There are a lot of good things that could come from the passage of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Phase II fuel economy/greenhouse gas proposed rule, but what it could do to the glider kit industry isn’t one of them.
Under the proposed rule, a glider kit – basically a truck without an engine, transmission or rear axles – would be treated the same as new truck off the line, and would be expected to meet current-day emissions standards despite being powered by prior-standard model year equipment.
Basically, if you install a 2010 engine in a 2018 glider kit, that 2010 engine had better be at least 2018 complaint.
A glider kit’s primary selling point is its sticker price, but under the current EPA proposal, all that incentive will disappear and it may take the entire industry with it.
Roughly 10,000 glider kits are sold annually and failing to offer an exemption for glider kits removes any incentive to purchase or manufacture them, which basically could kill the glider kit and related industries.
There are also other considerations.
I don’t want to get into a lot of doom-and-gloom tin foil hat-type predictions here, but do we really want the government deciding if a rebuilt or remanufactured powertrain changes a truck’s new/used status?
