[skyl4rk]

If fuel efficiency is an important design goal, then one would expect that automobiles sold today would at least approach an ideal aerodynamic shape to maximize fuel efficiency.

One would hope that production cars would be designed to achieve at least 90% of what is possible using aero designs.

In putting together my boattail, I found an improvement of about 25% by adding some pieces of plastic to the back of my car. I am not an engineer. To me this means that either the automotive engineers are failing miserably, or that automotive managers and stylists are screwing up the product.

Auto manufacturers seem to be able to manipulate automotive styling as they change their designs from year to year.

Why haven't they moved toward aerodynamic styling that improves fuel efficiency? This is not rocket science. An amateur aeromod hacker like me can improve their product by 25% with a boattail. I am sure that there are far more gains to be found in addition to a boattail and in other areas of design (motor, weight, tire construction).

Is manufacturing cost the problem? I hardly think so.

Is aero design ugly and not accepted by the consumer? I don't know this.

Is there some vast conspiracy between oil companies and auto makers? I doubt it.

Do the auto engineers not know how to design cars for fuel efficiency? I am sure that they know how.

Why can an informal group of people on an internet forum make such huge fuel efficiency gains on production cars using simple modifications? It is because automotive manufacturers are failing to design their cars right.

One has to come to the conclusion that fuel efficiency is not a design goal. But there are statements coming from auto manufacturers that fuel efficiency is a goal.

What is going on in the auto industry? Why do I have to buy some cheap pieces of plastic to add to my car to improve mileage? Why don't they figure this out and do it themselves?

Thank you for listening

That is all.