Re:Why can't the government put a limit on car sizes?
by njarboe on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @12:04PM
(#32153679)
There is also the 25% "Chicken Tax"[1] on imported light trucks started in 1964 and still in force today. Domestic auto manufactures were highly motivated to get the public to buy trucks/SUVs instead of cars for the last 60 years and they did a pretty good job at it.
[1] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/chicken-tax.asp#:~:text....
The SUV was basically created by the govt when CAFE (Corp Average Fuel Efficiency) standards specified higher fuel efficiency for cars vs "light trucks" (27.5 vs 21mpg, IIRC). So, instead of promoting the previously ubiquitous station wagon as a family-hauler, automakers started promoting the SUV under the "Light Truck" category.
The appropriate response is to adjust the rules to account for the unintended consequences, not to simply say "whatever - we shouldn't do anything!". Tho, TBF, the article was also missing these key historical details.