When purchasing a new car, fuel economy was an important factor for at least one-third of American car buyers. With so many people now very concerned about global warming, pollution and dependence on foreign oil, you might be surprised to know that in 1992 General Motors built a car that actually got 100 miles per gallon. The GM TPC was a car that was able to get 75 miles per gallon, weighed about 1000 pounds, and looked like the Geo Metro. The automobile had a 3-cylinder engine, however was forgotten when it needed 200 pounds of reinforcement to be added to comply with America’s safety laws.
It might be surprising that GM had this car built and left behind, but they had other prototypes that ended the same way. A number of these were the 1982 GM Lean Machine which made 80 miles per gallon, and the GM Ultralite which managed to do 100 mpg. Once Honda in 1992 achieved 50 mpg with the Civic VX, GM was offering cars that got 20 mpg, while in the background they had vehicles capable of 100 mpg. Clearly this begs the question that explains why these cars that are proficient at 100 mpg are not available to the public.
Another puzzling thing is that many companies, while selling fuel-eficient vehicles in foreign countries, are selling traditional gas guzzlers in the US. Vehicles that achieve more than 70 mpg have been sold in Europe and Japan for a number of years. For example, the Volswagen Lupo has never been sold in the US – this is a car that gets 78 mpg. In 2007, Honda in the US launched the FIT, elsewhere known as the Jazz. In Japan the Jazz models include one with a smaller engine, plus there are ways to improve fuel consumption, but with the Fit in the US not even the option of a smaller engine is offered.
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. Because options have never been presented reveals where the big companies have their interests. Leading the way in fuel economy might have been General Motors, but they opt to often 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 all 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. How many people would have loved having a car that got good gas mileage, and were never given 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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