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Greene 14 (0:59)
Topic(s): Auto Industry / Car Culture / Efficiency
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Video Transcript

When I was on the National Academy committee looking at the CAFE standards, we had an opportunity to go around the country and talk to manufacturers in their headquarters and one manufacturer in Detroit said just what you're saying, "We sell the consumers what they want. The consumer is king. And if consumers don't want fuel economy, we don't worry about fuel economy." Another manufacturer in California said, "Well, we know consumers are not interested in fuel economy, but we think a good car should have good fuel economy, so we make cars with better fuel economy." Completely different philosophy of how to build cars and why you're in the business of building cars. And by the way, the ones in California are doing better than the ones in Detroit. So I think in the long run, recognizing that at the time of purchase the consumer may not be interested in fuel economy, but later on he will be, is actually a wise strategy.