Paying a Price

The U.S. quest for a cleaner, safer environment has forced companies to adhere to thousands of dizzying--and expensive--Government regulations. General Motors has figured out exactly just how high the cost is running for itself.

The research, development and administrative expenses of meeting Government regulations at GM came to $1,258,000,000 last year, or an average of $200 for every car and truck the company sold in the U.S. The work involved the equivalent of 23,700 employees. It included everything from putting in new production machinery to the cost of designing cars to meet federal pollution, safety, health, noise and other regulations. But it did not include installation of federally mandated parts, such as emissions-control systems and safety bumpers, on the cars. These costs also become part of the price the consumer must pay, but GM did not give out the figures. In addition, says Chairman Thomas Murphy, the fuel-economy standards coming into effect between now and the early 1980s "could add another $800 or more to the average retail price of our cars."

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