I read well crafted pieces on ecconomics here but wonder how the size difference in average physique of the North American plays out here
Superminis are very popular in Europe where there are people of all sizes. Gasloline is also about double what we pay and cars are taxed annually on CO2 output. People still want to drive, so they adapt.
Has that ever been possible in living memory? Surely you can not sell LHD cars in RHD countries.
I worked (for GM, actually) in Japan in the early 1990s when the Americans were raising a big stink about Japan not allowing US cars into their market. Ford brilliantly brought in the Taurus Wagon with
a 3.8 litre V-6 in Left Hand Drive. They didn't sell more than a few. A 3.8 litre would have out of the world taxation in Japan, like $15k a year. The American response was that Japan should scrap their tax system, the same system that all Japanese cars had to meet, instead of designing product that Japanese would actually buy. GM countered by actually making a RHD Cavalier, (one of the worst cars I have ever driven) with a 2.4 litre Quad 4 (one of the worst motors GM ever made) and selling them at Toyota stores. I never once saw one of either on the road. With intentional irony, Honda then sold its Accord Wagon, made in USA, with American Eagle Crests on it and they were very popular, but with a 2 litre engine, they were more affordable to Japanese consumers.
Has that ever been possible in living memory? Surely you can not sell LHD cars in RHD countries.
Maybe the industry as a whole has been responsible for taking the market in the wrong direction.One that can not be sustained.
Detroit has been bleeding market share for years and done a fine job of justifying, too, but a less fine job of profits and dividends.
I wonder if these new 'sporting' machines are a harbinger of surrender. How many can be sold?
Perhaps they are a harbinger of surrender. More likely, however, is that these cars were conceived in an era of cheap gas (five years ago) and not killed in time. I somehow doubt the return of the pony car will
