optimal acceleration" based on transmission efficiency and fuel consumption rates. You know, like how polite people and Buick owners drive. Nissan claims that with the killjoy-graft "drivers can improve fuel efficiency by 5-10 percent, depending on driving conditions." Sadly, the intrusion is not limited to the gas-pedal recalcitrance. An "eco-driving indicator" on the dash stays green if your driving style does (get it?), but flashes and turns amber "to advise the driver of their driving behavior." Or remind the driver that they are merging onto an interstate. Luckily, you will still be able to eke whatever id-fodder is available to Nissan drivers who would consider this option by switching the nagging thing off. Nissan will "commercialize" the system in 2009, but they don't say what models it 'll be on. If it's cheap and it can be turned all the way off when the less-better angels of our natures need to have their way, it could be worth a look… if you're into that kind of thing.

Car makers like to take the credit, but auto suppliers have invented much of contemporary car technology. So when the boss of Germany's Bosch (the world's biggest auto supplier) talks about the future of automotive technology, people listen. Here's what Bernd Bohr had to say to Auto, Motor und Sport . "For the year 2015, we expect a total world market of 80 million new cars, of which only about 2.5 to 3 million will be hybrids and 800,000 will be purely electric. So gasoline and diesel engines will continue to predominate. Actually, we calculate that the world market share of diesel cars will rise by another 5 percent, to reach 28 percent." How come? "Despite disproportionate price increases for diesel fuel, in places such as France the share of diesels has increased from 70 to 80 percent, because of a new CO2 tax. Diesels are 30 percent more efficient, too. There is a political dimension: the EU's ambitious plans to reduce CO2 emissions are only reachable if Europe stays at least 50 percent diesel." But the U.S. has shown that diesel is a no go, no? "This is mainly because of high prices for low-sulfur diesel fuel which is caused by low refinery capacities. This bottleneck should be gone around 2010. We expect a diesel market share for the U.S. of 15 percent by 2015". Are you betting the company on these predictions? "We plan to reduce our dependence on auto technology from currently 61 percent to 50 percent."

Oil prices go up. Gas prices go up. American consumers switch en masse to the kind of vehicles promoted by CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) regs since 1975. They also help reduce American oil imports (and pollution) by driving 3.7 percent less over the first five months of '08. The reduced demand lowers the price of gas (OK, in theory). Everyone happy? Of course not. The same feds who want us to reduce our dependence on foreign oil are hit with a drop in federal gas tax revenue (currently 18 cents a gallon). And so the "acting head" of the Federal Highways Agency declares [via The Detroit News] that "without a doubt, our federal approach to transportation is broken." No, REALLY. "No amount of tweaking, adjusting or adding new layers on top will make things better." And he drops the other shoe. "Ray [that's MR. May sonny] said the Bush administration was in favor of a 'more progressive direct user fee' similar to a system that is currently being tested in Oregon. Under that pilot program, cars were equipped with on-board mileage counting equipment that was read by pumps equipped with mileage reader devices." Can you drop a third shoe? Sure! May also wants to "encourage" private companies to lease federal highways and maintain them through tolls. With ideas like that, what's the bet that the acting head is shuffled off-stage, and soon?

Even though diesel fuel costs more than gasoline, even though diesel engines cost more than their gasoline equivalents, VW plans to sell TDI versions of the Jetta and Sportwagon stateside in 2009. To get the party started, VeeDub's announced that TDI buyers will be eligible for a $1.3k Federal Income Tax Credit. Yup, your tax money in their pocket, under the Advanced Lean Burn Technology Motor Vehicle credit program. The EPA has certified the TDI at 29 mpg city, 41 mpg highway. BUT VW cites test results from "leading third-party certifier, AMCI" (paid by VW of course) claiming the models get 38 mpg in the city and 44 on the highway. And while they work that one out, Toyota can't build enough their gas – electric Priora fast enough, even with a $500 price hike. [Source: VW]

High gas prices are achieving what thousands of Euro-lusting domestic fanboys couldn't: an influx imported premium European sub-compacts. Automotive News [sub] reports that Mercedes has revived plans to bring its next gen A and B-Class stateside. Expect four-door, coupe and crossover variants to jump the puddle sometime after they make their 2011 European debut. And yes, we'll also get long-awaited, much-anticipated battery-powered versions– provided they escape development Hell. Meanwhile, Daimler's considering another U.S. price increase. "We will continue to go for pricing and lose some volume rather than see our contributions deteriorate," says CEO Dieter "Chrysler What Chrysler" Zetsche. So what's with the mass market A and B, then?

