........ Gas hits $4.00 a gallon, and now the automotive focus (and advertising) shifts. Everyone is clamoring to show how -they- have the fleet with the most fuel efficient cars. Many are touting that they get "30 mpg or higher". Really? Is that a big deal? 30mpg? Folks............. 30 mpg is a -JOKE-.
In 1971 I was driving a vehicle that consistently got 30mpg ( British Ford Cortina MK-II) and not just highway mpg but -overall- gas mpg. And the car had good performance too! In the 40 years since that car was built, gas mileage figures should have improved significantly. But they haven't.
Now I've seen a lot of banter on the net about how "Detroit" isn't progressive, doesn't think ahead, etc. . Well...maybe. However I place the blame in an entirely different area. I place it with the car buying public. Think about it. Car makers are a business. They need to provide what customers are demanding at any point in time to continue to make a profit, and continue to stay in business. They may want to make fuel efficient cars, but if the fickle buying public is on a kick demanding SUV's ( the same folks who years earlier wouldn't be caught dead driving either a station wagon -or- a truck) then SUV's they must make, otherwise they're left with product they can't move, and then, ...... they're history. Is it any wonder they can't suddenly provide cars with stellar MPG numbers?
So now the cycle shifts. We're back on a fuel economy kick. I hope it's permanent this time. The automotive industry does have the ability to produce vehicles that get much better mileage, but they must be supported by a public who won't revert back to the big hulks if gas drops down in price. Sustained public support for fuel efficient vehicles (voting with the only thing that really counts, their buying dollar) CAN AND WILL change this picture.
3 comments:
Heheh yeah, in the 90s when I had a Tracker, someone laughed when I said that it got 30-35 mpg, because their hatchback got about 40-plus.
I don't want to have to go back the the tincan-hatchback days, they are too vulnerable around the big vehicles...and there's no way I'd get on US 40 here in Knoxville in one of those new clown-cars! But there has got to be a happy medium to be found.
But isn't that one of the biggest issues? You try to stay fuel efficient, all the sudden, you're the littlest guy on the road. It's almost like you have to buy a big old SUV to even SEE! For example - the mini-coopers - I have no idea what gas mileage they get - but I wouldn't go near one. Scared to death I'd be flattened.
It's a contentious problem. There is no debating that all other things being equal (airbags, safety cage type design, etc.) that when a larger vehicle and a smaller vehicle collide, the smaller vehicle will lose.
But somewhere along the line we need to learn to make a shift to smaller vehicles with better fuel economy. I guess at that point it becomes "who's gonna' blink first"?
We'll never make progress if everyone decides to stay with their big vehicle.
Economics will be the big deciding factor. You can preach about conserving, saving the planet, doing the right thing, etc. etc, but the ONLY factor that's really going to motivate people is money.
Case in point, a couple years ago I was conversing with a buddy in the UK. I was complaining at that point about gas going over $3/gallon. He just chuckled, and reminded me that they (at that point in time) were paying the equivalent of $7.80/gallon. Think about that one for a minute.
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