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Exxon reports $9.9B in NET profits

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sledgy
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sledgy polycounter lvl 18
Holy shitballs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4383296.stm

Uh...when are our representatives going to do something about this? When Bush leaves? Since when is it ok to gouge the fuck out of consumers, especially in times of emergency?

I think it just boils down to greed. Exxon: "We got the oil. You need the oil. We could take some profit and build more refineries but why the fuck should we do that?? We're filthy rich yay!"

Those jack-me-offs in Washington need to take a break from giving themselves raises and put down some hard legislation about fossil fuel being our prime source of energy so it's unethical to fuck with it unfairly.

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  • Kevin Albers
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    Kevin Albers polycounter lvl 18
    I don't think diddly squat will happen unless/until America implements some serious election reforms. As it is now, the country is pretty much owned by big business, and stuff like this happens as a result. We desperately need to limit the overwhelming influence of money on campaigns, and open up the political process to 3rd parties more.
  • Irritant
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    Irritant polycounter lvl 18
    Well, you have to understand that in a capitalistic society, that companies like Exxon answer to their stockholders. And yes, it's pretty much about greed, it's what makes capitalism both great, and flawed.

    But, it's all about supply and demand. Fuel prices will continue to rise as long as the demand is there. So far it hasn't gotten to the point where consumers are altering what they do because of high gas prices. When that happens, then you will see some changes. It has little to do with Bush or the government. They cannot put price limits on fuel. If anyone is old enough to remember the last time that happened(Jimmy Carter in the late 1970's) it had disastrous effects.
  • KeyserSoze
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    KeyserSoze polycounter lvl 18
    I don't think people realize that it costs about the same to extract oil from the ground as it did 10 years ago. Exxon et al could charge $1.25 a gallon and still make a hefty profit, but it's demand that's allowing them to raise prices so much. Part of that demand is from countries like China and India becoming more industrialized and our own increased consumption of oil, but an even bigger contributor to this new demand are speculators. In the past five years or so, confidence in the American economy has fallen (due to huge debt, borrowing billions from communist China, etc.), so investors have been moving money out of American industry and have started buying up commodities instead (the big two being gold and oil). That's a big part of why the price of gold and oil has more than doubled in the past 5 years.
  • KeyserSoze
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    KeyserSoze polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    I don't think diddly squat will happen unless/until America implements some serious election reforms. As it is now, the country is pretty much owned by big business, and stuff like this happens as a result. We desperately need to limit the overwhelming influence of money on campaigns, and open up the political process to 3rd parties more.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    That's why we need public funding of elections and ban any private funding (especially from corprate sources). Some people might bitch about spending tax dollars on elections, but in the long run we'll save shit loads of money by electing politicians who are no longer beholden to private interests.
  • SHEPEIRO
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    SHEPEIRO polycounter lvl 17
    bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels bio-fuels
  • KeyserSoze
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    KeyserSoze polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    Well, you have to understand that in a capitalistic society, that companies like Exxon answer to their stockholders.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    It has fuck all to do with stockholders. The market determines the price; dividends come out of profits and do not influence the price of a good.
  • SHEPEIRO
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    SHEPEIRO polycounter lvl 17
    keyserSoze, true here aswell. although private funding SEAMS more tightly controled here, public funding would probably be a good thing. but how would you fund the parties, if it was per vote, then the most popular parties would allways have the advantage, also would it mean that the public would have to pay for parties like the BNP i hope not
  • Fuse
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    Fuse polycounter lvl 18
    you guys also have to remember that government takes a tax on the price of each litre of gasoline . .every time you fill up a good portion of it goes to the government ..
  • KeyserSoze
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    KeyserSoze polycounter lvl 18
    In the US we pay an average of about $0.40 per gallon in taxes (which I think would be roughly $0.11 per liter). Thats about a 13% tax.
  • ChaosEidolon
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    ChaosEidolon polycounter lvl 17
  • KeyserSoze
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    KeyserSoze polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    ride a bike!

    [/ QUOTE ]

    I do laugh.gif. I ride 3.7 miles to work (and another 3.7 back) 4 days a week, 2.9 miles to the office where I drop off my timecard once a week, and 1.9 miles to the bank to deposit my paycheck (speaking of which... today's payday smile.gif).
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    I live 25 miles from work... I won't be riding a bike wink.gif I also won't be moving near work since this area is a dump.