With Hail Mary PHEVs and two-mode V8s leading the American automakers' charge towards fuel-efficiency, its easy to call Detroit's executives out of touch. But it turns out that the idea of applying simple fuel-saving technologies across product lines is finally taking hold in the corporate offices of our domestic auto firms. The Detroit Free Press reports that executives at Ford, Chrysler and GM predict that stop-start technology will find its way into every domestically-produced vehicle within the next five to ten years. Speaking at NextCruise, the eco-friendly sister event to the Woodward Dream Cruise, Detroit's finest fell over themselves trying to prove their companies' commitment to adding this (relatively) low-tech, fuel-saving technology. GM's Micky Bly went one further, saying future GM vehicles will incorporate weight-saving materials currently found in hybrids. Careful on that limb, boys.

My local Land Rover dealer is the first car dealer in the country to buy carbon offsets for the first 50k miles of every new and used Landie they sell, in hopes of tempting green types into their Chelsea tractors. Now it seems that Land Rover has decided to offer more, erm, sustainable options for environmentally-minded ute lovers.  LR is showing a new range of diesel hybrid engines at the London Auto Show. Motor Authority reports that Land Rover's new electric rear axle drive (ERAD) consists of a rear-axle mounted 25w electric motor which can power all four wheels in parallel with a four-cylinder diesel engine. The powertrain also includes a Crankshaft Integrated Starter Generator (CISG) mounted in the dual-clutch transmission, which acts as a supplementary motor for adding torque to the driveline and also for starting the main diesel engine. Both the ERAD and CISG can be used for regenerative braking, and together account for a 20 percent reduction in carbon emissions. The ERAD/CISG system is still in early development, and is not expected to debut for several years. In the meantime, Land Rovers are expected to get stop-start technology as early as next year. Which hopefully means that Land Rover of Portland can end its gimmicky greenwashing campaign sooner rather than later.

Auto Motor und Sport reports Volkswagen vants to conquer ze world! The German automaker aims to displace  Ford as world number three automaker this year and then, eventually, take on Toyota. Yes, well, anyway, Wolfsburg can't get there from here without fixing its NorAm ops. To that end, VW is considering bringing a subcompact "similar to its Polo" stateside. The Yaris/Fit fighter would take VW back to its small, fuel-efficient American roots. Bloomberg reports that Vee Dub's also looking to produce a market-specific version of a future Polo in the U.S. of A.. Power could come from one of VW's new low-pollution powerplants, built at a forthcoming engine plant in Puebla, Mexico. Better late than never?

That's what The Star-Ledger columnist Bob Braun (via nj.com) concluded when he drove the same 55-mile route two times: once keeping pace with traffic, and once at just above the 65-mph speed limit. If you've driven on the highway anywhere lately, I don't need to tell you the outcome (but I will anyway). Keeping pace with traffic, Braun drove 80 – 85 mph and had no cause for concern. Driving 68 mph, he was passed by almost everyone, tailgated and found himself in dangerous situations more than once. He quotes Charles Lave, University of California at Irvine economist: "I find that there is no statistically discernible relationship between the fatality rate and average speed, though there is a strong relationship to speed variance. Variance kills, not speed." Perhaps the lawmakers need to be reminded of this fact as they consider lowering speed limits in the name of saving fuel. (An aside: does that mean the more fuel-efficient a car is, the faster it'll be allowed to go?) If our elected representatives are stupid enough to drop the national speed limit back to the double nickel, accident rates will go up as the variance between those who want to get there in a reasonable time and those who drive the speed limit increases. It makes more sense to raise the speed limit for safety's sake. As Braun points out, "if everyone uniformly sped, or, if everyone obeyed the limits, then we'd be safer." And you know the majority aren't going to obey the limits.

Presidential Candidate John McCain raised a few metaphorical eyebrows last week when he reversed an earlier, federalist policy position. The Senator from Arizona stepped-up to an MI microphone and declared he'd [now] support California's quest to supercede federal automotive C02 regs (i.e. set higher corporate average fleet mpg averages than the feds). According to The Detroit News, the Senator from Arizona has, uh, reconciled his position on the matter. "Later Friday, a senior campaign aide sought to clarify McCain's position. The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said McCain supports the ability of states to impose regulations until a national 'cap and trade' program to limit carbon emissions, something McCain has proposed, is in place. Once carbon caps are established, the aide said, McCain would oppose state regulations." So McCain will oppose California's tailpipe regs… later. Which means the statement "It's hard for me to tell the states they can't set their own standards… At the end of the day, I think states should make their own decisions" was premature recapitulation. 

