{"id":40650,"date":"2011-07-18T10:51:08","date_gmt":"2011-07-18T14:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=40650"},"modified":"2011-07-18T10:51:08","modified_gmt":"2011-07-18T14:51:08","slug":"automakers-launching-ad-campaign-attacking-56-2-mpg-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2011\/07\/automakers-launching-ad-campaign-attacking-56-2-mpg-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"Automakers Launching Ad Campaign Attacking 56.2 MPG Proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Will the ads sway consumers in favor of industry concerns or rally support for higher mileage standards?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The auto industry is going on the attack \u2013 a trade group launching a radio campaign this week aimed at shooting down the big increase in federal fuel economy standards being proposed by the White House.<\/p>\n

The 60-second commercials, produced for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, will argue that boosting the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards to 56.2 mpg in 2025 \u201cthreatens (the) progress\u201d of the auto industry\u2019s fragile recovery \u2013 and could force Americans out of the big cars and trucks they love and into small, limited-use electric vehicles.<\/p>\n

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Your High-Powered News Source!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The industry campaign could present another headache to the Obama Administration, which is currently focused on hammering out a compromise with the Republicans on a bill to increase the nation\u2019s debt ceiling.\u00a0 But the automotive alliance also risks alienating consumers who are worried about the impact of near-record fuel prices and who, surveys show, are demanding big increases in fuel economy.\u00a0 Mileage, a senior Ford official last week acknowledged, is the single most important concern for most American car buyers this summer.<\/p>\n

But the Alliance ads will target an equally serious public concern: jobs.\u00a0 A recent study by the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research warned that such a big increase in the federal mileage requirements could tack up to $10,000 onto the price tag for the typical American automobile.\u00a0 In turn, the CAR study warned, that could reduce by a third total American car sales and cost hundreds of thousands of auto industry jobs in the U.S.<\/p>\n

The industry ads will launch Tuesday and air in seven markets, notably including Michigan and Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

The copy proclaims that, \u201cAfter tough times, today\u2019s automobile industry is on a highway to recovery.\u201d\u00a0 But it warns that the proposed increase in fuel economy \u201cthreatens that progress\u201d and might not only result in sharply higher prices, but also in an \u201celectric car mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone agrees with the industry\u2019s contention.\u00a0 Environmental groups, such as the Union of Concerned Scientists, have argued that the automakers are using scare tactics \u2013 the same moves that kept fuel economy rules from increasing through much of the \u201890s and first decade of the new millennium.<\/p>\n

They also are criticizing the industry for talking about a turnaround that, for at least some makers, was taxpayer-funded. \u201cWe give GM billions of dollars, and what do taxpayers get in return? Opposition to a process that will clearly save them income and give them improved cars,\u201d said consumer activist Ralph Nader.<\/p>\n

Proponents of a sharp increase in federal mileage standards have their own data to point to, a new study by the Boston Consulting Group that predicted the industry could achieve big gains for just about $2,000 a vehicle \u2013 a figure the study\u2019s authors noted would readily be recovered on fuel savings \u2013 especially if gas prices continue to rise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An automotive trade group is launching an ad campaign attacking the Obama Administration proposal to raise mileage standards to 56.2 mpg. But will the ads sway consumers in favor of industry concerns or rally support for higher mileage standards? More from TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40650"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40650"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=40650"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=40650"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=40650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}