    I LOVE the way the government 'investigated' the oil companies for price gouging btw. It took them a whole, what?... 3 days? To determine that they weren't price gouging. Yeah, I'm confident that the investigation was really thorough.
  • poopinmymouth
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    poopinmymouth polycounter lvl 19
    Ride a bike indeed. I bicycle any time I can, 4.5 miles to and from work. Not only saves money but is great exercise. I have a motorcycle as well, so 10 dollars fills my tank on 91 premium, where I get about 45 mpg.

    poop.gif
  • ChaosEidolon
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    ChaosEidolon polycounter lvl 17
    *high five for all the bikers*

    25 miles? pshhaa...you could do it! 50 miles a day and you could be Lance armstrong part duex in no time.
    Ok, maybe not...

    What motorcycle you have ben? I got bitten by the bug a few months ago after seeing one of the new matte black Ducati Monsters riding around. good thing theyre pricey or i'd be in some serious temptation. =P
    I even bought the "ultimate guide to motorcycle whatever it is"

    god, im such a wannabe
  • sledgy
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    sledgy polycounter lvl 18
    Yeah I'm definitely looking into getting a motorcycle as well as a diesel pickup to run the potato chip oil. It's a snowball effect though. Most of our energy comes from oil. Prices for everything have increased dramatically as a result. I was just looking at a stack of groceries I bought yesterday and realized that the same stack 5 years ago cost half as much. I didn't get any 50% raise so that just makes me the poorer because of big business.

    Irritant, true the reason that big oil gives is "supply and demand" but also mentioned in the article is the problem that these oil companies reaping record profits need to build new refineries in order to increase supply. They have absolutely no incentive to right now. Oil = life. It's a basic need (for right now) There are laws against price gouging during emergency situations (like Katrina) and have special provisions for more punishment on gouging on the basics. I just think the country is more theocracy now than it was back in the 18th century.

    And OF COURSE it has to do with Bush (who clearly just pretty much rewrites laws on the fly) and the government. The Bush family has a web of ties with big oil. Are you still defending your decision to vote for that greedy monkey at this late date?
  • arshlevon
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    arshlevon polycounter lvl 18
    you know what i think is pretty fucked is now car companies have gas prices for life packages, and they where created for suvs. so you buy an suv and you send the car company your gas recepts everymonth and they remburse you the difference. so lets say you got the 2 dollar a gallon package, that means no matter what it says on the pump you really only pay 2 dollars a gallon for the rest of your life. (or the cars life) this guy at work just bought a big ass suv and was telling me about this package deal. stuff like this is so dumb, ...umm yeah your only paying 2 bucks a gallon, but your SUV only get .05 miles to evert 5 gallons, so what exactly are saving??? humans are dumb... oh so dumb

    i havent owned a car in 6 years, you dont need one. americans are just too lazy and get really tierd trying to walk and balance their 500 pound asses at the same time.

    all joking aside i have been looking for a car recently but the search for a car has been such a headache i am back to thinking i am better off without one.
  • KeyserSoze
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    KeyserSoze polycounter lvl 18
    It is fucked up, but it's only for a year, not for an entire lifetime (that would cost GM too much). It's an obvious gimmick to stimulate slowing SUV sales. But if they weren't offering this deal, they'd be offering a different deal of equal value (i.e. employee pricing, cash back, 0% financing, etc).
  • Fuse
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    Fuse polycounter lvl 18
    used or new auto arsh ?
  • ebagg
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    ebagg polycounter lvl 17
    I plan to get a used car (hopefully within the next week). But I will always do my damndest to live right by wherever I work. The commute times in this state are ridiculous, and the cost for filling a tank once a week like what I used to do these days would be horrendous. Plus those hours spent on the road every day saps your will to live. I just plan on using the car for errands or meeting friends across town or a few towns over.

    I'm with many of you when it comes to SUVs, WHAT'S THE POINT!? SUVs are ridiculously pointless, the only reason a person could possibly like them is if you either constantly hauled around a dozen people at once, or you've got WAY too much money to burn.

