Energy economy was regarded as a significant factor in their choice of a new car by a minimum of 1/3 of buyers in America. Because of the preoccupation today with pollution, global warming and America’s dependence on international sources of oil, it’s actually shocking to learn that as long ago as 1992 a car that got 100 miles to the gallon was built by General Motors. The GM TPC had been a car that was able to get 75 miles per gallon, weighed about 1000 pounds, plus looked like the Geo Metro. The car had a 3-cylinder engine, yet was discontinued when it needed 200 pounds of reinforcement to be added to comply with America’s safety laws.
It may be shocking that GM had this car built and abandoned, but they had other prototypes that ended the same way. These vehicles include the GM Lean-Machine in 1982 at 80 MPG, as well as the GM Ultralite which got 100 MPG. GM was selling cars to the shopping public in 1992 that did 20 mpg, while Honda was getting 50 mpg with their Civic VX, but right then GM already covertly had cars doing 100 miles per gallon. If cars which were able to get 100 miles per gallon had already been developed way back then, why is it that such cars are not being sold today?
It is just a weird phenomenon that some companies promote traditional vehicles in the US, but sell different, more efficient cars in other countries. Customers in Japan and Europe have for quite some time now been able to get cars that do 70 miles per gallon and more. For example, the Volswagen Lupo has never been marketed in north america – this is a car that gets 78 mpg. Honda introduced to the US sector in 2007, a car known as the Fit, but known as the Jazz in other parts of the world. The Jazz in Japan has ways to increase fuel economy and a smaller engine, but for the US, the Fit doesn’t even contain a smaller engine as an option.
In North America the manufacturers point out they have to build big cars mainly because that is what the American public wants. Building a small commuter type vehicle doesn’t make the manfacturer big money, unlike with a large SUV. Commercials have convinced the citizens of the US that Tanks on Wheels are an absolute must to have. It really is quite clear where the giant companies’ interests lay when you consider that they have never offered options. GM could right now have been in the leading position with fuel-efficient vehicles, but they decided, rather, to champion SUVs. Americans haven’t been denied merely by GM, but also by all of those other manufacturers who have developed fuel-efficient cars.
We live in a society that has waged wars over oil, that has been polluted, and car makers have never even given the choice to people in this country of fuel-efficient cars. Ask this question: how many people who were never given the opportunity would have been thrilled to have a car that was fuel-efficient? Maybe the instant has come to restart building those cars that were developed only to be abandoned all those years ago.
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