Broken record time, incentive-based environmental policy can be superior to environmental standards:
In the race to claim ever-higher fuel-economy numbers and keep up with government regulations, automakers are rolling out hybrids and electric cars aplenty at this week’s Detroit auto show.
If only buyers were arriving as fast as the cars.
Hybrid sales waned as gasoline prices ebbed in 2011, declining to 2.2 percent of the market from 2.4 percent a year earlier, according to the research firm LMC Automotive. Meanwhile, sales of the Nissan Leaf electric car and the Chevrolet Volt plug-in each fell short of expectations.
Analysts do not expect the segment to grow significantly this year: the combination of gas prices below $4 a gallon and higher upfront costs for the cars is not attracting consumers.
[...]Regardless, the automakers have little choice but to develop and try to push more hybrids as they prepare for fuel-efficiency requirements that call for significant increases later this decade. ...
via www.nytimes.com
With gas prices below some threshold, the payback period on high priced fuel efficient cars is too far in the future for even fully rational consumers to think they are a good deal. Implementation of a higher gas (er, petrol) tax would provide an incentive for consumers to purchase fuel efficient cars. Otherwise, these things might sit on the shelf.
