[onewhippedpuppy]

Anyone notice that this is damn near the sole focus of the automaker bailout mess? Every senator blathering on about American cars not getting good enough MPG. Every American commercial bragging about having the highest MPG in it's class. The company bailout plans that are centered around new plug-in hybrid vehicles for 2010. Etc, etc, etc.

So is it just me, or are they all missing the point? American cars CAN get good MPG. Pretty much any Cobalt, Focus, etc will get mid-30s MPG same as the imports. But the cars are crap. So by putting the focus on MPG, are they still going to be building cars (post bailout) that nobody will buy?

My expectation is that a few years and billions later, we'll still have senators scratching their heads wondering why the new 35 MPG GM whatever had class-leading MPG but still didn't sell. It seems that nobody realizes (or will acknowledge) that quality and reliability killed off the American auto industry.