[aerohead]

Originally Posted by Vman455

After seeing the new Prius, I'm guessing--purely from the looks of it, so I could end up being pleasantly surprised--that there will be little improvement in its drag coefficient, if any, from the current Cd .25. The new Volt, in the same vein, claims Cd .285 versus the outgoing model's .28. Nissan claims the same for its Leaf, the first affordable electric car in production and one that, you would think, would prioritize low drag in the name of range extension, while its GT-R boasts Cd .26.

On the other hand, we have luxury manufacturers like Mercedes openly proclaiming that their cars will have drag coefficients closer to .20 than .30 by 2020, and their current S-class and C-class claim Cd .24, E-class .25, and CLA .22 in its lowest-drag configuration (sadly, not available in the heathen New World, but it exists and is feasible for mass production). The BMW 3-series is Cd .26 in its lowest-drag production configuration, while the i3 electric car balloons along with Cd .29.

These manufacturers are clearly capable of designing lower-drag cars that look "normal" enough for not just mainstream consumers, but luxury buyers to embrace, yet the models that supposedly prioritize efficiency as a guiding principle don't seem to be given the same aerodynamic attention as the more mainstream ones when this would seem to be a simple and cost-effective way of improving them that requires no technological break-throughs or mechanical development. Whether that's because of funding allocations, management structure, or some other reason, I find it fascinating and troubling at the same time.

Hucho mentioned that aerodynamics has never been an issue of technological feasibility,but rather the priorities of the committees whom decide what will be built.
The aerodynamicist delivers the data to the committees, and has no say in what is done with it.