alt.energy.renewable

Himpg wrote:
>
> I like to digress back to the initial topic: "Fuel efficiency not
> allowed in the US"
>
>
> Observations Regarding the 2008 Saturn Astra for the US market
>
> I was looking over the data for the future Astra for the US market. It
> looked pretty good until I got to the engine/transmission (fuel
> economy) options planned (my best guess):
>
> mpg(US) combined rated for the 16v VVT 5 Door Estate with
> 15/16" tyre M5 Petrol 178 g/km CO2;
> /search/ ?id=19565
>
> mpg(US) combined rated for the 16v VVT 5 Door Estate with
> 15/16" tyre A4 Petrol 187 g/km CO2;
> /search/ ?id=19155
>
>
> It appears that there is no USA plan for any ot the following
> options:
>
> mpg(US) combined rated for the 16v 5 Door Estate M5 Petrol
> 161 g/km CO2;
> /search/ ?id=19152
>
> mpg(Imperial) combined rated for the 16v 5 Door Estate MTA
> Petrol 158 g/km CO2;
> /search/ ?id=19153
>
> About a 10% better Fuel economy over the planned Astras. These two
> configurations yield somewhere between 60 and 80% BETTER FUEL ECONOMY
> than the average fleet values (using 2008 EPA methodology) including
> trucks and excluding mpg credits for E85/flex fuel.

You'll notice that the models that will be offered in the US have larger
engines than the ones that will not. That explains the disparity in fuel
economy. As for *why* the high-mileage version won't be offered in the
US, I suspect that it's because Saturn doesn't expect that they would
sell nearly as well as the version with the large engine. Even with
higher gas prices in recent years, the conventional wisdom in the auto
industry -- *all* of it, not just the Big 3 (you'll find higher-mileage
Toyotas in Japan and higher-mileage Volkswagens in Europe) -- is still
that Americans prefer bigger engines and bigger cars than Europeans and
Asians do.

Maybe they're wrong, but what it comes down to in the end is that it
costs a lot of money just to *offer* a car for sale (certification,
marketing, lot space, transportation, etc. all cost money), so if they
don't think it will sell they won't bother offering it.