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. Given the preoccupation today with pollution, global warming and America’s dependence on foreign 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. Regrettably, to be able to meet American safety regulations, the 3-cylinder vehicle required reinforcement weighing 200 pounds, which resulted in further development being discarded.

It’s quite shocking that this was not the only GM prototype that was built, only to be thrown out later. 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. When Honda in 1992 attained 50 mpg with the Civic VX, GM was promoting 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.

One more baffling thing is that many manufacturers, while selling fuel-eficient vehicles in foreign countries, are selling traditional gas guzzlers in the US. Cars that achieve more than 70 mpg have been available in Europe and Japan for a lot of years. To illustrate, the Volswagen Lupo has never been distributed in north america – this is a car that gets 78 mpg. In 2007, Honda in the US launched the FIT, elsewhere known as the Jazz. Throughout Japan the Jazz designs include one with a scaled-down 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.

Auto manufacturers in the usa explain to their public that they create big autos because they, the public, love big autos. It’s obvious that manufacturers don’t make a lot of money selling a small 2-person commuter vehicle, but they certainly do selling big SUVs. American residents have been brainwashed with ads to believe that they simply must have the latest and largest bundu basher. It’s quite clear where the big companies’ interests lay when you consider that they have never offered options. Instead of being synonymous with SUVs, GM today could have been known 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.

Despite global warming and the incredible pollution of the world environment, US car makers have yet to react 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. Details about escalade wheels.