CAFE standards made cheap light trucks illegal; to a point, they also make cheap small cars illegal (ignoring the absurd collision standards- 2005 cars and 2020 cars are not meaningfully different; but in 2005 the average car on the road was still under 3000 pounds).

As always, power without accountability. No bureaucrat or lawmaker is getting fined or voted out for these stupid standards that have done untold economic damage, and this crap will continue until they are.

If we have these powerful motors working less, then the inefficiencies of the entire life cycle will reveal themselves.

Perhaps there is a specific section of vehicle infrastructure near you that requires more turnovers to navigate.

I bet most town halls are amenable to data given their civil engineering capacity.