negative externality of CAFE standard and stupid people

the recent elimination of exemption of autos over specific gvw is expected to raise economy and help fuel consumption but . if those seeking tax breaks and those seeking new truck sales behave in a rational manner the higher standard will just proove the fact that raising the bar generates stilt sales for taller stilts!! acording to this guys rant http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/28972 the car maker has made decisions to keep ahead of CAFE standards over the years that have produced porky trucks that do less than their predecessors. as a car Buff i see many flaws in the argument . but it is entirely possible that car makers have avoided innovation and increases in mileage over the years just to reduce costs. but he argues that they have been avoiding the standard. and that this revision of the standard will be a major improvment to helping fuel economy . what if ?, to get around the standard again the car makers just keep making the trucks heavy ? if all it takes is more weight then there is no reason they wont just bolt plates of lead into the floor and move on . to think that a change was needed and would be effective with out looking at his own argument that car makers have made decisions to keep advances out of trucks and purposly build heavy usless trucks is absurd. how about if it werent for CAFE standards the truck companys may have never made an extended cab truck , if not for the exmptions for taxes and write off potential to buisness, the small buisness owners wouldent buy trucks instead of cars.. i know of someone who hasent driven 1000 miles on his 2005 ford 1 ton truck and has no use for a truck yet because it qualifys for a specific credit or refund he bought a truck instead of a car. if there were no incentive there would have been a rational decision . many of these things may come about if CAFE hadent been implemented. so this authors argument that evil automakers arent using advances to make their product superior is quite flawed. and his comparason to a mercedes delivery truck is also laughable . instead of touting the mercedes advanced abilitys and more usefull attributes he should have been looking at the market forces that created such trucks . the real problem (if his supposition that the us truck makers had acted in the manner that he described) is how much better the domestic trucks would have been if CAFE standards hadent influenced the makers decisions . so if he is correct then he is also full of sandwich meat!!! and to counter his argument . in the medium duty truck market (which was minimaly regulated by mechanisims like CAFE) there were produced and still are produced 1.5 to 2 ton trucks that equall or surpass the capibilitys of the sprinter . they weigh more haul more and get darn near the same mileage with 20+ yr old tech. the delivery market and consumer market are vastly different and he has compared a delivery van with a farm truck.... the reason 20 + years ago there were allmost 2 ton trucks getting 20 mpg was its market was not interfered with! and buisness owners were looking for any way to deliver the goods with lowest costs and truck makers were looking to sell trucks! so if one were to compare apples to apples the real reason pickup trucks are gas hawgs is actually CAFE standards.