    We're now seeing a big push towards gas efficient cars, biodiesel and hybrids, hopefully the whole SUV trend will kick the dust real soon.
  • cochtl
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    cochtl polycounter lvl 18
    Weren't SUV's the next big push after the minivan era of american made vehicles died down? I remember watching a documentary on the oli crisis of the late 70's/early 80's nd the saving grace for american companies was the creation of the minivan. it just seems fat, bloated americans dont want to haul their asses in compact and generally efficient japanese cars. Americans and their canyoneros...

    canyonero.jpg
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    I talked about getting a bike once and my friends and family freaked out, I'd be sharing the road with SUV driving senior citizens. I only spend about $30 a month on gas though so it isn't so bad.
  • Ferg
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    Ferg polycounter lvl 17
    to all of you living in and around seattle...in king county, you can get pretty much anywhere with a bus pass and a bike (and make good time too)

    I've got an oldish jeep cherokee that I take around when I need to... but I've recently started exploring the bus system around here and I'm finding it's pretty damn good. Cheap and fast, with stops everywhere, and some great web support (http://www.busmonster.com/ and http://transit.metrokc.gov/)

    humans are greedy by nature... the only instinct that will override the greed in the end is the need to survive, which will kick in once gas passes $5/gallon I'd imagine. Gas prices have been there and higher in europe for a while, and they now have cars that are far more fuel efficient (their Prius has an "electric only" button on the dashboard... the american version just has a plastic circle where the button should be). Hooray for capitalism!

    ps - if anyone here has a prius and is interested, here's some info on the "missing button"
  • sonic
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    sonic polycounter lvl 18
    Unfortunately, it would be extremely hard for me to ride a bike to work every day. I blow through gas so much that it pisses me off (it's expensive!), but I have to do it to get to work. Also, my truck gets around 12mpg city (it was given to me, so don't bitch, I didn't choose it). Fortunately, I'm about to buy a car that gets about 33mpg and is flex fuel (e85).
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    I wouldn't mind riding a bike to work, but both my jobs are about 15-20 miles away. The 'vette gets mid-to-high 20's on the mpg, particularily with freeway driving (which is 90% of the driving I do) while at speed (which is 100% of the driving I do). Considering that's better than a lot of the car's around me, I feel pretty happy about it. I end up going through a tank about once a week or so. Around the Bay Area you really can't afford to not have a car, unless you live in relatively close proximity to your job or both your job and home are relatively close to transit... which sucks, by the way, because the local govt. has repeatedly siphoned the money that was taxed out of us for transit and wasted it on other projects.

    My mom drive's a Chevy Avalanche, and before I hear a single peep about 'gas guzzling SUV', we use that thing to haul / tow / carry stuff on a weekly basis, often loaded to the hilt.

    Hybrids, in my opinion, are a dumb idea, particularily cause noone seems to consider the costs of repairing / replacing the battery / engines once their warranty is up; and having to trade in your old hybrid for a new one after just a few years just to keep it under warranty is an absolutely ludicrous idea.

    The other *huge* problem with this area is the environmentalists in CA pretty much made it mandatory that any new freeways have to have a commute lane, so noone's building wider roads to accomodate all the traffic, and the few areas that are getting upgraded are really just receiving a commute lane. The traffic jams caused by the loss of a lane during commute hours are absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention the fact that the people that drive hybrids have to pay through the nose just to get a 'commute lane OK' pass.
  • McIlroy
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    McIlroy polycounter lvl 17
    It's just amazing that the demand for fuel is so high ? I mean I personally know a ton of people who have called off road trips and just do minimal travel because of the price of gas . It's not like I know 1 or 2 people who drive less everybody i know does . How can the demand be so high ? I mean yeah when i go to the local gas station which is .05c below everyone else that station is jam packed but why ? I really wish we could all collectivly agree as a planet infact to not buy gas for a few days or just cut our gas needs by 20-30% and watch the gas companies squirm !
  • ChaosEidolon
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    ChaosEidolon polycounter lvl 17
    [ QUOTE ]
    Hybrids, in my opinion, are a dumb idea, particularily cause noone seems to consider the costs of repairing / replacing the battery / engines once their warranty is up...

    [/ QUOTE ]

    It's not just about a personal expense standpoint though. The current gas based transport model isnt sustainable, noone can argue that point. So this is a baby step towards the next model, which will hopefully be hydrogen based.
    Also keep in mind that the only reason hybrids are expensive now is because its a new technology. In 20 or 30 years, your Corvette will probably be more expensive to maintain than a hybrid/electric.
    As for the traffic situation, yeah it's crap over there, but that can ONLY get worse. If you have a bunch of hybrids on the road, at least you can get rid of some of that smog while youre sitting in traffic. So in that respect i think its a good move to have the commuter lane incentive, even if it's just a band-aid solution.

