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Cars topped the news agenda for the third straight weekday. Last week saw first Chrysler, then General Motors select hundreds of longtime dealerships for closure. All three newscasts kicked off the new week with the automotive future. They each led with the leak of an impending announcement about new rules for fuel efficiency. The Story of the Day was that each manufacture's fleet of newly sold vehicles must average 35 mpg by 2016. CBS also kicked off the new week with new graphics, adopting sans serif caps to identify reporters and talking heads; upper-and-lower case serifs for its story titles.

Making vehicles more energy-efficient will have a combination of two consequences. It could either reduce the amount of carbon burned for the same amount traveled or it could increase the number of miles driven on the same consumption of fossil fuels. NBC's green correspondent Anne Thompson sided with the former outcome: "Environmentalists hail the national standard for greenhouse gas emissions as a complete victory." Chip Reid, CBS' White House correspondent, agreed, saying that the new rules "are expected to stimulate development of cleaner burning vehicles and reduce harmful tailpipe emissions that contribute to global warming" although he did free-market caution: "If consumer really want fuel-efficient cars then car companies will make them," no need for government diktat.

ABC's Jonathan Karl reminded us that "the auto industry has long opposed these moves" but now backs them. So what has changed? "After the federal bailout of Chrysler and GM, some of the companies are not in much position to oppose the White House on something like this." Karl commented that President Barack Obama has "broad political support" for the new rules. His announcement will be endorsed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican Governor of the green-leaning state of California, and Jennifer Granholm, Democratic Governor of the auto-dependent state of Michigan.

NBC followed up with CNBC's automobile correspondent Phil LeBeau. Anchor Brian Williams inquired whether the mileage standards will be accomplished by using the old-fashioned internal combustion engine. LeBeau predicted that automakers will be "giving us engines in the future that deliver eight-cylinder performance but only use six cylinders of gas." Later Williams turned to Adrienne Mong in Shenzhen for NBC's In Depth feature. She showed us BYD's E6, a mass-produced, all electric, lithium ion battery car retailing for approximately $20,000. "The desire to become the world's leading producer of electric cars is a goal BYD shares with the Chinese government, which wants to cut oil dependency and growing pollution," Mong told us. BYD, by the way, stands for Build Your Dreams.

For those who cannot wait for BYD or for a fuel efficient 2016, CBS' Ben Tracy offered a free plug for the fire sale at your local soon-to-closed Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealership. There are 44,000 new cars nationwide on front courts of dealers that will have to bring down the Chrysler sign in just three weeks and will no longer be able to offer a Chrysler warranty. A $37,000 Chrysler 300, for example, has been marked down by Star Chrysler Jeep near Los Angeles to just $22,000.


Andrew Tyndall 5/19/09 10:39:53 pm

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