Featured Would there have even been a Prius?

Yes, it matters. Blaming Biden for CARB regulations is a serious disconnect from reality. And transitioning from oil to renewables as the top energy sources over many decades, just doesn't "put the oil companies out of business." Their non-energy petrochemical business operations are growing rapidly.

I'm seeing a list of now 18 CARB states plus DC, as being just 40% of the nation's population. The lion's share is still non-CARB.

Suggestions that the vehicle manufacturers would cease supplying 60% of the population (200 million people) with traditional ICE vehicles, just because they can't sell these as new (only used) to the other 40%, are just absurd.

 

No - not faulting Joe. Simply pointing out that feds didn't need to regulate because CARB states were given permission to impose stricter standards. It's cheaper for manufacturers to manufacture in a all-inclusive manner, as pollution control R&D is able to get spread over the whole, rather than have to tool up for some significantly smaller percentage that don't have to meet stricter compliance standards.

 

Think about this a little harder. NO amount of stricter practical pollution controls can get conventional ICE vehicles to pass the CARB ZEV rules. That means these ICEs would now be freed of the '2-Rules' emissions standards system and very likely can even revert to the cheaper federal-only standards for the lion's share of the market, the 32 states where they would still be legal. This market is much too large for the car makers to ignore. And Trump recently killed the stricter new Biden rules, so the car makers should be sitting fat and happy there, no more pollution control R&D needed for these at all.

A significant portion of the consumer market doesn't want those conventional ICE models anymore, so the makers also must play in the BEV and PHEV and hybrid markets even absent any CARB ZEV rules. This market is also much too large to ignore.

Remember also that the states adopting CARB did so at the will of their electorates. Their voters are not dumping their elected officials who wrote and adopted these laws.

 

The CARB states don't happen to be purple or blue, do they?

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. Plus DC

 

Currently. Virginia is no longer CARB but that may change considering the new governor starting next year.

 

Here's what I think About CARB.

2019 Corvette ZR1 Coupe - 1G1Y52D90K5802801 - Corvette Action Center

- YouTube

- YouTube

 

It looks like you don't think about CARB.

It looks like you think about Corvettes.

 

I own that Vett and admire the others. just because one drives a Prius, does not mean one can not be a car guy.

 

Corvettes are interesting, although I'd never own one. I hate getting flung around corners at fast speeds or being pushed back into my seat from taking off like a bat out of... well, you know. But I do find the mechanical parts of Corvettes and their changes in engineering over the years very interesting. Who'd ever thought they'd now be mid-engine with a flat plane crank?

I really can't find any new car I like these days. I might be interested if only there were something like a modernized air-cooled Beetle available, but that's never going to happen. If I had the money, I'd probably start collecting classic cars and would likely have a 2nd gen Prius in that collection.

 

I am much too susceptible to motion sickness to enjoy a 'spirited' ride in anything like that. If forced to endure such a ride, I will vomit in it. And whoever forced or tricked my into it, will be responsible for the cleanup.

While still learning about this inherited condition, an observant carnival operator stopped a ride early and unloaded me first. An excellent move on his part.

It is genetic, and I'm not the only one who inherited it.

 

I owned a Prius v and a Porsche simultaneously. 3 hybrids, 3 Porsches, 2 Alfas, 3 VWs, Nissan, BMW, Pontiac, Dodge Grand Caravan, Ford Falcon, Plymouth Horizon, Nissan Stanza, Volvo PV544 ... there must have been more. I'm old.

Mostly a car for a time and purpose and sometimes the purpose was just fun.

 

It's a big change from the grey smoggy days of the past in big cities.
There's always going to be a demand for pure ICE vehicles. Non-CARB states will benefit, in the form of short-low mileage lease terms; to get the required mileage to transport into a CARB state - where it would garner a higher price. New twist on 'gently used' and this would also benefit rental car fleets transferring popular makes and models to CARB states for higher payback.
If auto manufacturers were smart, they would continue the pursuit of cleaner, more fuel efficient vehicles - otherwise they would slowly get locked out of the world markets for falling behind and not meeting individual country emissions mandates.

Just my two cents......

 

Just because someone has never owned a Corvette does not mean they are not a car guy.