Re: Buy a Hybrid, and Save a Guzzler

Dear Mr. Leonhardt,

Regarding your article "Buy a hybrid, and save a guzzler".

Wow, I didn't realize that because of CAFE buying a hybrid gives auto manufacturers the right to sell more gas guzzlers. Thus, "The hybrid, then, is just about the perfect example of what's wrong with our energy policy."

Why didn't I realize that?

Oh, is it because hybrids aren't really enabling that many more gas-guzzlers, at least not Toyota hybrids - but they could? Is that your point?

Boy, I love talking about hypothetical situations, but let's talk about facts for a second.

Toyota is by far the hybrid sales leader. Honda doesn't really sell gas-guzzlers, and GM doesn't even have any hybrids. Thus, I guess you're talking about Ford's 20,000 hybrid sales?

But wait a minute, aren't Escape hybrid buyers buying a hybrid SUV instead of a gas-guzzling SUV? So, where is this extra gas-guzzler demand coming from?

Just out of curiosity, how many gas-guzzlers have passed CAFE because of flex-fuel in the last decade, Mr. Leonard? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? Yet, you're focused on 20,000 hybrids?

How many SUVs actually achieve CAFE's 21.6 miles per gallon in real world driving? According to Consumer Reports, not too many.

So, how many millions of gas-guzzlers have benefited from inaccurate EPA numbers? Yet, the problem with the EPA is inaccurate hybrid fuel economy?

Is that why the new EPA fuel efficiency estimates are not going to be used to update CAFE?

But, let's get back to the problem, 20,000 hybrid SUVs.

So your answer is, "A substantial gas tax would be the simplest, with other taxes being cut to keep down the overall burden. Car buyers could drive whatever they wanted, as long as they were paying the full cost of their gas, and automakers would respond with creative products. If we're not capable of having a serious discussion about new taxes, the second-best option would be lavish incentives for companies to sell a fuel-efficient fleet."

Hybrids aren't fuel efficient?

Regarding your tax plan, which other taxes are going to be cut? Are we just going to leave that to the bureaucrats? I'm sure there won't be any loopholes created in that overhaul, and reducing enough taxes to offset the real cost of gasoline will be a very easy task.

Consequently, you are basically suggesting that until we can significantly change the American tax code, doing nothing is better than buying hybrid cars?

Better yet, you don't blame the EPA, automakers or the government for decades of inaction, you ridicule and belittle the buyers of hybrid cars instead?

Very few hybrid buyers think they are saving the world, Mr. Leonhardt, how dare you generalize their motives with your biased statements. Most hybrid buyers think they are sending a message that foreign oil dependency and/or pollution are important concerns, that's it.

That message isn't worth sending Mr. Leonhardt? Oh forgive us.

Anyway, hybrid car batteries could easily achieve the same kind of growth in performance and cost as what my laptop battery has achieved in the last decade. A hybrid battery that achieves twice the fuel efficiency at the same cost as today's hybrid batteries is definitely a stupid investment, huh?

Yeah, gas-guzzling until we overhaul America's tax code, that's the ticket.