I found this interesting article on Vehix.com which goes on about why great small cars aren’t available in the US. The author blames the “Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) among others for creating very stringent guidelines for these manufacturers to even consider bringing these vehicles to our country.”
I admit there are some pretty interesting vehicles mentioned in this article, such as a diesel Cooper Mini getting 60 miles to the gallon, or the Ford Ka, which gets 40 miles per gallon and is one of the most popular cars in both Europe and South America.
- Ford Ka
All this being said, I have to ask one thing – What about the demand for such vehicles?
I’m on the road a lot. My daily commute to work is 75 miles each way (yep, that’s 150 miles a day). I drive 2 four cylinder vehicles that get pretty decent mileage, but nothing close to 60 miles (or even 30 for that matter). One thing I’ve observed in these daily commutes over the past 6 years is that no one seems to be in a hurry to get rid of their SUV’s, not even when gas prices were over $4 a gallon.
Honestly, I would LOVE to see less SUV’s on the road, as my commuting experience these past 6 years leads me to believe that very few people who own SUV’s actually know how to drive them. I don’t think people who drive these things really comprehend the potential harm they can do in moderate-to-high speed collisions. I see reckless driving of SUV’s EVERY DAY on the Garden State Parkway, and for the weekly 4 or 5 traffic jams I get stuck in, most of the accidents usually involve at least 1 SUV.
Also, performance is another thing. As I stated in one of my previous posts, it’s all good and well to get 30, 40 or 60 miles a gallon, but if it takes me 17 seconds to get up to 55 or 65 miles an hour, well, that’s just not going to work! While I’m a big muscle car and tuner fan, I’m totally willing to see the 454, 350 small block or even the 4 cylinder boxers with turbo go the way of the dinosaur, assuming I can still get a decent quarter mile and 0 – 60 out of an electric/hydrogen/hybrid powered vehicle. Maybe something like this:
- the ale
Anyway, here’s that article. Enjoy!
Ford has been building the Ka for over 12 years. It is an extremely efficient design and gets remarkable mileage while still being entertaining to drive. It is handsome with a considerable amount of comfort and utility for its size. Over 40 mpg (combined) and great driving dynamics are but a few of its attributes. Despite its age, the Ford Ka is considered one of the most popular cars in Europe and South America. The Ford Ka is not available for sale in the United States.
The United States is prohibited from having hundreds of great small cars. Why?
We can thank our Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) among others for creating very stringent guidelines for these manufacturers to even consider bringing these vehicles to our country. European standards are a tad looser than ours, thus making it easier for cars like these to be deemed safe for public consumption.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has excellent standards shared with several nations worldwide to regulate equipment on cars in order to facilitate trade of vehicles. The United States is not part of the UNECE and has very different standards – some experts say it is a deliberate ploy by our government to keep imports from dominating our market. Our current standards prohibit many of these small vehicles from being imported without costly revisions. Even our own automakers have to jump through hoops in order to get foreign built cars (even under their own company name) into the United States.
The question should be: How can we get the cars to be accepted into the United States sooner rather than later? And what are American-based vehicle manufacturers like Ford and General Motors doing about it?
General Motors has proved that with minor alterations popular sellers in Europe can be brought to the United States rapidly. The Saturn Astra is based on the European Opel/ Vauxhall model that has proven popular there. Sensing a hole in the American market, General Motors wisely “Americanized” the Astra and brought it to market quick enough to replace the void left by the rather unloved Saturn Ion.
Ford is on the fast track too. Several Ford cars are cutting through the red tape to a speedy production. The new Fiesta will be based on the (well received) new Mazda 2 (Ford is Mazda’s parent company). Hoping to make up for dreadful truck sales and keeping our market flush with new small cars and trucks, it is expected that Ford will bring several economical import vehicles to our shores soon.
There is a “business” reason that more platforms are not shared with other countries which consumers may not be fully aware of. Vehicles are often built for the consumer needs of that region. A Chevrolet Suburban would not be ideal for the narrow garages of Tokyo or the cobblestone roads of old Europe. The Renault Twingo and Mitsubishi ‘I’ would not fare well on our large highways and American style traffic.
Also, consider that a very high portion of Americans still drive two to three ton pickup trucks, SUVs and vans which would boot these wee little cars as easily as Beckham kicks a ball (despite good crash test results – physics works in greater mass’ favor). Having compact vehicles in America is nothing new and can be popular to some, but up until now, these owners were a minority.
The runaway success of the Mini and Smart brands in our country has proven that we are accepting of small cars and may even embrace them. The little Toyota Prius with Honda’s Fit and Civic (and many other’s) popularity should serve as a lightning rod to our newly aroused appetite for fuel sippers.
Within the next few years, several automakers will spring new models onto our shores – it is inevitable. The question now becomes: What do these future, smaller new models have that is so special? What vehicles will be worth the extra expense of licensing with our government’s agencies?
We will know very soon. There are some fantastic machines just waiting to win your hearts and they are closer than ever – stayed tuned for more!