Originally Posted by rickair7777

I would postulate that the math might be a bit different in 2026... many vehicles are a lot more fuel efficient than comparable ones in the past. Yes you need to be wealthy-ish to own a Tesla but lower-end hybrids, smaller engines, and other efficiency "features" are now the norm in middle/lower economic demographics.

If the *average" consumer burns less gas, then the system can tolerate more price run-up before consequences manifest.

The folks with jacked up full size king cabs with Hemis are not in that equation... they already made the choice that their car is a hobby/toy, not strictly practical transport.

For clarity, I'm not saying that I *like* oppressive federal mandates, in fact I despise the now-ubiquitous garbage eco-boost engines, but it all does factor into this situation.