Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has a pipe dream. An exhaust pipe dream, to be specific.
And it involves station wagons.
The new standards would reduce the miles-per-gallon industry fleetwide average for light-duty vehicles from 50.4 miles per gallon under a Biden-era rule to roughly 34.5 miles per gallon by the 2031 model year.
“This rule will actually allow you to bring back the 1970s station wagon — maybe a little wood paneling on the side,” Duffy proposed. “We can bring back choice to consumers, so yeah, the minivan is awesome, but maybe the station wagon is cool, too.”
Although the station wagon was a common sight on American roads during the mid-20th century, they lost market share to SUVs and crossovers and haven’t been produced in the U.S. since 2020, according to TopSpeed.com.
But while Duffy may be nostalgic for the wood-paneled station wagon, his zeal didn’t appear to be shared by others on social media.
Duffy’s station wagon revival dream isn’t his only recent wish to return to the days of yore that has made him a target of ridicule.
CORRECTION: This story has been amended to correct the first name of fictional character Clark Griswold.