Monday, January 14th, 2008
Giving a whole new meaning to the term “Swiftboating”
It appears that former acting Massachusetts governor Jane Swift wants to join in on the GOP circular firing squad action, and is taking aim at her successor, Willard “Aw, Mittens*” Romney (hat tip, Adorable Girlfriend at the Republic of Dogs):
“Mitt Romney even advocated a new SUV tax that would have hurt the same American auto industry in Michigan that he now claims to champion,”
Toyota passes Ford as second-biggest auto seller in U.S.
DETROIT — Toyota Motor Corp. overtook Ford Motor Co. to become the No. 2 automaker by U.S. sales in 2007, using new products and relentless strategy to break Ford’s 75-year lock on the position.
Gee, I wonder why that happened?
Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe also praised new rules requiring automakers to ensure that the vehicles they sell in the United States have an average fuel economy of 35 miles (56 kilometers) per gallon by 2020.
GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC — whose fleets are much more weighted towards gasoline-guzzling trucks and sport-utility vehicles — lobbied heavily against the new rules.
And we wonder why we can’t sell our cars overseas anymore.
The goal set by the United States will fail to reach the levels already surpassed by Japan and the European Union. And within the next year, the average fuel economy of China’s passenger vehicles will surpass the US goal for 2020.
I’d like to repeat that because it sounds vaguely important**:
The goal set by the United States will fail to reach the levels already surpassed by Japan and the European Union. And within the next year, the average fuel economy of China’s passenger vehicles will surpass the US goal for 2020.
Have U.S. automakers learned NOTHING from the 1970s?
Update: Chris in Paris over at AMERICAblog adds yet another data point to the utter idiocy of the American auto industry’s intransigence: sales of the Toyota Prius…ahem…”surged” in 2007 - by SIXTY-NINE PERCENT!
Update II: It would appear that I owe mdhatter royalties on the joke in the post title. Would you take a rain-check, md?
* With apologies to the fine folks at Secret of Mana Theater.
** With apologies to George Carlin.
