Word: cars
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Bumper Battle. The industry's credibility has not always been high when it comes to complaints about environmental controls. For example, Detroit long opposed use of the emission-reducing catalytic converter, a device fixed to the exhaust pipe underneath the car. These converters are installed in the 1975 models, and GM, for one, praises their virtues. With the converter, engines can be tuned up to give top fuel efficiency instead of being wastefully geared down to reduce emissions, as they had been for several years. The result, according to tests made by the Environmental Protection Agency: the new cars...
Henry Ford II estimates that if the tough 1977 rules are not postponed, they will add $750 to the cost of a car and further depress sales. (The EPA estimates the added cost at $250 to $350.) In addition, GM's Murphy contends, "If you set emission standards higher, there's got to be a sacrifice of fuel economy." The EPA disagrees. Astonishingly, a study it released last week argues that there "is no inherent relationship between exhaust-emissions standards and fuel economy." The best guess now is that Congress will push back the 1977 regulations...
...over the past 20 years the standard Chevrolet has grown more than 2 ft. in length, gained more than 1,000 Ibs., and almost doubled its horsepower. One obvious reason for the companies' reluctance to change: except for the expense of materials, producing a high-priced standard-size car costs about the same as making a less profitable small...
With the 1975 price boost, average list prices now stand about $1,000 above what they were 16 months ago. But small-car prices jumped about 25%, while those of full-size models went up only an average of 15% during that period. For example, the cost of Ford's latest subcompact Pinto has climbed 27%, to $2,919; Plymouth's Duster is up 29%, to $3,243. By contrast, full-size Dodge Monacos have increased 18%, to $4,605, and Ford...
Many customers took one look at the new prices and walked out of the showrooms-or, worse, did not even bother to visit them. Small-car sales fell to 46% of the market in October and continued down slightly thereafter; in December they held 45.3% of the market. Ironically, the price spread between the basic full-size cars and the gussied-up small ones narrowed enough to stimulate some sales of bigger models. So the automakers, who had a glut of big cars during the energy crisis, have now wound up with an oversupply of small cars...