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Historic fuel efficiency standard is an opportunity

Posted by Hootan Mahallati | May 19, 2009 | In founder's thoughts green news

Unless you were busy under a rock yesterday, you will have heard that President Obama announced the first national fuel efficiency standard in American history. As you can hear in the video, this standard required historically-opposing parties to come together. Perhaps it is a sign of the times that even car companies are seemingly behind this plan, if the symbolic presence of officials from the ten leading car manufacturers as well as the UAW president at the announcement was anything to go by.

The new standard requires auto makers to raise the average gas mileage of their cars and trucks to 39 and 30 miles per gallon respectively by 2016. The current average is currently 25 miles per gallon for all vehicles.

As the President states in the video, the increased mandated efficiencies represent a $2800/year saving for a vehicle owner during the life of his/her car. To drive the point home, President Obama likens the gained efficiencies to removing 58 millions cars off the road for an entire year.

The new regulation will require millions of dollars of added R&D costs from the car companies, but in a day and age when not being 'green' can severely tarnish a brand's image in the eye of the public, no automaker can afford to fight the government on this new initiative. There is no doubt that American car makers will be scrambling to catch up with the Japanese in the fight to spread fuel-efficiency across their product lineup, but I have a feeling that the leadership at GM and Ford, at the very least, will use this watershed moment as a means to rally their troops around a new common cause.

With all the talk of Detroit's imminent death, a true leader will be able to rouse a sense of patriotism and technological pride among the rank and file, issuing a motivating challenge to take the fight to foreign rivals. Underdog armies have won great military battles because of inspired leadership, and I truly think that Alan Mullaly and Fritz Henderson should do everything they can to create a healthy battle spirit among their employees. Any other approach to the issue will spell doom for the complacent car maker.

[Video Source: NBC13]

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