A Fuel-Efficient Automobile – Can It Be Truly So Difficult To Create?

January 27, 2012 on 7:54 am | In Jaguar Wheels | No Comments

Energy economy was thought to be a significant factor in their selection of a new car by a minimum of 1/3 of buyers in America. Given the preoccupation today with pollution, global warming and America’s dependence on foreign 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. There was also a car that looked a lot like the Geo Metro and weighed 1000 pounds, which boasted 75 miles per gallon gas mileage. Development of the vehicle, the engine of which 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.

This is in no way the only protype designed by GM which ended up on the scrapheap. The GM Lean Machine of 1982, which could obtain 80 mpg, as well as the GM Ultralite which reached a fabulous 100 mpg, were two of these vehicles. GM was offering cars to the buying 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 that were capable of doing 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 several years now had the opportunity to get cars that do 70 miles per gallon and more. A case in point of a car / truck never marketed inside the US and capable of 78 mpg, is the Lupo by Volkswagen. An automobile referred to as Jazz elsewhere in the world was brought to the States in 2007 as the Fit. You can get economy-boosting features with the Jazz in Japan, say for example a smaller engine and other ways to reduce consumption, but not so with the Fit in the US.

In The United States the manufacturers point out they have to build big cars simply 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. A Tank on Wheels will be the thing to own – that’s the sales message that the commercials beguile the American public with. Fuel-saving choices from the large companies are uncommon, so it’s pretty easy to deduce where their motivations lay. Instead of being synonymous with SUVs, GM today could have been known as a leader in fuel-economic vehicles. Many other manufacturers have also developed fuel-efficient cars, but they’ve all done the same as GM by not offering them to Americans.

Even with climate change and the incredible pollution of the world environment, US car makers have yet to act in response positively and at least give Americans the option of a fuel-efficient car. Consider how many people who were never given the choice would have been thrilled 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?

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