These figures are 8 mpg better in the city and 2 mpg better on the highway than the Camry Hybrid. We simply could not achieve those figures in real-world driving though

We drove the Fusion Hybrid on the same route around Orange County, California, as we did in a recent comparison of the Camry Hybrid and Prius. This suburban loop is 177.9 miles long and we averaged 31 mph in the Fusion Hybrid. ——SHAME SHAME

Typically, cars we’ve tested on this loop return fuel-economy figures a little better than their EPA city estimates. The Fusion Hybrid did not.In fact, we could manage only 35.7 mpg. SURPRISE SURPRISE

The car’s onboard computer was a little generous, claiming 37 mpg. The Camry Hybrid we tested on the route (on a different day) returned 41.8 mpg ——WOW

The company that is “unsurpassed” is exagerating claims in order to top Toyota? How can this be

Before you get nailed for being hypocrites I’ll just remind you that Germany, Japan, and South Korea, among others have opted to back or bailout their auto companies. There is no evidence that their business plans were really any better than GM’s or FORD’s, I won’t speak for CHRYSLER as much as I’d like to.

But then AMERICA has been bailing the foreign companies out for decades buying seriously overpriced European cars and not contesting totally unfair trade quotas by Japan and South Korea, by paying their sorry way into our car markets by all but building the factories for these companies, and while the foreign car makers get backing and bailouts from their home countries our, mostly Southern, state reps turned their backs on the home team while giving away money they do not have (There is not ONE state in AMERICA whose budget is on the plus side or even close to it today) and will never get back on factories that are going to ruin AMERICA.

Free market principles only work if EVERYBODY plays by those rules. Unfortunately they do not, so why should the USA?

The economy is much larger than the American Auto industry, But guess what it is a huge part of it. when you buy a Honda, Toyota, BMW, MERCEDES BENZ, HYUNDAI or KIA, to name a few, in the US, your money does not all stay in the US it goes back to the home countries of those companies.

To fix this problem since, many of our biggest competitors got so big because we let them get away with proverbial murder, Protectionism is going to play a big role in setting things right. If they and the WTO complains, they can kiss my @$$.

I’m tired of paying for the rest of the world to live in prosperity and we can’t even pay to fill the potholes.

I’m tired of defending their lazy @$$es from deadly foes while they protest our going off to protect them.

I’m tired of solving their problems when they need to get out of their 15th century palaces and go deal with it themselves. (Europe should be thankful for Nicolas Sarkozy)

I’m tired of owing these jack@$$es money!

Also, don’t go quoting the party line when that is exactly what caused this mess to begin with.

You’re right: what’s fair is fair… Let GM file bankruptcy and let Chrysler disappear altogher. The market has spoken.

On a not so sarcastic note, if they didn’t appoint a Finance Czar, then they shouldn’t with the Big 2.
What’s fair is fair.

That’s why “Tree Hugging Lobbyist” (that are being paid by the Domestic Terrorist Organization known as “Green Peace”) are allover D.C., they hope to get enough members of Congress and the Senate to push for the change of the fine print and grant the “Car Czar” full over see of ALL, automobiles made in the U.S. regardless of make, and if it has Union’s or not…

When a business applies (or appeals) to either investors or a bank for money they always have to have a business plan and a vision for what their product or service will become with help of the investor.

This is a loan, similar to the above scenario, except the government did not have time to mull it over and see who merits how many dollars. They just knew that they had to move quickly, or our economy would suffer greater downturn.

Another example is a control board sent by the state to regulate spending in a city / county. The state gets tired of politicians mismanaging their tax dollars, and the state generally bails them out. Now the state needs to revive some good solid accounting principles to the local government. Guess what? They get final approval of budgets and spending.

It would appear that the “Car Czar” is just performing a similar function as either above example…..

I’ll go further. Ain’t nothing wrong with protectionism — it’s only fair. And these southern state senators representing the states of Toyota, Nissan, M-B, et al, can suck it.

Oh well , gotta go, my Mom ran out of feminine napkins so gotta run.

Love

1115

Ford, Gm, and Chrysler would never let that happen since they themselves are enthusiast, especially the design teams. Look at almost any new Ford or GM product, and the Dodge Challenger, and you can see they think of cars as much more than applainces and will no let some government official tell them to produce a vehicle that they wouldn’t be proud of. Iaccoca was also in charge of the creation of the Mustang, BTW, and I’d trust him to come up with another class of car that could sell a million units in a year.

