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. Because of the preoccupation today with air pollution, global warming and America’s dependence on overseas 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.
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 achieve 80 mpg, along with the GM Ultralite which realized 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 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 never sold in the US and capable of 78 mpg, is the Lupo by Volkswagen. A car known as the Jazz elsewhere in the world was introduced 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. Fuel-saving choices from the large companies are uncommon, so it’s pretty easy to deduce where their motivations lay. Rather than being associated with SUVs, GM today could have been identified as a leader in fuel-economic vehicles. A number of other manufacturers also have developed fuel-efficient cars, but they’ve all ended up the same as GM by not offering them to Americans.
In spite of climatic change and the incredible pollution of the world environment, US car makers have yet to respond positively and at least give Americans the option of a fuel-efficient car. The question comes up: how many Americans would’ve been thankful for the option of acquiring 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? Details about escalade wheels.