determination of car vs truck

["G. Steinke" <g_steinke@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was curious about something and could not find out via web research. The 
question - What is the official determination of a car vs a truck in the 
USA? Manufacturers benefit by labeling a vehicle a truck - laxer 
emissions/fuel economy/safety rules and no need to add gas-guzzler tax to 
the sticker. (witness the Chrysler PT Cruiser, which is officially a truck.) 
So why wouldn't a manufacturer say that all their vehicles are trucks? Take 
BMW - the X5 is considered a truck, and hence is exempt from gas-guzzler 
tax, and also is subject to looser regulations. The purchaser of a 540 wagon 
has to pay $1300 in gas-guzzler tax. Furthermore, the sale of a 540 as a car 
means that its relatively poor mileage drags down their car CAFE average, 
which is higher for cars than for trucks. This could result in BMW 
potentially paying a corporate fine.

So why doesn't BMW say that the 540 wagon is a truck? It has more cargo room 
than the X5, for one thing. The fact that it is 2wd does not matter, there's 
plenty of 2wd trucks around.

Just curious. The makers that tag their vehicles as "trucks" get to take 
advantage of these loopholes, so I wonder why all manufacturers don't do it.

Greg

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