Testimony of Pennsylvania Clean Air's Lynn Godmilow At EPA/NHTSA Clean Car Hearing In Philly

Europe Has Had Fuel Efficient Cars For Decades
Seems to me the issue is simple. Those opposing these new standards represent the auto industry and they should have focused on making lots of much smaller cars a long time ago. My first car (1965) was a VW bug and when I traveled to Europe for the first time in the 60's I was very impressed with the large number of very small cars. London, Amsterdam and Rome were filled with small cars (including most taxi cabs). There were very few of the large cars popular in the US at the time. If the Big 3 American car makers had stopped making large sedans cars and instead made much smaller cars that use less gas but have a higher MPG, we would be far ahead now. Of course the CEO’s wouldn’t have made so much money but that can hardly be seen as a bad thing. In addition, the cost of gasoline in Europe is much higher than the cost of gas in the US. This is related to taxation of gasoline and is another factor in convincing the population to drive smaller, more efficient cars.