Extremely Lame

Poring through the newspaper at work, I came across a short article deriding certain California government officials for saying that Detroit auto makers “aren’t doing enough to improve fuel economy.” The article then compares gas mileage ratings from many years ago to those today and compares the percentages each auto maker has dropped. Interestingly, all the companies compared showed a decrease in fuel economy, particularly Honda, which went from 35.5 mpg in 1977 to 28.7 mpg in 2007. Here are the numbers:

Honda: 35.5 miles per gallon in 1977; 28.7 mpg in ‘07 (down 19.2 percent)

Nissan: 31.7 mpg in 1983; 25.8 mpg in ‘07 (down 18.6 percent)

Chrysler: 25.8 mpg in 1983; 22.7 in ‘07 (down 12 percent) (Its later numbers are distorted by the marriage to Mercedes-Benz.)

Ford: 24.8 mpg in 1993; 23.3 mpg in ‘07 (down 6 percent)

General Motors: 25.3 mpg in 1987; 24 mpg in ‘07 (down 5.1 percent)

Toyota: 30.5 mpg in 1983; 29 mpg in ‘07 (down 4.9 percent)

The article implies that we should instead be deriding Japanese auto makers more because their average gas mileages dropped more than American auto companies, the sole exception being Toyota.

There are a couple of problems with this. First, with regards to Japanese auto makers, they’re comparing manufacturers that produced nothing but rinky-dink economy cars in the ’70s and ’80s to those same manufacturers who are now also producing trucks and SUVs.

Furthermore, look at the beginning dates for those mileages. All the “before” mileages for the Japanese cars come from 1977 (four years after the 1973 oil crisis) and 1983 (four years after the 1979 oil crisis) . The fuel economies for any autos made in these years are naturally going to be more fuel efficient than average. The American “before” mileages go from 1983 to ‘87 to ‘93. Worst case, you’re taking a 30 year history (Honda)  and comparing it with a 14 year history (Ford) and trying to show how Honda’s fuel economy dropped so much more than Ford did. Well, of course it did! It had over twice the time to drop that Ford did! Comparing percentage drops is only going to be relevant if you’re comparing them over the same time span.

Finally, and most damning, is that if you look at the 2007 numbers, every last Japanese manufacturer’s listed fuel economy is still higher than every last American manufacturer today. Hell, the lower Japanese gas mileages of 2007 are still better than the higher American fuel economies of yesteryear.

It’s great to massage the numbers to try and prove your point, isn’t it? A word of advice. Next time, don’t put all that extra information up so that anyone with basic reading and math comprehension skills can call you out for being the manipulative twits you are.