New Oil Crisis and Fuel Economy Technologies Preparing the Light Transportation Industry for the 1990's

Summary: A highly readable and authoritatively written book with an important message for US industry and government in a world of long-term uncertainty of gasoline price and availability. The author argues persuasively that current low fuel prices and the relative lack of competition in the US auto market are creating an unwillingness by US car companies to innovate and take risks to improve their product. Needed product imp...rovements relate not only to fuel economy, but also to a wide range of technological features. Choice The halcyon days of low oil prices in the 1980s are fated to give way to another major oil crisis, asserts the author of this comprehensive, carefully documented analysis. Researched under the auspices of the Federation of American Scientists, this study presses for development of automotive fuel economy technologies. Bleviss focuses on two interrelated themes--the spector of another oil crisis and its effect on the light transportation industry. Foreign makers of light vehicles are already ahead of domestic automakers in developing new fuel economy technologies. The study suggests that unless the United States moves aggressively to develop these technologies now, the nation will be unprepared for the severity of the approaching world-wide crisis and for the research advantage gained by foreign industry. [read more]