President Barrack Obama's proposal that cars average 42 mpg and trucks 27 mpg threatens the very future of the internal combustion engine. Look at what's out there now. No car sold in this country with a gasoline engine gets anywhere close to 42 mpg. A smartfortwo, which is the size of my desk and seats two, gets an EPA rated 38 mpg on the highway. Will we all be driving plug in hybrids in less than 10 years?
Our socialist-in-chief has yet to explain what happens to vehicles that can't meet these new standards. Will they get hit with a gas-guzzler tax like certain new cars? Will they be outlawed?
Goodbye new Camaro, Corvettes of every stripe, Mustang, Challenger. Goodbye Silverado, Suburban, Tahoe and the like.
The Malibu hybrid I tested in California last summer averaged 26 mpg. That's a long way from 42. How about the Aveo I wrote about in a recent column. It was rated at 30-something mpg, but in reality it got 29 highway mpg.
We are so screwed.