Yeah, it's not that Detroit didn't build small cars, but they did seem to have a lousy time building small cars that people liked.
I do wonder if part of it's because of their base of operations. Japan needs small, fuel efficient cars (as does Europe). Does this mean Toyota and Honda are used to thinking of how to make their baseline cars (i.e., small ones) better? Whereas Detroit was used to making big, fun behemoths?
(An interesting side note: I do know that Detroit had, at one point, begged for a gas tax if the CAFE standards were rising. They often sell their fuel efficient cars at a slim margin - sometimes at a loss - to make the CAFE standards. They'd like to see $4-5 a gallon gas if they have to start selling cars with 40-50mpg.)
Oh, yeah, another sad story... one of the Big Three has a car that gets 50mpg (diesel, but still). They just can't easily get it over here because their diesel engine plant is too far away. And, of course, they're having a hard time justifying building a new one if gas prices might drop (as, in fact, they have).
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Date: 2008-11-19 04:15 pm (UTC)I do wonder if part of it's because of their base of operations. Japan needs small, fuel efficient cars (as does Europe). Does this mean Toyota and Honda are used to thinking of how to make their baseline cars (i.e., small ones) better? Whereas Detroit was used to making big, fun behemoths?
(An interesting side note: I do know that Detroit had, at one point, begged for a gas tax if the CAFE standards were rising. They often sell their fuel efficient cars at a slim margin - sometimes at a loss - to make the CAFE standards. They'd like to see $4-5 a gallon gas if they have to start selling cars with 40-50mpg.)
Oh, yeah, another sad story... one of the Big Three has a car that gets 50mpg (diesel, but still). They just can't easily get it over here because their diesel engine plant is too far away. And, of course, they're having a hard time justifying building a new one if gas prices might drop (as, in fact, they have).