The automobile industry is rightly proud of its 100-year history of innovation, from the development of lightweight materials to advances in engine technology. The average car of today is a marvel of engineering — vastly safer, faster, more comfortable and efficient than cars in the 1960s or ’70s.
But when faced with laws demanding higher fuel economy and lower greenhouse gas emissions, automakers whimper that they cannot possibly meet such challenges at a reasonable cost in vehicles that people would buy.
C’mon guys. Give yourselves credit. You’re already doing it.
Over the last two decades, auto companies have expanded many technologies, from tires with low rolling resistance to gasoline-electric hybrid drive systems, that could allow them to meet the strictest mileage and emissions standards proposed by Congress and California regulators. There are advances in engine technology, air-conditioners, transmissions, fuel sources and body design on the market that could make cars cleaner and more economical at relatively little marginal cost.
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