How Come Is It So Challenging To Build A Fuel-Efficient Vehicle?
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by: CraigVargas | Total views: 24 | Word Count: 518
Fuel 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 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. An additional vehicle, the GM TPC, which looked a lot like the Geo Metro, weighed only 1000 pounds and could get 75 miles per gallon. Unfortunately, to be able to meet American safety regulations, the 3-cylinder vehicle required reinforcement weighing 200 pounds, which ended in further development being discarded.
It was not the only prototype developed by GM which ended up on the scrapheap. Some of these were the 1982 GM Lean Machine which performed 80 miles per gallon, and the GM Ultralite which made 100 mpg. GM had been offering 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. Because cars have already been designed that get 100 miles per gallon, then why are they not being sold to the general public?
It's a weird phenomenon that some companies promote traditional vehicles in the US, but sell different, more efficient cars in other countries. For quite some time vehicles that get over 70 miles per gallon have been sold in Japan and Europe. A case in point of a car never offered inside the US and capable of 78 mpg, is the Lupo by Volkswagen. In 2007, Honda in america released the FIT, in other regions known as the Jazz. The Jazz in Japan has solutions to boost fuel economy and a smaller engine, but for the US, the Fit doesn't even contain a smaller engine as an option.
In America the manufacturers say they have to build big cars simply because that is what the American public wants. It really is apparent that manufacturers don't generate a lot of money selling a small 2-person commuter vehicle, but they certainly do selling big SUVs. American folks have been brainwashed with ads to believe that they simply must have the latest and largest bundu basher. It really is quite apparent where the giant companies' interests lay when you consider that they have never offered options. Rather than being identified with SUVs, GM today could have been identified as a leader in fuel-economic vehicles. The rest of the auto producers did the same thing by producing fuel-efficient cars, then again denied them to Americans.
American auto manufacturers have not given the US people the choice to acquire a fuel-efficient car, despite the world having beem embroiled in oil wars and being severely polluted. The question comes up: how many Americans would've appreciated the option of getting a car with good gas mileage but weren't ever offered it? Can it be time to get access to those abandoned designs and, again, start building those vehicles that were once built a long time ago?
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