Walking in Waterloo Region

[ijmorlan]

Yes, many things defineable as 'family cars' have specific regulations around them (which adds expense to design and manufacturing). By making vehicles not designated in that category (SUVs, pickups) they can save money. Every corporate decision comes down to the dollars.

To be fair, lawmakers should have known that and designed the laws to avoid these sorts of perverse incentives. For example, implement a carbon tax, rather than having weird efficiency rules that apply only to certain classes of vehicle. The effect of a certain amount of carbon emissions on the environment does not depend on why the carbon was emitted.

Nobody should be writing legislation who doesn’t understand that as soon as a descriptive category becomes a legal criterion for whether certain laws apply, it will become the subject of gamesmanship.