Quote:
Originally Posted by rmay635703
Not exactly, what is wrong is that a version of the Cruze is not offered in the chevette weight and area class with the improvements you mention.
Imagine how much more progress that would represent; 60mpg+ would be childs play using a simple 5 speed stick on a narrow lightweight diesel cruze.
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Blame the buyers.
Oh, I know that's a very convenient excuse, but in part, it's true. Audi tried with the A2. Very high-tech, aluminum, low coefficient of drag, high mpg. Nobody bit.
Then there was the Honda Fit. After the 2008 crash, sales spiked then bombed.
Chevrolet tries with the Spark, which is even smaller. Sadly, they had to saddle it with the unimpressive 1.2 for the US market, not the 1.0, which gives excellent economy. Too slow, as it takes just a few seconds less to hit 60 mph than the Chevette (as opposed to the 1.2, which does 60 a few seconds sooner). Yet it's still larger in terms of cabin space... a hell of a lot larger. Not a great reception.
Nobody wants a Chevette-sized car, anymore. Not in the United States. Suzuki could make a killing with its 60 mpg penalty boxes and reverse the continuing death of the brand Stateside if they did, but it can't sell anything there smaller than the SX4, which is the largest car it makes elsewhere besides the Kizashi.
Out here outside America, you CAN buy a car with the same size as the Chevette and 40-60 mpg. It's called the Maruti/Suzuki Alto. And it's faster than the Chevette, to boot. But even so, it's a dying class, because consumers everywhere want more, bigger, faster, better and safer. Even when the government doesn't mandate the "safer" part.
One only has to look at the dismal sales of the Tata Nano to see this.
If people would buy them, car companies would sell them. Only if the Spark is a huge hit will other makers jump on the bandwagon. As it is, I don't see that happening. Only Mitsubishi seems desperate enough to try.