Quote:
Originally Posted by payne171
I agree with you. I was more trying to counter-argue why hybrids make more sense here while diesels sell better in Europe. My argument was more Econ 101 than Engineering 500.
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No. Its much much simpler. Honest.
In Europe we have higher fuel costs - Diesel and Petrol (Gas) so we have a habit of smaller, fuel efficient cars. Today a US gallon in the UK will cost you $9 - at that cost would you drive a 3.8 V6 auto or a 1.4 hatchback ? If I offered you a 2.0 Turbo Diesel that would match the 3.8 V6 for pace, match it for size and use as little fuel as the 1.4 hatch would you buy that ?
Of course you would. If I added an auto or semi-auto then its a dead match for a US car.
This fuel cost difference has been there since WW2 - tax and other costs. So whilst you (the US) were off with cars that had under 50hp / litre and under 10mpg in the the muscle car era (giggles) we had Mini Coopers (the original 1960s ones), Gordinis and Abarths all of which would extract super power from < 1 litre and > 30mpg. Also most European cars are manuals and 99+% of drivers are trained on how to use them.
Japan is similar to Europe except they restrict Diesel to commercial vehicle use (trucks mainly) for emissions reasons - their cities have stricter limits and are more dense than ours.
But they also have mega high powered smaller car engines (google the Kei car turbos, and Honda Type R anyone ?) and turbos - modern Nissan Skylines can kill Corvettes without breathing hard, and they go round corners
But lets do a little modern comparison :
Prius US base - $23K.
UK Prius base is £20K which is ~ $32K.
And that is the 'base' model.
For that money in Europe I could buy a top spec VW / Audi / BMW / Merc / PSA / Renault / SEAT / Toyota / Nissan / Kia / Hyundai / Honda / Ford (Europe) / GM (Europe) Turbo Diesel car with much better equipment and not much difference in MPG. In fact the difference in cost would probably buy me a few months of fuel alone. Note the names here - Toyota sell a turbo diesel, as do Honda - both make and sell Hybrids here. PSA also sell a Diesel hybrid - apparently - I have yet to see one.
But that is top spec - all the toys, probably also including semi-auto gearboxes and stop-start.
So unless (as my wife is just now) you were offered a Hybrid as a company car, why would you choose one ?