Fuel economy was regarded 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 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. Advancement of the vehicle, the engine which had 3 cylinders, was dropped because, in order to meet American safety specifications, it had to be reinforced which added 200 pounds to its weight.
It was certainly not the only protype developed by GM which ended up on the scrapheap. The GM Lean Machine of 1982, which could get 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 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 perhaps 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?
An additional perplexing thing is that a lot of companies, while selling fuel-eficient vehicles in foreign countries, are selling traditional gas guzzlers in the US. Consumers in Japan and Europe have for quite some time now managed 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. 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.
In America the manufacturers say they have to build big cars 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 may be the thing to get – that’s the concept that the commercials beguile the American public with. It’s quite clear where the big companies’ interests lay when you consider that they have never offered options. GM could currently have been in the leading position with fuel-efficient vehicles, but they elected, rather, to champion SUVs. Americans haven’t been denied just by GM, but also by the rest of the manufacturers who have developed fuel-efficient cars.
American auto makers haven’t ever given the US people an opportunity to acquire a fuel-efficient car, despite the world having beem embroiled in oil wars and being severely polluted. Ask this question: 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 abandoned designs and, again, start building those vehicles that were once built a long time ago? Watch escalade wheels.