When purchasing a new car, fuel economy was an important factor for at least one-third of American car buyers. Due to the preoccupation today with smog, 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. 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. Balanced growth of the vehicle, the engine that had 3 cylinders, was dropped because, in order to meet American safety principles, 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?
It’s a strange phenomenon that some companies sell traditional vehicles in the US, but sell different, more efficient cars in other countries. Buyers in Japan and Europe have for many years now been able to get cars that do 70 miles per gallon and more. A case in point of a vehicle never offered within 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.
The automobile producers tell Americans that they love big cars, and that is what they want to create big cars. Needless to say they generate big money on SUVs, and practically 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. The reality that options have never been provided demonstrates where the big companies have their interests. The leader in fuel economy could have been General Motors, but they choose to be the leader in SUVs instead. The rest of the car makers did the same thing by producing fuel-efficient cars, and then denied them to Americans.
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. What number of people might have loved having a car that got good gas mileage, and were never offered the option? Maybe it is time to get those old plans back out and build a vehicle that has already been built before.
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