    Personally i wish theyd stop dicking around and invest in a proper rail system. That will do a much better job of clearing congestion than adding more lanes.
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    McIlroy: I've been wondering the same... I know many people who have stopped traveling. People around me have also been unloading their trucks. Obviously that means there is a new owner driving it around, but the effort to reduce usage IS there. So the demand SHOULD be going down, even if the oil companies claim it isn't.

    The thing that bothers me is how they jack up the price when an 'accident' happens at a refinery, or some other sort of disaster causes the prices to go up. But when that problem is resolved, the prices never returned.
  • Ninjas
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    Ninjas polycounter lvl 18
    I think that the price of gas has something to do with the fact that it is getting harder and harder to find and extract oil, and the Chinese are paying whatever it takes to get the oil they need.

    There is going to be no more oil to sell in 50 years. The big oil companies know this and are adjusting the prices so their supply can last them until they can transition into something else.
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    McIlroy... funny, cause I'm actually looking into taking a road trip in the none-to-distant future, and the cost of fuel for driving would end up being just slightly more than the cheap-seat tickets. Then again, I consider a drive to be a lot more fun. If you've never driven through some of the American countryside, among other areas, you just don't know what you're missing.

    ChaosEidolon.. The maintenance costs for hybrids is likely to go up, not down, over the years, as the technology involved gets more in depth and less Battery + Motor + Generator, particularily with the newer batteries in development. Any person that buys a vehicle and doesn't consider the personal expense standpoint shouldn't even be buying a car in the first place. I somehow doubt my 'vette is going to be more expensive to maintain over time, particularily with the wide availability of parts (it's just a standard Chevy v8) and the overall simplicity of the combustion engine. I must argue about the traffic, as it's actually gotten better over here in recent years; the end of the .com era with the 'dot-bomb'ing easily cut traffic in half around the bay area. The problem that remains is that CalTrans is a government-paid road maintenance program, so it works just about as fast as any other government program at taking care of the roads around here. To make matters worse (though considering how fast I drive, I shouldn't be complaining), the number of CHP's in the area (, heck, even in the state I believe,) has not gone up at all compared to the number of drivers on the road. Combine all these factors with the number or *extremely* poor and uneducated drivers on the road (who haven't got the first idea of how to drive defensively or react properly to a situation), and it truly is amazing that we don't have more accidents and traffic jams than we already do.
  • Daz
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    Daz polycounter lvl 18
    Not saying anything by posting this, it just made me chuckle smile.gif

    http://www.viralchart.com/media/clips/gasguzzler.mov
  • kat
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    kat polycounter lvl 17
    [ QUOTE ]
    I don't think diddly squat will happen unless/until America implements some serious election reforms. As it is now, the country is pretty much owned by big business, and stuff like this happens as a result. We desperately need to limit the overwhelming influence of money on campaigns, and open up the political process to 3rd parties more.

    [/ QUOTE ]I was watching this documentary on the internet about the cadidates for what I think was Governour of the State Bill Clinton was in. It was portrayed in the media as a *four* horse race, when in fact there were *five* in the running. For whatever reasons the fifth guy was refused airtime and even had to interrupt and voice his protest at a public 'head to head' that was being held between the cadidates, he barely got that.

    When you see things like that going on with a legitimate political candidate nothing else is a supprise, so is it really any wonder why they don't listen to the poeple, they don't need to.
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    Daz.. hahahaha, yah, I can totally see that kind of attitude over in the UK, what with the prices they pay. It's kind of funny to be sitting in the Avalanche, fully loaded, and see some other SUV roll by with one or two people in it, all nice and washed with the huge chrome rims shining, and think... "what a bunch of losers, wasting fuel like that". Our family's always had a large SUV-type vehicle for as far back as I can remember (my first vehicle was an 85 GMC Jimmy with a 6.2L diesel engine... miss that monster frown.gif ), and it's always been used as a workhorse first, nice family-carrier second. With us being outside of the cliche 'soccer mom' rings, I actually find it annoying at times considering some of the remarks we've gotten from people about driving such a large vehicle.
  • Rick Stirling
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    Rick Stirling polycounter lvl 18
    My word.

