Why Is It That People Cannot Build Fuel-Efficient Vehicles?
Power economy was viewed as a significant factor in their choice of a new car by a minimum of 1/3 of buyers in America. Given the preoccupation today with smog, global warming and America’s dependence on overseas 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. An additional car, the GM TPC, which looked a lot like the Geo Metro, weighed only 1000 pounds and would get 75 miles per gallon. Advancement of the vehicle, the engine that had 3 cylinders, was dropped because, in order to meet American safety standards, it had to be reinforced which added 200 pounds to its weight.
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It is quite shocking that this wasn’t the only GM prototype that was built, only to be thrown out later. The GM Lean Machine of 1982, which could achieve 80 mpg, and the GM Ultralite which achieved a fabulous 100 mpg, were two of these vehicles. GM seemed to be selling cars to the purchasing 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. In the event that cars that had been 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’s a strange phenomenon that some companies market traditional vehicles in the US, but sell different, more efficient cars in other countries. Cars that achieve more than 70 mpg have been sold in Europe and Japan for a number of years. The Lupo, a Volkswagen, is a great instance of a car that gets 78 MPG, but has never been sold in the US. A car referred to as Jazz elsewhere in the world was brought to the States in 2007 as the Fit. There are economy-boosting options with the Jazz in Japan, such as a smaller engine and other ways to reduce consumption, but not so with the Fit in the US.
Auto manufacturers in America tell their public that they create big autos because they, the public, love big autos. Not surprisingly they generate big money on SUVs, and almost nothing on a small two-person commuter. Commercials have convinced the citizens of the US that Tanks on Wheels are an absolute must to have. It is quite apparent where the giant companies’ interests lay when you consider that they have never offered options. The leader in fuel economy might have been General Motors, but they opt to be the leader in SUVs instead. All of the other auto producers did the same thing by producing fuel-efficient cars, but then denied them to Americans.
We all live in a world that has fought 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 yourself how many people who were never given the opportunity would have been excited to have a car that was fuel-efficient? Can it be time to get access to those dumped designs and, again, start building those vehicles that were once built a long time ago?