Hell Hath No Fury Like Big Three Scorned?

Just read an article about cars of 2020 and remembered the conversation I've had recently. The person I was talking to said "Oh yeah, *now* you will start seeing real progress!" I said "Why?" and got this in return:

Until now, all the progress regarding green technologies (at least in US) was hampered by the fact that the Big Three had a very cozy relation with the Big Oil and didn't have a need to do anything at all. The demand for vehicles with high gas consumption was lobbied and advertised, and all was well and good.

And then, he said, the oil prices skyrocketed.

The automotive industry, he said, felt betrayed. They've been delivered a death blow at the moment they weren't doing so well already.

Now they're pissed and won't try to appease the Big Oil anymore. They've been demonstrated that no amount of lobbying and "vendor relations" gives them any guarantees when there is a chance of reaping an immediate benefit. In other words, Exxon reports record profits, whereas for Big Three, a government donation is considered. No more Mr. Nice Guy.

Oh well.

Whereas I don't believe that the problems the Big Three is having is closely related to gas prices (other manufacturers have been successfully chasing them into the single MPG territory), but rather due to extreme crappiness of their products, it would definitely be interesting to see what they'll come up with. So far, nothing spectacular - say, Ford's hybrid SUVs have no more appeal to me than their regular SUVs - their Tin Lizzy pedigree shows way too well. And with everybody jumping on the green bandwagon, they will have to do much better than they did before in order to become competitive again.

I'm not holding my breath.

Is Your Gas Pump Ripping You Off?

Just read this article and thought of a trend that I've noticed since the pipeline to Phoenix ruptured in 2003.

To put it shortly, every time the price of gas goes up, so goes the quality - the MPG meter in my car won't lie to me (that much, that is). Goes up significantly - a couple of miles per gallon.

And every time the price of gas goes down, buckle up - the quality would be, should I say, under par...

Right now, with the price drop from $4.60 to $3.60 - guess what, I've just lost 5 MPG.

The only explanation I have is that higher prices cause more angry customers and higher risk of inspections that the companies are not willing to let happen, hence, less cheating.

Oh, and the irony? Back in 2003, people complained about $2 per gallon...