AutoNation CEO: Gas is too cheap

Mike Jackson, CEO of the nation’s largest auto retailer, tells Fortune’s Carol Loomis that the U.S. needs higher gas taxes, and GM needs to dump its old business model.

NEW YORK (Fortune) — For most Americans, Topic A in the auto industry right now is the fate of GM. Mike Jackson, 60, the outspoken CEO of the nation’s largest auto retailer, AutoNation, has some definite opinions about that subject–and we’ll spell them out below. But his own Topic A today is the level of gas prices, which he thinks intolerably low. Here is the conversation that he and FORTUNE senior editor at large Carol Loomis had a few days ago.

Tell me your opinions about the price of gas and what might be done to influence it.

I think we need a revenue-neutral gas tax that puts a floor under the price of gasoline at around $3.50 to $4. The price of gas totally determines the types of vehicles that people buy and how they use them. The fact that America has ignored this reality is the reason why our energy policies have failed for 50 years. With gas now around $2 per gallon, it won’t be possible to sell fuel-efficient vehicles. Already, another great migration away from them is underway. I’ve seen this movie three times in my career.

How would you establish a price floor?

Through taxation. But it doesn’t need to happen by next month. If you simply announce that taxes will be put in after the economy recovers, in 2011 or 2012, people will start now to factor that into their decisions.

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