    While Ford is having trouble getting hybrids to American buyers, in the UK, Ford cars average 20-40 mpg more than their US counterparts.

    Ford UK Ford USA
    Model MPG Model MPG
    Ford Focus 49.6 urban/57.6 extra urban Ford Focus 26 City/34 hwy
    Ford Fusion 61.4 mpg combined Ford Fusion 23 city/31 hwy
    Ford Galaxy 42.8 combined Ford Freestar 18 city/24 hwy
    Ford Ka 32.1/51.4 Ford Escape Hybrid 36 city/31 hwy
    Ford Mondeo 34.5 urban/ 57.7 extra urban Ford Taurus 20 city/27 hwy

    source : http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?section=communique&newsid=10438
  • Rick Stirling
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    Rick Stirling polycounter lvl 18
    And another good read - the double comma is there, you'll need to C&P

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1808314,00.html

    I get the bus to a from work most days, but actaully walk home quite a lot when I think about it. costs me 1.08 a day for my pass.
  • ElysiumGX
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    ElysiumGX polycounter lvl 18
    We Americans have created a society in which we screw ourselves. Logic is dead. I want a new government.

    I've been putting serioius thought into selling my car, which I love and it gets great gas mileage. For the price I can get, I can buy a Toyota truck, and a nice motorcycle. I can drive the bike to work to save gas, and use the truck only when I need to. It won't do much to save the world, but I'll feel better about myself, and have more money around to put in savings.

    I just can't believe a company could profit so much during our "time of crisis", and do nothing about it. Imagine of a fraction of those profits went into financing new technologies.

    Send the children of the rich oil tycoons to Iraq.
  • Luxury
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    Luxury polycounter lvl 18
    I kicked the oil habit for a year and half until just recently when I switched jobs. Commuting again. Now I'm back at the gas pumps. I miss my skateboard. frown.gif
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    I kinda wish people didnt have the NIMBY attitude towards nuclear power, then mass-producing hydrogen could be a reasonable alternative. Depending on fossil fuels to produce hydrogen is a joke. I for one would be all for hydrogen power for cars, seeing as you can make some pretty bitchin' setups, particularily on old-school muscle car engines.
  • ElysiumGX
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    ElysiumGX polycounter lvl 18
    I'd rather go for the soybean oil powered muscle car.
  • Thegodzero
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    Thegodzero polycounter lvl 18
    Did you hear what they wanted to extract the hydrogen from? They wanted to extract the hydrogen from oil... I'm talking about the mass production of hydrogen from oil. Oil being a complex compound that it is it has lots of hydrogen in it. So it makes sense if your a brain washed twit with a role of hundreded in your mouth to gag you. Thats how beyond brain washed and currupt we are, we have entered to realm of blatant darwinian stupidity.

    BTW I love the diversion known as E85 that byfar has to be the smartest thing they have released. Its not oil and is "home gown" so we feel pride in sticking it to the oil companys. Yet its made by the oil companys and is just as bad for the air... Way to go!
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    I wonder how all that money will go back into the economy.

    in tokyo you're mad IF you own a car.
  • KeyserSoze
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    KeyserSoze polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    Also, my truck gets around 12mpg city (it was given to me, so don't bitch, I didn't choose it).

    [/ QUOTE ]

    I have the same problem (I drive an old '88 3/4-ton Suburban that gets about 10mpg), but I'm fortunate enough to live in a small down that's great for biking (I've been told that Chico, CA is one of the best biking towns in the US).
  • KeyserSoze
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    KeyserSoze polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    How can the demand be so high?

    [/ QUOTE ]

    because of what I mentioned earlier:

    [ QUOTE ]
    but an even bigger contributor to this new demand are speculators. In the past five years or so, confidence in the American economy has fallen (due to huge debt, borrowing billions from communist China, etc.), so investors have been moving money out of American industry and have started buying up commodities instead (the big two being gold and oil). That's a big part of why the price of gold and oil has more than doubled in the past 5 years.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    You have to realize that people at the pump aren't the only one's who are buying oil; they're also buying it on Wall Street. Investors have been buying oil like crazy, because the Bush economy is running on fumes and borrowed Chinese money, so confidence in American industry has fallen.
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    I wonder how all that money will go back into the economy.

    in tokyo you're mad IF you own a car.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    Probably paying off all the construction crews to rebuild the rigs that Katrina played with like little toys...