I can’t even imagine how hard it would be to either appoint a “car czar”, or to BE one! Think of the “paiiieee-shun” (as Barry McGuire would say) that most people have for their vehicles. Man, it’s hard enough being an architect and having to “value engineer” a building because of the budget and / or the estimates. I can’t imagine anyone having the talent, or passion for cars / trucks / vehicles, to be able to do a top-notch job at that. Some cars are “appliances”, but for most of us, our cars (trucks, etc) are more important than that. If the wrong person gets in there and somehow ends up requiring this or that or some regulation or body shape or whatever, what a nightmare it’ll be. Maybe Lido Iacocca will get the nod. I hope you guys like vinyl landau roofs..

Good day sir!

On more specifics a Car Czar should be able to use federal leverage to get the unions to play ball, if labor costs are really an issue. I’m hearing counter arguments that make me question this. Also getting them to be a support mechanism for employees, looking after their own retirements and health care, rather than a bunch of easily disgruntled workers that seem to relish crippling their employers every few years.

Also how about forcing foreign companies to PAY THEIR OWN WAY into the US instead of states giving up hundreds of millions of dollars THEY WILL NEVER GET BACK to get factories built in their state. If they want to build a factory in the US they will find a way and a place. Instead of giving up tax money and land sales and all that for a factory owned by a company that could very well pay for it themselves, impoverishing their state by giving up the money offset by huge give-a-ways to buy votes by saying, “I got us that factory and those jobs.”

Reps of those states, only seeking re-election, stack the competition against DETROIT and while Foreign automakers get backing and bailouts by their home governments, these same reps turn their backs on the home team. It doesn’t matter if they are a losing team, you back the home team. DETROIT came looking for help. Give them the help. If a guy is drowning you get him above water and make him swim and if after that he still drowns, at least you tried. These state reps have been against even trying.

A Car Czar should also look toward evening the playing field as far as the world car markets are concerned. Japan and South Korea allow, this is their governments getting involved, literally 1 US car for every 1000 that those countries export, forget build in factories overseas. It’s not because they don’t want them, The Japanese can’t get enough Mustangs, Jeeps, and Corvettes to name a few. It is not because DETROIT makes bad cars, they typically sell better stuff overseas, (which suck in and of itself), In fact the Japanese are drawn to America’s best product. It’s because Japan levies a nearly 100% tariff on foreign cars on top of the artificial import cap. That needs to be stopped.

Add to this being a single voice advocate for the industry to the government, not just for the government. Pushing for the developing industries to further aid the Auto industry, like making the batteries for hybrid and electric cars and consumer electronics, Developing machinery and techniques to allow the more efficient use of more modern materials like aluminum and Carbon Fiber, Bring back textiles to the USA particularly for car interiors, and more.

If a Car Czar was allowed to make marketing decisions, he/she would kill the Auto industry. Provide the most general direction and direct encouragement, advocate for the US auto industry, push for the development for a more modern auto industry, curtail or repel foreign encroachment, Open up foreign markets, and if I missed anything…

The Car Czar is not to be an executive of the companies.

Having said that, I think a properly defined czar position would be good. First, concerns about a czar getting his or her hands mixed up with product strategy are probably unwarranted. The U.S. Congress took care of that by mandating stricter CAFE regs. Stricter CAFE is a de facto guide into what cars and technologies you can make and market.

But, having a government go-to person who can strong arm the UAW or benefits managers or whoever else might be effective.

When I imagine “Car Czar” I imagine the episode of the Simpsons where Krusty the Clown got into trouble with the IRS, so they took over his show. They renamed it “The Hirshel Krustofsky Clown Related Entertainment Show”, and a rep from the IRS had to OK every joke (the rep vetoed a pie in the face because pie costs too much). I can see a government appointed “Car Czar” doing the same thing. “No, you don’t need to offer power windows in this car. We can build it cheaper with manual windows.”

The US government isn’ t exactly the most efficient operation I will agree, so it’s the blind leading the blind. Yeah, we’re screwed.

If they do try and get in their way, I can see Ford leaving the US for their headquarters. That’s a turn towards facism by the government, a company has to answer to themselves, not the government on product. Anyone put in by the government, sans Lee Iacocca, I would be extremely critical of. I mean Obama is a guy who has already tried to put in some shady people as Commerce Secretary.

I hate these politicians, they stereotype these companies worse than the consumers themselves! The Ford’s and GM’s I have driven all got better gas milage than the comparable Honda’s and Subaru’s I’ve owned in real world driving, not those fake numbers put up on the stickers.

If they don’t want interference from the government send back all the money to Washington, kick the UAW out, and make kick ass cars.

Ford did NOT take money from the bailout… only GM and Chrysler did.