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. 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 vehicle had a 3-cylinder engine, but was abandoned 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. These types of automobiles include the GM Lean-Machine in 1982 at 80 MPG, as well as the GM Ultralite which got 100 MPG. In 1992 Honda had been attaining 50 miles per gallon with the Civic VX, and at the same time General Motors had vehicles behind the scenes getting 100 MPG, even though selling the public cars that were getting 20 MPG. Given that cars have already been designed that get 100 miles per gallon, then why are they not being marketed to the general public?
What makes standard vehicles sold in the US, while at the same time, the same suppliers are selling different vehicles far away in other countries? For quite some time vehicles that get over 70 miles per gallon have been purchased in Japan and Europe. The Lupo, a Volkswagen, is a great demonstration of a car that gets 78 MPG, but hasn’t ever been sold in the US. Honda introduced to the US market in 2007, a car called the Fit, but known as the Jazz in other parts of the world. The Jazz in Japan has solutions to enhance fuel economy and a smaller engine, but for the US, the Fit doesn’t even contain a smaller engine as an option.
The automobile producers tell Americans that they love big cars, and that is what they want to create big cars. Of course they make big money on SUVs, and almost nothing on a small two-person commuter. 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. Many other manufacturers have also developed fuel-efficient cars, but they’ve all done 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 could have appreciated the option of obtaining a car with good gas mileage but weren’t ever offered it? Possibly the moment has come to restore building those cars that were developed only to be abandoned all those years ago. Discover more escalade wheels.