    ...and does that explain some of the crazy looking vehicles we see Jap modders mess around with?
  • danr
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    danr interpolator
    rick - wouldn't it be farcical if it turned out the writer of the first article you linked had merely pulled the economy stats from different US and european sources and forgotten that the US gallon is smaller than the european one. Oh yes that would be ridiculous
  • Rick Stirling
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    Rick Stirling polycounter lvl 18
    Funny, at the time I was going to mention that, but I found another article comparing the Lotus Elise which went into that in depth, and used Ford figures too which made me think they had taken the gallon size into account...

    ...but if they haven't, then YE GODS, sloppy journalism.

    If anyone else does a bit of searching on this they will find that of the cars SOLD in America, Honda and Toyota are the most fuel efficient, and Dodge, GM and Ford in that order are the worst cars for fuel efficiency.

    I'm about to put on my iPod and my sunglasses and walk 10 minutes to a bus stop (not the closest one, I want to walk around a bit in this glorious weather) and hop on the bus.
  • flaagan
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    flaagan polycounter lvl 18
    I'm sure some UK'er will snub it, but didn't Top Gear recently report that riding the bus / train wastes more fuel per person than if each individual rode in a car?... and that numerous diesel cars in the UK were more fuel efficient than the Prius...
  • Daz
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    Daz polycounter lvl 18
    I think that's pretty common knowledge Rick. The thing is, that it's only comparitively recently that the American SUV market has started to fade, and that's not really due to environmental concerns so much as gas prices of course.

    Unfortunately, GM's lack of foresight will bite them in the behind, since (according to NPR this week) their taking so long to jump on the hybrid/simply better fuel efficiency bandwagon has taken so long, that a gazillion patents that have already been filed by Toyota et al in that realm, they're gonna have to now pay for.
  • Rick Stirling
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    Rick Stirling polycounter lvl 18
    I beleive the efficiency thing was that a fully loaded car was slightly more efficient than a fully loaded train over a long distance - 400 miles or so. when it comes to urban areas the fule efficiency of the car drops considerably.

    As for buses, no idea, but in my OWN UNIFORMED opinion, I'll state with no proof, simply theorising:

    Most buses in Edinburgh city are full or nearly full, certainly at peak times.

    Most cars have one person in them.

    1 bus takes the same road space as what, 6 cars, yet I *doubt* it uses 6 times te amount of fuel. Those 6 cars will cause more congestion than 1 bus
  • KDR_11k
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    KDR_11k polycounter lvl 18
    I'm sure some UK'er will snub it, but didn't Top Gear recently report that riding the bus / train wastes more fuel per person than if each individual rode in a car?

    I have trouble believing that as most trains run on electicity these days. Until you can fuel your car with plutonium (cue the Back To The Future references), wind or hydropower that can't be compared.

    wouldn't it be farcical if it turned out the writer of the first article you linked had merely pulled the economy stats from different US and european sources and forgotten that the US gallon is smaller than the european one.

    The difference in mileage is smaller than the difference in gallon size.
    Never mind that european websites would give a litres/100km number instead of miles/gallon.
  • doc rob
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    doc rob polycounter lvl 19
    [ QUOTE ]
    My word.

    While Ford is having trouble getting hybrids to American buyers, in the UK, Ford cars average 20-40 mpg more than their US counterparts.

    Ford UK Ford USA
    Model MPG Model MPG
    Ford Focus 49.6 urban/57.6 extra urban Ford Focus 26 City/34 hwy
    Ford Fusion 61.4 mpg combined Ford Fusion 23 city/31 hwy
    Ford Galaxy 42.8 combined Ford Freestar 18 city/24 hwy
    Ford Ka 32.1/51.4 Ford Escape Hybrid 36 city/31 hwy
    Ford Mondeo 34.5 urban/ 57.7 extra urban Ford Taurus 20 city/27 hwy

    source : http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?section=communique&newsid=10438

    [/ QUOTE ]

    Another reason for this is that these cars are not identical. As I understand it, most carmakers put much smaller engines in their cars when they release them in the UK (because of gas prices).

    I don't think you can sell a car in the US that has less than 100 horsepower, there's a stigma left over from the muscle car age.
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