The Ford F-series, for 33 years the best selling car in the world(really amazing when you consider that the US is its only market) has slipped from first.
We can all hope for small cars in the future, but I think NASCAR has shown the real importance of the oil crisis. They have started to look at ways to be green.
While F1 and the GP series in europe are using KERS and diesel and turbocharging, what are the Americans looking at: Injection. Not even direct injection, mere injection. To put this in perspective, the last production car to have a carburetor (the technology that injection replaced) was in the early 90's.
I think that this is a perfect allegory for what will become of American cars, we won't ever be in cars as small and efficient as our European counterparts. We will get better, but not by much. It looks like I'll start taking my short wheel base Escalade to the bathroom.
I think part of the reason that, as Americans, we are so obsessed with large cars is because of the American lifestyle. Suburban moms need suburbans, escalades, and minivans to haul hordes of kids to soccer practice and whatnot. And the 'working class' need pickup trucks to haul equipment to and fro. Also, people need SUV's to deal with the harsh winters that grace most of the united states from Wyoming to Chicago to New York. Big cars are just part of the American lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteActually, most SUVs can barely deal with easy off roading, let alone a light dusting of snow. In a recent test in EVO (a British car magazine) they found that rear drive cars with snow tires were better handling in snow than four wheel drive cars. Beyond that, space in American cars is really awfully used. In a Suburban, for instance, you have the same number of seats a VW golf plus. The reason that Americans like Suburbans is the feeling of superiority that you get while driving one. As for working class needing pick ups, the F series alone is better selling than anything in the world and sells only in North America. Are there more small business owners here? No, but there are a lot more pickups. Why? The same reason as the Suburban. It is the superiority.
ReplyDelete