According to an Automotive News Europe report yesterday, Mercedes is set to have an entirely turbocharged automobile lineup by 2010-2011. You might have noticed that while the "big boys" blogged it immediately, we at TTAC did not. The story, which was originally published in Europe based on a European presentation, was just too many steps removed from Dieter Zetsche to race to press – and a little too wild. Rather than pull an Autoblog on the CTS-V/Europe (rush to report, then recant ), we held off until getting confirmation from the author of the original news story, James Franey. Well it turns out that the madness, in this case, is true – until Mercedes changes its mind. In the meantime, the plan is to go all turbocharged, aside from perhaps the hybrid models set to debut in the coming years. You can see in the attached PDF that Daimler is defecating a brick over the upcoming European emissions regulations and their very European fines for noncompliance. Everything will end up with some kind of marketing-lover name – Bluetec, BlueEfficiency, and DiesOtto. The latter is the most exciting from an enthusiast point of view, with the concept DiesOtto engine delivering 238 hp, 294 lb ft of torque, and 40 US MPG from a 1.8 liter gasoline engine in an S-Class. And from Zetsche's presentation, it looks like it'll be happening. Oh yeah, and everything will get turbos, too. 

We often get accused of diesel-bashing. But there's no getting around the fact that the decline of the diesel market penetration in Europe has begun. With diesel now costing the same as gasoline in Germany (we should be so lucky), the higher up-front costs of most diesel versions just doesn't pan out. Auto, Motor und Sport (print version only) has done an analysis of the minimum km per year required to amortize various diesel versions of popular cars. A few examples: 38k km (23k miles) for the BMW X-5; 30k km (18.3k miles) for the Opel Corsa, 25k km (15.3k miles for the MB E-class). In may, diesel's Eurozone market share dropped to 44 percent, from 47 percent in April. One study predicts that diesels will eventually lose fully half their market share. Another study shows that at least one-fourth of current German diesel drivers are seriously considering switching to a gas car with their next purchase. It looks like the party's over before the States could find the address. 

With the traditional SUV well and truly toasted, automakers are going back to the drawing board to tempt consumers back into their AWD profitmobiles. Sales numbers indicate that two-mode hybrid SUVs do not return sufficient mileage to justify their high prices. Resurrecting the segment will require even more sophisticated technology. At least that's what Nissan reckons. The automaker's displaying its vision for THE SUV OF THE FUTURE! Yes, it's a fuel-cell-powered version of its X-Trail Ute. The Evening Standard reports that Nissan unveiled its alt power concept at London's Imperial College. The FCV X-Trail represents the pinnacle of Nissan's 12-year fuel cell development program. The fuel cell is 40 percent smaller than afore, motorvating the FCV X-Trail up to 300 miles on a tank of hydrogen. The hydrogen-battery electric drive is good for up to 93 mph in EV-like silence.Of course, the research model cost millions of dollars to develop and assemble. According to Nissan spokesfolks, "the cost of the system is still too high for mass production." Nissan engineers promise to sort all that shit out [paraphrasing] by 2015. Unless of course battery development outstrips hydrogen-based technology. Which it probably will.

The hotly anticipated 2009 Mazda6 is set to hit the showroom floor in August. The base 2.5-liter four-cylinder model, with 170 horses and a standard six-speed stick, will set you back $19,220 (including a $670 destination fee). For contrast, a base Accord runs nearly two grand more ($21,030). The four-cylinder Mazda6 will offer an optional five-speed automatic transmission for a bit more money, of course. If you want to dial-up the power, Mazda offer the 6 with a 273 horse, 3.7 liter V6 (six-speed automatic transmission only) for $24,800. All versions of the new Mazda6 come with air con, ABS, six airbags, dynamic stability control and traction control. The autoboxed four-banger gets 21/30 EPA miles per gallon, dropping one mpg if you pick the stick. The V6's 17/25 mpg is not what you'd call class competitive; the five-speed Accord V6 is rated at 19/29. Then again, the Mazda should handily beat the Honda in the ol fun to drive category. We'll have a TTAC review as soon as the 6 hits the streets.