You go ahead...
...and keep making excuses for why you love your gas-sucking, ultra-polluting SUV. The rest of us, who actually care about leaving an Earth to our children and grandchildren, will continue to push for smaller, more efficient, low-emissions cars. Consumers are the ones pushing this small-car movement, so blaming "government officials and the people who advocate for big government" is flat-out ludicrous and clearly shows your bias.
By the way, having worked with retail gasoline distributors in the past, I can tell you that 99% of the gas stations in this area sell gasoline "at cost," therefore profit margins have nothing to do with gasoline sales to these businesses. Lowered need for gasoline will have minimal impact on them, so one of your arguments bites the dust.
Fuel savings alone can make up for a significant portion of a vehicle payment. In my case, downsizing means that the balance between fuel expenditures, car payments, and insurance from a minivan that got 16mpg to a small car that gets 45mpg balance out to a monthly expenditure increase of only $47 per month. This is to get a vehicle 10 years newer which pollutes significantly less, gets three times the fuel mileage and has a warranty. That "bigger payment" that won't let me afford many things never materialized and another of your arguments fails as well.
Smaller cars may mean smaller profit margins, but that doesn't necessarily mean less income to the company. Smaller prices on smaller cars mean more people can afford to upgrade, therefore, vehicle sales may well increase. That would make up for the smaller profit margins by volume sales. Your third argument just keeled over.
While none of the three of these is guaranteed, neither are any of your arguments. Therefore, stating your arguments in such a manner, without a disclaimer like this one, that makes it appear that these "unintended consequences" are guaranteed is pure and simple bias and misinformation. Stating that this is the effect of governmental regulation, rather than the consumer pressure that it actually is, is a flat-out lie.
-Jason
